Why should I recycle?
There are LOTS of reasons. Here are a few:
- 95% less energy is used to recycle an aluminium can than making it from raw materials (excluding transport). *
- Glass can be recycled again and again, but if it ends up in landfills, it will never decompose.
- Recycling paper needs up to 70% less energy and produces up to 95% less air pollution than if it was made from trees (excluding transport). *
- Plastics are made from fossil fuels – of which there is a limited supply on Earth – and it can take up to 500 years for plastic to decompose so it makes sense to recycle it.
- If we use fresh materials all the time and never recycle, we'll run out of fresh materials much sooner.
- It's getting easier to recycle.
* Source: Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology Postnote, December 2005
