Did you know? Recycled paper can be made by using just a few non-hazardous chemicals, while virgin paper is produced with hundreds of hazardous and highly toxic chemicals. Recycling 16 aluminum cans saves the energy equivalent of 1 gallon of gasoline. Recycled aluminum cans may be back on the shelf in as little as 60 days. Recycling plastic and motor oil reduces pollution and the need to drill for new oil.
Recycling motor oil protects clean water — 1 quart will pollute , gallons of water. Recycling protects the land from the ravages of mining, oil drilling, and logging. Complete the cycle Take the next step and Buy Recycled in order to close the loop. Related Content:. You can reduce waste by: Purchasing durable, long-lasting goods. Seeking products and packaging that are as toxic free. Redesigning products to use less raw material in production, have a longer life, or be used again after its original use.
Re-Use Use durable coffee mugs. Refill bottles. Reuse boxes. Purchase refillable pens and pencils. Participate in a paint collection and reuse program. Use cloth napkins or towels.
Because recycling means you need to use less energy on sourcing and processing new raw materials, it produces lower carbon emissions. It also keeps potentially methane-releasing waste out of landfill sites. Reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases being emitted into the atmosphere is vital for stopping disastrous climate change. Lambeth council in London pointed out that "it is 6 times cheaper to dispose of recycled waste than general refuse. Recycling food waste and green waste is a great idea too, often generating lots of valuable compost that can be used to grow more food and other crops.
The coronavirus pandemic has caused devastation in all areas of our lives, including employment. There are over , young people aged out of work, and numbers are expected to grow substantially with the end of the furlough scheme. Instead of propping up declining, polluting industries, the government must future-proof livelihoods by investing in more green jobs.
Right now, young people are being taught and given careers advice on jobs that may not even exist in 10 years' time. We're setting them up to fail where we could be training them to succeed. The truth is we all need to get into the habit of using less stuff in the first place. But when the group analyzed more than 80 separate means that could help keep the world from passing the oft-cited threshold of 1. It gives more weight to solutions such as onshore wind turbines for that reason.
If 1 million metric tons of waste are landfilled, direct emissions equal about , tons of CO 2 -equivalent, Miranda Gorman, a senior fellow with the group, explained to me.
Not sending items for disposal avoids creating those emissions. Recycling is more complex, because the process itself consumes energy and resources. But it still reduces the use of virgin feedstocks, which Project Drawdown estimates can save up to an additional 2 million tons of CO 2 -equivalent. Both are ultimately needed, the group says. Read: The dangerous pile-up of artificial turf. For recycling to truly make an impact, however, it needs to be more effective.
In , national rates had dipped to 32 percent of total municipal waste, according to the most recent data available from the Environmental Protection Agency EPA —out of almost million tons of waste generated that year, only 69 million tons were recycled.
Paper and paperboard are among the more recycled materials, while glass has stagnated at about 25 percent. Plastics recycling rates remain under 10 percent.
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