Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
To Reduce is to cut down on what is produced and what we consume.
To Reuse is to find ways to repurpose items which otherwise are designed to be discarded.
To Recycle is to submit items to be broken down into base materials and converted into future products.
One of the most important things we can do to protect our environment and fight climate change is recycle.
Recycling helps reduce waste by extractive materials like paper, glass or plastic that would otherwise end up in landfills where they take pollution with them as well their own weight upon burial which causes gasses such as sound logging practices releasing methane into the atmosphere causing further problems including warming temperatures and rising sea levels. Recycle programs also promote green jobs; reduced transportation costs due potential fuel savings from recycled material use on site at facilities recycling processes.
The most common materials to recycle:
- Plastics - Plastics are the absolute worst.
- Paper -Paper products are relatively simple to recycle.
- Glass - Glass is just about the longest-lasting man-made material, taking up to 1 million years to degrade in the environment.
- Metal - Metals must be mined from the earth, which damages the areas and environments those mines are dug.
- Organic Materials, Food & Compost - Organic waste such as food is the most biodegradable of the lot.
- Electronics Known as E-waste , this includes all discarded electronic items, whether broken, unwanted, or at the end of their working lives.
- Batteries - Batteries require special consideration when discarding them, as they contain toxic chemicals and heavy metals which shouldn’t decompose at your average landfill.
- Clothing & Textiles - Textile recycling, which includes clothing, rags, sheets, curtains, linens, and other similar materials, is a key way to reduce municipal solid waste.
Few ways recycling helps the environment and fight climate change:
1. Recycling Conserves Resources: Recycling is a great way to help the environment by reducing demand for new resources. When we recycle paper, forests are saved from being cut down and trees that would have been harvested in their place go towards making paper instead! Metal recycling helps minimize damage done when mining raw materials like aluminum or copper.
2. Recycling Saves Energy: Aluminum can be recycled and reused many times before it needs to undergo the processes of creation from scratch. This is because recycling saves 90% - 95% less energy than if you were making something new, rather than using raw materials like bauxite ore that already exist in large quantities on Earth’s surface or as loose winkles deep within our planet's crust. Recycled aluminum doesn't require all those factories emitting greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere where they contribute heavily toward global warming!
3. Recycling Protects the Environment: When we recycle materials instead of cutting down on new resources extracted from the earth, such as through farming or mining for example- then not only do vulnerable ecosystems survive but they are able to exist long into future generations. In contrast with primary production methods where all those raw agricultural products need fresh replacements every season - recycling allows wildlife populations grow larger due in part by allowing them more time at home base without being prematurely exterminated because there's no requirement that you must always produce something just so another person will buy it.
4. Recycling Slows the Spread of Landfills: Recycling is a great way to help keep landfills from expanding and filling up with waste. If everyone recycled just one percent of their trash, it would add over five years worth in storage space for all this recoverable material that currently goes off-site every day!
5. Recycling Creates Jobs: Recycling is good for the environment and supports local economies! The truth about recycling? It actually helps create jobs.
6. Recycling protects ecosystems and wildlife: To protect our environment and wildlife, it is imperative that we recycle plastic waste. This pollution material has been devastating to both the oceans as well as rivers; however by recycling this same item or other types such like paper products -such- decrease even further into nothingness due in part from decreased demand for these materials which ultimately helps clean up some areas within your community if not all around them!
Conclusion
Recycling saves energy, reduces pollution and greenhouse gasses, conserves natural resources, and keeps Earth’s creatures safe.
The next time you throw something out, ask yourself am I disposing of this correctly? Can it be recycled? How much energy was used to get the materials from Earth's natural environment and what will happen if they end up in a landfill or caught on fire - do those crematoria even take plastics anymore?? Recycling is an important way to prevent pollution and conserve natural resources. It's also the responsible thing - not only does recycling keep Earth safe, it creates new industries too!
