RECYCLING FACTS
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Environmental Benefits of Recycling
- Using
energy requires the consumption of non-renewable fossil fuels
and involves emissions of numerous air and water pollutants. Manufacturing items from recycled
material uses less energy than making those items from raw natural
resources.
- Recycling
saves enough energy each year to provide heat and light for 400,000
Illinois homes.
Recycling Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions in three
ways:
- Reducing
emissions from energy consumption. Manufacturing goods from recycled
materials requires less energy than producing goods from virgin
materials. When less
energy is needed, fewer fossil fuels are burned and less carbon
dioxide is emitted to the atmosphere.
- Reducing
methane emissions from landfills. By diverting organic materials
from landfills, we reduce the methane released when these materials
decompose.
- Increasing
storage of carbon in trees.
Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store
it in wood, in a process called Acarbon sequestration@. Waste prevention and recycling
of paper products allow more trees to remain standing in the forest.
Recycling
Reduces Emissions of Air and Water Pollutants
- Recycling
produces less of 27 different types of pollutants, when compared
with using virgin materials, in manufacturing products and disposing
wastes.
Recycling
Conserves Natural Resources
- Recycling
reduces the need for landfills, allowing local lands to be used
in more environmentally preferable ways. And, by substituting scrap
materials for the use of trees, metal ores, minerals, oil, and
other virgin materials, recycling reduces the pressure to expand
forestry and mining production.
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