Benefits Of Recycling

There are hundreds of reasons why you should consider recycling, especially if you own a business. Besides the fact that it reduces pollution, it diminishes the effect of conserves of the resources. If your business isn’t recycling yet, then you should consider starting doing it. It’s good for the planet, and also it will have a big impact on your business. Having a business recycling program is something you’ve never considered? Well, it’s time to look at the following benefits of why your company should recycle.

Is a non-profit trade association comprised of manufacturing and other industrial companies interested in efficiently managing the waste management aspects of their environmental management programs. In the case of recycling, communities can see benefits when their government and local businesses invest in recycling facilities and equipment and promote recycling. Savings Potential Recycling isn’t just saving materials from the landfill; it’s also saving expenses and resources for communities that participate. Environmental Benefits Using recycled materials in the manufacturing process conserves energy, saves natural resources, and reduces pollution.

Improve your company’s image

More and more people are concerned about the impact of human activity on the planet, and consumers aren’t thinking about the price of the products, but they also think about sustainability. Deciding to recycle is a great wat to build reputation with your customers, as they will be happy to know that they’re favorite company cares about the environment.

Depending on the type of business, you could encourage your clients to even get involved in your recycling plan. This plan is not only good for keeping your existing clients engaged, but to attract new ones. Also, consumers will feel better about working in a company where recycling matters. If your employees will learn how to recycle at work, they will probably do it at home, or elsewhere. They will appreciate more working in a company with standards and values. It’s a great way to encourage more and more people to start recycling for the wealth of our planet.

It can save your business money

Recycling can also save your business more money in the long run. What happens when you recycle? New products are made, using less raw materials and energy. So, the more businesses and people choose to recycle, the lower cost of the manufacturing new products. This means that more and more companies will be able to offer products at lower prices. Many of the products could be used in your company, so it will help you reduce your business outlay.

Considering the many advantages recycling has, there is no excuse for you to not implement this process in your business right now. If you’re ready to implement it, call a recycling company as soon as possible. EPS6 is one of the best forms of recycling and packaging. Mil-tek has a great solution that provides many benefits to companies. It’s also a source of income for your business! It’s extremely useful for many industries, including for fruits and meat companies. Usually, businesses don’t recycle, as they believe that it’s expensive and difficult. But reputable companies, such as Mil-tek, will ensure that you can send the material for safely and securely recycling.

Plastic

Contact a recycling company today that can help your business learn more about the recycling opportunities, and how your company can minimize waste. This will save money and space for your business.

Attract Higher Quality Workers

Employees will be more motivated to work for a company that recycles, simply because workplace sustainability and recycling is very important to millennials. Previous generations didn’t put their attention to recycling, but now, most of the younger generation are willing to even quite their job, if recycling isn’t implemented in the company. It makes sense, as most millennials are planning to change workplace in the next years then other generations.

Protect the Environment

This is perhaps the most relevant reason why people should recycle: because we can help protect the environment. How can businesses recycle and bring a positive impact on the environment?

First of all, it saves energy. Recycling takes less energy to reuse and produce the same materials. Newspapers, for example, are reused for printing. If you recycle aluminum cans, you save up to 90% of the energy used to produce another one. The world population continues to grow, so it means that the size of the landfills and trash dumps must grow as well. The landfills are mostly full of products that aren’t biodegradable. This means that these products will remain in the landfills for hundreds of years, producing damaging vapors.

Food waste is also a massive problem which causes pollution. Only in the USA, 40% of the food is wasted. Where is food wasted?

  • Retail businesses
  • Households
  • Restaurants
  • Institutions

There are several reasons why food gets wasted, and this is a global problem. There are major environmental impacts of food waste, which means that uneaten food is the biggest component of public solid waste. What can you do? Learn how to reduce food waste with your own cooking ideas. To create zero waste in the kitchen, try planning meals and shop for food in advance, but be careful not to end up throwing it in the garbage. Learn how to recycle at home, and at work – local government must have a program you can participate in. You can check the drop-off points of food waste.

How to recycle at work?

Making changes to reuse and reduce waste at work can be very beneficial to you and your company. There are many organizations that can start recycle and deliver a great example to the rest of the population. Why not start with your business?

It’s important to communicate with your staff members and consider their thoughts. Ideas are always welcome to be discussed, so make sure you keep everyone informed of the businesses’ evolution. You can start by reducing paper use and recycle waste paper. It will help you use less paper and save money. 60% of the waste is produced by paper waste. You can split paper use and print documents on both sides, for example. And remember, only print when necessary.

If you work in an office environment, try to update and restore computers. Don’t throw them away. This reduces your waste and the manufacture of new computers. Or you can choose to donate the computers to charity companies. Also, use rechargeable batteries: for non-rechargeable batteries, create a place where they can be deposited.

Related

Recycling is the process of turning old used materials into new ones. Through recycling and reusing waste, energy and raw materials are saved.

With the continuously increasing population and use of disposable products and packaging, our finite natural resources are being depleted at an alarming rate.

Currently less that 25% of our waste is being recycled, with the remaining being buried or incinerated in landfills. This seems absurd when we could be reusing and/or recycling more than 70% of the waste we produce.

Nearly everything we use in our everyday lives can be recycled including aluminum cans, aluminum foil and bake ware, steel and tin cans used for soup and coffee, cardboard including milk and juice cartons, magazines, office and newspaper, phone books, most glass products, plastics bottles, jars, and jugs, car and household batteries, light bulbs, electronics, and even food.

If just half of Americans recycled on a regular basis, it would reduce greenhouse emission by the same factor as taking 25 million cars off the road.

By recycling we could reduce exploitation of natural resources, save money, reduce pollution and waste, and create jobs and boost the economy.

This article will discuss the many benefits of recycling including environmental and economic benefits.

1. Preserves Natural Resources & Prevents Habitat Destruction

Most of the world’s natural resources are finite, meaning they are limited and will run out at some point. Preserving these natural resources is a primary concern for those concerned about the longevity of natural resources available for human use.

We can reduce the consumption of natural resources by using recycled materials to make new products and packaging. Preventing waste through source reduction before it is generated can further reduce the need for disposal and save more resources.

Recycling can result in products better than those made by the virgin materials. For example, after being processed for recycling, the tin in bimetallic cans is more refined and as a result more valuable.

Benefits of recycling paper

For every ton of steel recycled, 40 pounds of limestone, 1000 pounds of coal, and 2,500 pounds of iron ore are saved. By recycling tin we can reduce the need for raw material which reduces mining and its associated pollution.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Natural Resources, in 2005 the state saved 1.4 million tons of iron ore, 829,786 tons of coal, and 71,124 tons of limestone by recycling over 1.2 million tons of steel.

By reducing land disturbances and pollution associated with mining and extraction of new materials we are decreasing the degradation of natural ecosystems and wildlife habitats.

Paper recycling plays a direct role in the preservation and biodiversity of forests, by lowering the demand for wood.

The longleaf pine forest in the southern United States used to cover 90 million acres, but today less than five percent remains due to harvesting mature longleaf pin for the production of wood, paper, and other paper products.

The longleaf pine forest is home to more than 20 endangered species. By recycling paper and paper products we are reducing the pressure on the remaining longleaf pine forest and preserving habitat for these endangered species.

Benefits Of Recycling Aluminum

2. Creates Jobs & Benefits the Economy

Recycling plays an important role in the economy by ensuring waste is re-used and reduced.

Studies have shown that for every one job in waste management there are four jobs in recycling. After the recycling process, even more jobs are created for making new goods out of the recycled materials.

It has been estimated by the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive that recycling and remanufacturing industries create more than $1 billion in revenue and hundreds of thousands of jobs in manufacturing. Jobs range from high quality product manufacturing to materials handling and processing, employing low-, medium-, and highly-skilled workers.

According to the most recent census data, recycling and reuse activities in the United States in 2007 created 757,000 jobs, $36.6 billion in wages, and $6.7 billion in tax revenues.

To put these numbers into better perspective, for every 1,000 tons of recycled material 1.57 jobs are created with an average wage of $76,030, and $14,101 in local and state tax revenue is generated.

Recycling also saves communities money in waste handling, landfill production, and incineration costs associated with burning garbage because waste is being recycled and reused rather than put into the landfills.

Benefits Of Recycling

By buying recycled products and packaging we can create an economic incentive for recyclable materials to be collected, recycled, and manufacture into new products. This creates a closed loop system that reduces the costs of recycling.

3. Saves Energy, Reduces Pollution, & Preserves Landfill Space

Recycling reduces pollution because manufactures are reusing materials instead of creating new ones, which also saves energy, and toxic chemicals and greenhouse gases aren’t being released into the atmosphere though incineration in landfills.

By recycling hazardous waste, it is prevented from making it to the landfills where it can potentially contaminate water sources through seepage, which has been known to happen.

The EPA estimates that 0.1% to 0.4% of surface aquifers are contaminated by landfills and industrial impoundments leaching metals, mineral, explosives, bacteria, viruses, and other toxic substances.

Anything more than 0% is unacceptable.

According to Stanford University, the amount of energy that is lost by throwing away recyclables such as aluminum cans and newspapers is the equivalent to the annual output of 15 power plants.

For every one ton of recycled newsprint 1.7 barrels of oil, 7,000 gallons of water, 4.6 cubic yards of landfill space, 601 kilowatts of energy is saved, and 60 pounds of air pollutants are prevented from being released into the atmosphere.

One ton of recycled news print saves 9.0 barrels of oil, 7,000 gallons of water, 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space, 601 kilowatts of energy, and 60 pounds of air pollutants from being released.

Recycling one ton of plastic saves 16.3 barrels of oil, 5,774 kilowatts of energy, and 30 cubic yards of landfill space.

For every one ton of glass 0.12 barrels of oil, 42 kilowatts of energy, and 2 cubic yards of landfill space are saved, and 7.5 pounds of air pollutants are prevented from being released into the atmosphere.

Recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to power a light bulb for 4 hours.

When you recycle aluminum, 95% of the energy required to make the same amount of aluminum from its virgin source is saved. Recycling one ton of aluminum saves 40 barrels of oil, 14,000 kilowatts of energy and 10 cubic yards of landfill space.

Benefits Of Recycling

With this type of data, recycling should seem like a no-brainer.

Benefits Of Recycling Essay

Conclusion

As you can see by recycling you are reducing pollution, conserving resources, saving energy, promoting the economy, and creating jobs.

When we are only recycling a quarter of what we produce in waste, not only are we wasting precious natural resources and polluting the environment, but we are also basically throwing away energy and destroying land and habitats just to create more energy to waste.

The problem of waste may be the most worrying concern for the environment and overall health of human beings, but there is a way to solve and mitigate this problem. Think about nature and your own family’s well-being as well as the health of future generations and reduce, reuse, and recycle.

It is our responsibility to ensure that waste is recycled, and to protect the environment for future generations. By instilling the morals of recycling into our own lives, community, and children we can create an increased awareness on necessity to prevent waste and recycle.

If you have ideas on recycling, please continue this conversation in the comments.

Benefits Of Recycling Epa

Resources

Benefits Of Recycling Plastic

Featured Image Credit: Homard.net @ Flickr