Preserves the Environment The process of recycling protects the environment. With the world witnessing a global environmental decline, this can be considered as one of the most important benefits of recycling. As we all know that paper is manufactured from trees. As the demand for paper increases, a number of trees are being cut to produce paper. By recycling paper, we can prevent the destruction of forests. Today, a number of forests are being destroyed to meet the ever-increasing demand of paper. Recycling a ton of mixed paper or newspaper, is equivalent to saving 12 trees. A significant 74% drop in air pollution is observed if paper is made from recycled material as opposed to new wood pulp, indicating that recycling paper is environmentally friendly. Given that the trees keep the surrounding environment clean by sucking up carbon dioxide from the air we breathe, it would be wise to use recycled paper as much as possible.

Studies show that around 28000 liters of water, 4000 kw hours of electricity and 2 barrels of oil are utilized for producing one ton of new paper. Moreover approximately 2200 pounds of solid waste is generated during this process. Did you know that 20% of logs (that involves cutting of trees) collected from the forest area of the world are reserved for producing new paper. Shocking statistics! Isn’t it? Thus, making one ton of new paper needs a number of resources amounting to 98 tons. No wonder, producing new paper is indeed a burden on our resources.

Importing Garbage - What the Heck! Sweden is one of the few countries that support extensive recycling program, ensuring 90% of household trash is converted into renewable energy. Managing trash is no longer an issue for Sweden, thanks to its effective recycling systems. So successful has been their waste management technique that the country has been facing a shortage of garbage to operate their recycling facilities. To overcome this trash deficit, Norway (neighboring country) is now exporting its waste to Sweden. If this was not enough, Sweden has now decided to collect 0.8 million tons of garbage every year from other European countries.

Saves Energy Processing raw materials consumes a considerable amount of energy resources. Recycling used materials reduces energy requirements in many manufacturing processes such as refining and mining. Recycling materials like aluminum and glass can greatly reduce the pressure on energy resources. This can be gauged from the fact that the energy requirement for recycling aluminum cans reduces by 95% when compared to conventional methods of manufacturing brand new cans. Recycling an aluminum can conserve as much energy as is used to keep a television set ON for 3 hours. The amount of energy saved in recycling a glass bottle can allow you to operate a computer for 25 minutes.

Recycled Products are Budget Friendly Buying a brand new item is always costlier than a product that is made by recycling. To be precise, recycled product would not make a dent to your pocket, the way a new one does. Recycled products are affordable for the supplier as well as for the customer. Companies involved in manufacturing recycled items can afford to sell them at a budget-friendly price as the production cost is not high. So, customers can certainly cut down their monthly expenses by opting for recycled products.

Reduces Pollution Pollution means the introduction of hazardous substances in the form of plastics, empty cans, chemicals and ordinary waste into the environment. These substances contaminate our environment. Plastic waste is responsible for causing increased soil and water pollution. Plastic recycling is an effective solution to this problem. The recycling process involves recovering used materials from the plastic waste, which is then used in the manufacturing industry.

Recycling can also help reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, thereby helping to mitigate global warming effects. In a study that involved recycling 35,116 tons of material, it was found that the reduction in green gas emissions was equivalent to taking 22,140 cars off the road. Using recycled aluminum is definitely one step closer to protecting the environment. This is because recycling a ton of aluminum means a reduction of 12 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Lowers Carbon Footprint Manufacturing plastics and paper from recycled material, requires less amount of energy as compared to making them from new or virgin materials. Additional energy is consumed to extract and transport these virgin materials. Transportation means using vehicles that run on fuels like diesel and gasoline. These fuels are considered the main source of green gas emissions. As recycling conserves energy, this results in less fuel being utilized. Thus, a lower amount of carbon dioxide will be released into the environment. Read more at Buzzle: