Recycling is an important part of sustainable materials management, which emphasizes the productive and sustainable use of materials across their entire life cycle. Recycling helps protect the environment by conserving resources, reducing waste, slowing climate change and minimizing environmental pollution. It also has economic benefits, creating jobs and generating local and state tax revenues.
Recycling is an important activity that can help reduce waste sent to landfills, conserve natural resources, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Recycling conserves energy, reduces air and water pollution, and conserves natural resources. By reusing aluminum, paper, glass, plastics, and other materials, we can save production and energy costs while reducing the negative impacts that the extraction and processing of virgin materials has on the environment. Recycling also helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing energy consumption. Using recycled materials to make new products reduces the need for virgin materials. This avoids greenhouse gas emissions that would result from extracting or mining virgin materials. In addition, manufacturing products from recycled materials typically requires less energy than making products from virgin materials.
Environmental Benefits
Recycling also helps conserve non-renewable resources. For example, by not recycling paper, 80% more wood will need to be harvested by 2010 to meet growing paper consumption demands. However, through active paper recycling, only 20% more wood will need to be harvested by 2010. Waste prevention and smart shopping are even more effective at reducing greenhouse gas emissions that result from energy consumption. When we buy less or reuse products, less energy is needed to extract, transport and process materials to manufacture products.
Recycling also reduces pollution by keeping waste out of landfills and incinerators where it would release harmful pollutants into the environment. It helps reduce traffic congestion and the pollution that comes with it by reducing the need for new raw materials. Recycling also helps preserve our history through adaptive reuse of old buildings.
Economic Benefits
Recycling has a range of economic benefits, including job creation, cost savings for businesses and governments, and revenue generation from recycled materials. For example, the 2020 Recycling Economic Information (REI) Report by the US EPA found that in 2012, recycling and reuse activities in the United States accounted for 757,000 jobs, $36.6 billion in wages and salaries, and $6.7 billion in federal, state and local tax revenues. In New Jersey alone, recycling activities generated over 1.3 million jobs and nearly $1 billion in wages. Additionally, businesses can save money by reducing their waste disposal costs through recycling. For instance, a study conducted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality found that businesses could save up to $145.53 per unit or $148.69 per ton of waste recycled. Furthermore, recycled materials can be used to create new products which generate revenue for businesses. For example, Bell Atlantic Directory Services invested considerable resources into researching the use of recycled-content paper for its phone books due to its desire to outrun legislation (https://hbr.org/1993/11/recycling-for-profit-the-new-green-business-frontier).
Social Benefits
Recycling waste has several social benefits, including community engagement and education, public health, and impact on vulnerable populations. Recycling programs can contribute to a healthy, united community by preventing greenhouse gases (GHGs) and supporting local economies by creating jobs and tax revenue. Recycling knowledge influences individuals' and communities' recycling behaviors. A community-based solution is one in which the members of vulnerable communities are empowered to participate in and even lead clean-up efforts. Waste pickers, collectors, and recyclers refer to people who make a living by selling recyclables found in trash. They are found in the poorest neighborhoods of cities worldwide. The rise of waste picker cooperatives began at the end of the 20th century, emboldened by democratization and human rights movements.
Recycling programs can also help improve water and air quality. Despite the demonstrated health risks, locating waste and toxic facilities in minority and low-income neighborhoods is viewed as a welcome means of economic development by some. This practice results in environmental injustice that disproportionately affects these communities.
An example of community engagement through recycling is a recycling campaign developed to assess participants’ recycling behaviors, information sources, knowledge, and attitudes about recycling and the environment. Pencil-paper surveys were administered during National Public Health Week at two locations on campus: a student center with high foot traffic near food vendors (location 1) and an academic building with lower foot traffic (location 2). An example of public health benefits from recycling is reducing exposure to hazardous materials that can cause respiratory problems or cancer when burned or buried in landfills. An example of impact on vulnerable populations is empowering waste pickers through cooperatives that provide them with better working conditions, higher income levels, access to social services such as healthcare or education for their children.
Conclusion
Recycling has numerous benefits for the environment, including reducing waste sent to landfills and combustion facilities, conserving natural resources, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Recycling also conserves energy, reduces air and water pollution, and helps to reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials. Additionally, recycling can provide economic benefits by creating jobs in the recycling industry and generating revenue from selling recycled materials. Socially, recycling can promote community engagement and education, public health, and impact on vulnerable populations. Overall, recycling is an important tool for promoting sustainability and protecting our planet for future generations.