Recycling
Recycling
It may sound silly, but many people still don't routinely recycle their rubbish. Most if not all local councils are running schemes to help you recycle and as a large percentage of our household waste is recyclable we should all be doing our bit to help the planet!
Local councils often offer the following kerbside collections, and normally provide special recycling bins or bags to aid the process:
- Glass
- Batteries
- Food Waste
- Normal recyclables (card/paper/plastic/tins etc.)
If your bins aren't large enough, or your council doesn't offer these services as standard - call them and ask why not! Many will simply direct you to recycling points in your area, or possibly even add you to a trial they may be running for these collections.
Whatever your council's attitude towards recycling, there's really no excuse for you not to recycle what you can every week.
Why recycling matters
When we recycle, used materials are converted into new products, reducing the need to consume natural resources. If used materials are not recycled, new products are made by extracting fresh, raw material from the Earth, through mining and forestry.
Recycling helps conserve important raw materials and protects natural habitats for the future.
Recycling saves energy
Using recycled materials in the manufacturing process uses considerably less energy than that required for producing new products from raw materials – even when comparing all associated costs including transport etc.
Plus there are extra energy savings because more energy is required to extract, refine, transport and process raw materials ready for industry compared with providing industry-ready materials.
Recycling helps protect the environment
Recycling reduces the need for extracting (mining, quarrying and logging), refining and processing raw materials all of which create substantial air and water pollution.
As recycling saves energy it also reduces greenhouse gas emissions, which helps to tackle climate change. Current UK recycling is estimated to save more than 18 million tonnes of C02 a year – the equivalent to taking 5 million cars off the road.
Recycling reduces landfill
When we recycle, recyclable materials are reprocessed into new products, and as a result the amount of rubbish sent to landfill sites reduces. There are over 1,500 landfill sites in the UK, and in 2001, these sites produced a quarter of the UK’s emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites
