Recycling

Reduce, reuse, recycle

Recycling has been a common practice for most of human history, with recorded advocates as far back as Plato in 400 BC. Recycling is the process of re-using a given product (beyond its intended use), or producing a new product from a recyclable material.

Recycling:

Reduces the consumption of fresh raw materials
Reduces energy usage
Reduces air pollution (from incineration)
Reduces water pollution (from landfilling)
Reduces the need for conventional waste disposal
Reduces greenhouse gas emissions

Waste has to go somewhere

Recycling is a key component of modern waste reduction and is the third component of the reduce, reuse, recycle waste hierarchy. The term reduce, reuse, recycle is commonly used to provide simple guidance for people wishing to do their part:

Reduce: reducing the amount of the earth's resources we use to make products which may not be essential.

Reuse: adopting the habit of reusing products.

Recycle: identifying old products which could be made into something new.

Recycling bins

Recyclable materials include many kinds of glass, paper, metal, plastic, textiles, and electronics. Materials to be recycled are either brought to a collection centre or picked up from the curbside, then sorted, cleaned, and reprocessed into new materials bound for manufacturing.

Recycling Facts

Each year in the UK households throw away over 29.1 million tonnes of waste, that's the same weight as 4.85 million male African Elephants!
In the UK we throw away 13 billion steel cans every year, stacked on top of each other, you could make three piles of cans that would reach to the moon!
The energy saved by recycling one aluminium drink can is enough to run a television for three hours
The energy saved from recycling one glass bottle is enough a power a light bulb for four hours
Disposable nappies take 500 years to decompose
Producing steel from recycled material saves 75% of the energy needed if steel were made from virgin material
Every steel can is 100% recyclable. It can be recycled over and over again into products like bicycles and of course new cans!
If every Briton purchased one item made from recycled wool a year it would save 371 million gallons of water, 480 tonnes of chemical dyes and 4571 million days of an average family's electricity needs
Every tonne of paper recycled saves 17 trees.

Remember, simple waste-reducing actions can end our reliance on landfill, and make a big dent in our carbon emissions. Just because you don’t want something any more, doesn’t mean that someone else won’t. Our intentions may be good when it comes to reusing bags, but remembering to take them with us when we shop is essential. Reducing what you buy, then throw away, is a fashion statement that can help fight climate change!

Recycle More Fact Sheet (PDF - 100KB)

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Recycling

Recycling Facts

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