Why Recycle?

Recycling is important. Every day people throw away things that are empty, broken, used or just not wanted any more. Recycling transforms these old things into brand new useful things.

So why should we bother to recycle?

Environmental Impact of Landfill

If we do not recycle our rubbish it is taken to a landfill site - a big hole in the ground where it is spread out and squashed down. Burying waste in landfill sites spoils our countryside and is very bad for our environment. Chemicals can build up underneath the surface, which can escape. A poisonous liquid can also seep out and cause damage to plants and wildlife. Soon there will not be enough land left to build new landfill sites, so we need to prevent materials going to landfill sites by reducing, reusing and recycling items.

Reduce the need for mining new raw materials

Most of the rubbish we put in the dustbin is packaging. This is made from different raw materials:

• Wood from trees is used to make paper and cardboard boxes
• Oil is extracted and processed to make plastics,
• Metal ores are mined to make can
• Sand and other minerals are used to make glass.

Removing these raw materials has a great impact the environment they are found in. By recycling you are reducing the need to extract more raw materials and conserving the environment they would have been taken from.  Recycling reduces the energy (carbon footprint) needed to remove raw materials, and the pollution that would have been generated by the extraction and transportation processes.

If you check the labels of the packaging you put in the bin you will find that most items are now made from some recycled materials.

So what can be recycled?

Each person throws away about seven times their weight in rubbish every year. The average household dustbin contains:

• 38% Kitchen and garden waste
• 18% Newspapers and Magazines
• 14% Paper and Cardboard
• 7% Glass
• 7% Plastic
• 5% Metal
• 5% Wood
• 3% Textiles
• 2% 'Disposable' Nappies

Over half of this rubbish can be recycled but it depends on whether it is too dirty, made from lots of different types of material so can't be separated or if it's made from something that cannot be recycled. It also depends on whether there is a buyer for the recycled material. This is the reason why different districts recycle different waste materials.