Recycling
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Reasons to recycle
Recycling means collecting waste and reusing the materials in the waste to make new products. This saves the need to manufacture new raw materials from scratch. Some materials can be recycled to make new products of the same quality (e.g. glass and aluminium). Some materials degrade in quality when they are recycled e.g. paper. Whether materials are 100% recyclable or not, all recycling reduces our use of fresh, new resources.
What happens to the things we don't recycle?
If items are thrown into the general rubbish, they usually end up in landfill sites. Landfill sites take up space and make the land where they are sited difficult to build on. Ireland is running out of places to put landfill sites so recycling is becoming increasingly important. Much of what is thrown away in landfill sites could be recycled.
