Buying Recycled Creates Markets .
Purchasing products with recycled content increase the demand for such items, creating a market for the materials you recycle. In time, this will also lower prices for recycled content products.
Recycling Saves Money and Creates Jobs .
Recycling is frequently the least expensive waste management alternative for cities and towns. Recycling also creates more jobs than landfills or incinerators. For example,incinerating 10,000 tons of waste creates 1 job, while landfilling the same amount creates 6 jobs. Recycling the same 10,000 tons of waste creates 36 jobs.
Recycling Reduces Pollution .
Producing items with recycled materials rather than new/raw materials often creates less air and water pollution. For example, recycling all of the waste newsprint, cardboard, glass, and metal from a single home reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 850 pounds a year.
Recycling Conserves Energy .
It often takes less energy to make a product from recycled materials than from raw materials, reducing acid rain, global warming and air pollution.
Recycling Preserves Natural Resources .
Producing products from recycled materials decreases the demand for natural resources. This preserves resources for future generations, and decreases damage to wilderness areas.
Recycling Saves Landfill Space .
When the materials you recycle go into new products, they don't go into landfills or incinerators, and landfill space is conserved. In this decade, Americans will throw away over 1 million tons of aluminum cans and foil, 11 million tons of glass bottles and jars, 4 1/2 half million tons of office paper, and 10 million tons of newspaper. Almost all of this material could be recycled into new products