Why recycle?
Recycling reduces the demand for raw materials, allowing waste materials to be used again and again - and made into useful products. Reducing demand for raw materials can mean less mining, quarrying and deforestation. Most of the everyday products we use can be recycled.
Making new goods out of recycled material saves energy, for example:
- making new aluminium cans from recycled cans uses 20 times less energy than making cans from the raw material, Bauxite.
- producing recycled paper uses between 28 - 70 per cent less energy than virgin paper and uses less water. This is because most of the energy used in papermaking is the pulping needed to turn wood into paper.
Because recycling saves energy, it is one of the best things that an individual can do to help reduce the effects of climate change. If every UK home recycled 50 per cent of their rubbish, our annual CO2 emissions would fall by up to six million tonnes. To calculate your carbon footprint visit Act on CO2.
Government targets
The United Kingdom produces millions of tonnes of household waste every year. Government has set targets for local councils to recycle 50 per cent of household waste by 2020 and to recover value from 75 per cent of our household waste by 2020.
If councils fail to reduce the amount of household waste landfilled they face stiff penalties of £150 for every tonne of waste landfilled above their target. By recycling, you can also help councils to keep costs down. Government has produced a National Waste Strategy, setting out its vision for reducing waste in England & Wales.
