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Recycling is the process of collecting and processing materials that would otherwise be thrown away as trash and turning them into new products. Recycling often saves energy and natural resources.
Natural resources include land, plants, minerals, and water. When we use materials more than once, we conserve natural resources.
Recycling saves energy in the production of new products
Making a product from recycled materials almost always requires less energy than it does to make the product from new materials. For example, using recycled aluminum cans to make new aluminum cans uses 95% less energy than using bauxite ore, the raw material aluminum is made from.
Recycling paper saves trees and water. For every one ton of paper made from recycled paper, it saves up to 17 trees and uses 50% less water.