What is Recycling?
Recycling is the process of transforming waste materials into usable resources. Recycling is one of several options to manage wastes. Other options include eliminating or reducing the generation of waste or reusing an item prior to recycling.
Why Recycle?
Recycling is preferable to treatment and disposal because it helps conserve energy and reduce waste. Much less energy is needed to make recycled materials into new products than is needed with new, "virgin" raw materials. Recycling also helps conserve natural resources and prevent pollution. Manufacturing using recycled materials is usually much cleaner than manufacturing products from new resources. Recycling also helps avoid the costs of disposing of waste in landfills or incinerators and creates jobs in areas where reprocessing facilities are located.
How Does Recycling Work?
- Recycling is a five-stage, closed-loop process. It begins with the purchase of recycled products or products that are made of or packaged in materials that can be recycled. The products are then collected for recycling, prepared and shipped to market, where they are reprocessed into new products or materials.
- Recycling saves energy and resources.
- For every tons of paper made from recycled materials saves 17 trees, 6.953 gallons of water, 463 gallons of oil, 587 pounds of air pollution, 3.06 cubic yards of landfill space, and 4,077 kilowatt hours of energy.
- In one year, recycling allows aluminum companies to save the equivalent of more than 19 million barrels of oil – enough energy to supply electricity to about 18 million households for a year.
- Recycling one glass bottle or jar saves enough electricity to light a 100-watt bulb for four hours.
- Recycling one pound of steel can power a 60-watt light bulb for more than a day.
- Recycling one ton of plastic saves the equivalent of 1,000 – 2,000 gallons of gasoline.
Recycling decreases pollution
- Making cars from recycling aluminum decreases related air pollution by 95 percent.
- Making recycled paper generates 74 percent less air pollution and 35 percent less water pollution, and uses 64 percent less energy than making paper from virgin timber.
Recycling decreases tree cutting
- If all morning newspapers in the US were recycled for one day, the equivalent of 41,000 trees would be saved and 6 million tons of waste would never end up in landfills.
- Every person in the US receives junk mail that represents the equivalent of 1-1/2 trees a year. If only 100,000 people stopped their junk mail, as many as 150,000 trees annually would not be cut down for paper productions. (One tree can filter up to 60 pounds of pollutants from the air each year)
What’s a tree worth?
- A single tree can remove 7000 particles from a litre of air.
- Trees filter air, recycle water, control soil loss and make a city more beautiful.
- A tree that will be saved will reduce the CO2 emissions in the air which is equivalent to driving 400,000 km.
- Over a 50-year lifespan, the average tree:
- makes 1,338,843. Rupees, ( 31,250 US$ ), worth of oxygen,
- creates 2,656,108. Rupees, ( 62,000 US$ ), worth of air pollution control,
- recycles 1,606,517 Rupees, ( 37,500 US$ ), worth of water and
- controls 1,338,843 Rupees, ( 31,250 US$), worth of soil erosion.
- A well-treed street is three to six degrees cooler than a street with no trees.
Reminder
- Considering our electronic savvy world these days, it is a great idea to request electronic billing from companies which provide this service such as banks and utility companies. An amazing number of trees can be saved by avoiding the printing of monthly statements.
- Please do not print Emails and electronic information unnecessarily.
No comments:
Post a Comment