Recycling helps our world in lots of ways.

Recycling saves energy

For example recycling just one aluminium can saves enough energy to power a TV for 3 hours.
If every UK home recycled 50 per cent of their rubbish, our annual CO₂ emissions would fall by up to six million tonnes.

Recycling saves raw materials

Turning old things into new means we don't have to quarry or mine rocks with minerals in.  Trees don't have to be cut down and oil doesn't have to be used

Recycling cuts down on pollution

• Saving energy and re-using raw materials means that less pollution is created compared to when things are made from new raw materials.
• Recycling old bottles, instead of making them from new, can cut pollution by up to 20%
• Making bags from recycled polythene rather than raw materials produces only a third of the sulphur dioxide and half of the nitrous oxide.

Recycling saves habitats

• Many habitats are being lost because we are cutting down trees to make paper or digging up the ground to get the minerals needed for electrical goods. 
• Landfills take up a lot of space which could otherwise be places for animals and plants to live
  Recycling old bottles, instead of making them from new reduces the demand for water by half. 
• Which means the rivers and lakes are less likely to dry up.
• Making bags from recycled polythene rather than raw materials uses 1/8 as much water

Recycling creates jobs

140,000 people are employed by the recycling industry in the UK. By putting your usable rubbish in a recycling container, you could be keeping these people in a job.

Recycling saves money

Landfill costs money.  Taxes have to be paid on all the waste that is buried.  Fines will soon be introduced if too much waste is buried.  Recycling helps to meet the targets for the amount that can be buried.

For more information about landfill sites follow this link.