Most people have heard that they should recycle, but how many of us actually understand the benefits of recycling? Sure, we understand the basic principle of reusing materials, but what are the positive benefits of doing so? In this post, we want to address those questions. Even if you've heard that you should be recycling, that doesn't mean you're doing it. Hopefully, with this new knowledge in your head, you can decide it's worth it to start recycling in your home.
Many of the benefits of recycling are for the greater environment and community at large. This can result in negligence of the action, an effect called tragedy of the commons in economics. One small way that recycling centers try to combat this problem is to pay a little bit for each item you recycle. Programs like this depend on the state you live in, so be sure to check whether you can make a little money recycling. On bottles, it will often say which states they are, but you can always check online as well.
As we said, most of the benefits are beyond you, though they do have a trickle down effect that can add up over time. Still, what are these benefits? The major ones are conserving landfill space, conserving energy, saving trees, creating jobs, making money, saving natural resources, and reducing pollution. Let's go into each of these in more detail.
Not taking up landfill space has many benefits in other areas. For example, reusing plastics rather than letting them sit in a landfill prevents pollution and saves energy. Also, as our landfills get bigger, the US has negotiated to deposit trash in other countries. It may not be for a long time, but if we don't find a way to deal with trash, we'll have a situation like in Wall-E, the animated Pixar movie, with trash as far as the eye can see.
Recycling, while it does involve energy to convert the materials back into usable forms, does save energy by cutting out the need to extract more of the material and the original processing.
Saving trees is has a beneficial effect on ecosystems as well as the level of greenhouse gases. As trees use carbon dioxide to live, more trees results in less of it in the air.
By recycling, you also help conserve the natural resources of the world. Metals and minerals have finite sources. We may not use them all up this century, but with a growing population and increasingly industrialized countries, the need to conserve natural resources when we can is a must.
Lastly, recycling reduces pollution. The manufacturing process for many goods releases waste into the environment. This contaminates water, air, and the environments in that area, resulting in poorer health for humans, plants and animals. Recycling can cut out this waste production, resulting in cleaner and livable environments.
With this new knowledge at your disposal, we hope you'll consider recycling. For more information, see the infographic below.
