Benefits of Recycling
- Conserves our natural resources
- Saves valuable energy
- Reduces our waste in landfills
- Reduces pollution
- Creates jobs – according to the EPA approximately 757,000 jobs.
Further statistics on jobs from the EPA / Recycling Economic Foundation Study in 2016 – This equates to 1.57 jobs, $76,000 in wages, and $14,101 in tax revenues for every 1,000 tons of materials recycled. - Supports and encourages manufacturing
In 2013 according to the EPA, Americans generated about 254 million tons of trash and recycled and composted
about 87 million tons of this material, which is equivalent to a 34.3 percent recycling rate. On average, we
recycled and composted 1.51 pounds of our individual waste generation of 4.40 pounds per person per day.
The garbage is comprised of batteries, paints, appliances, paper from newspapers, magazines, junk mail, bottles of all shapes, sizes, and uses, unwanted clothing and linens, furniture, product packaging, and yard waste. Recycling and composting prevented 87.2 million tons of material from being disposed in 2013, up from 15 million tons in 1980. Diverting these materials from landfills prevented the release of approximately 186 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent into the air in 2013—equivalent to taking over 39 million cars off the road for a year.
[1] EPA estimated the combined waste amount among residential homeowners, renters, and apartment dwellers to be 55 to 65 percent of total trash generated while the remaining waste amount formed from commercial and institutional locations amounted to 35 to 45 percent. [1]
“The waste we save today leaves less for tomorrow.”
For more information read this report.
Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: Facts and Figures
Reduce in other areas – Additional pages to read.
Plastics Glass and Metals Paper Equipment