Green Living Idea

Green living involves conserving resources and reducing one’s carbon footprint on the environment. An easy way to incorporate green practices into a lifestyle is to recycle. There are quite a few reasons why you should recycle and here are those that rise to the top of the list.

Recycling provides manufacturers with the raw materials that they require in order to make new products. Rather than being taken to landfills, where they must be compacted and buried, these items are repurposed. The act of recycling keeps waste from piling up in these landfills, lowering the need to expand landfill space. The process also creates jobs and represents a lucrative industry within our country. This sector represents $236 billion and over 1.1 million people are employed at the more than 56,000 recycling and reuse facilities in the United States.

It requires fewer natural resources and energy to recycle and manufacture items from these materials than to use new materials. For example, using recycled aluminum cans during manufacturing cuts energy consumption by 95 percent from manufacturing with virgin materials. The act of recycling and buying products that are recycled creates more demand for these products, which serves to decrease waste and help the economy.

The most direct beneficial effects, and those which recycling was intended to create, pertain to the environment. Recycling solid waste during the year 2000 prevented 32.9 million metric tons of carbon equivalent from being released into the air. Using recycled materials during the manufacturing process generates less water pollution. It also reduces the need to take materials from nature, cutting down on the damage and destruction of rivers, forests, wetlands, and other wildlife habitats.

The effects on the economy, land, and the environment are just a few reasons why you should recycle. The process is very easy to set up within the home and putting things into recycling bins will soon become habit. Engaging in recycling habits within the home and office are small things that can be done to make a positive impact on the world.