Recycling conserves resources
When we recycle, used materials are made into new products,
reducing the need to consume natural resources. Recycling helps
conserve important raw materials, like aluminium, steel, precious
metals and fossil fuels and protects natural habitats for the
future.
Recycling reduces landfill
Landfill sites produce a quarter of the UKs emissions of
methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more powerful than
CO2. Current landfill sites are filling up. Recycling
helps reduce the amount of rubbish sent to landfill and reduces the
methane emissions.
Recycling helps tackle climate change
Currently UK recycling is estimated to save more than 18 million
tonnes of CO2 going into the atmosphere a year. This is
the equivalent to taking 5 million cars off the road.
Recycling saves energy
Using recycled materials in the manufacturing process uses
considerably less energy than it takes to produce new products from
raw materials. Recycling aluminium requires only 5% of the energy
it takes to make new aluminium and produces only 5% of the
CO2 emissions.
Recycling one aluminium can saves enough energy to run a
television set for three hours. Producing steel from recycled
material saves 75% of the energy needed to produce steel made from
virgin material.
The energy saving from recycling one glass bottle will:
- Power a 100 watt bulb for an hour
- Power a computer for 25 minutes
- Power a colour TV for 20 minutes
- Power a washing machine for 10 minutes