We explain why it is important to recycle, what recycling consists of and the details of each of its benefits.
What is the importance of recycling?
Recycling is one of the most important ecological tasks and reuse of elements in the industrial world, despite the fact that, unfortunately, in many current societies it is still a rather minority activity.
Recycling consists of the reprocessing or new use of waste materials as industrial raw materials that still retain their most significant properties, such as cardboard, paper, certain plastics, most metals, glass or even water itself once we have used it.
These inputs, normally discarded along with biodegradable garbage, have not yet reached the limit of their useful life, and through recycling they can be re-incorporated into the economy to form new consumer products.
This work is fundamental in our society, due to a set of reasons of economic, ecological and social interest, among which are:
- Reduces the amount of waste that goes into the environment. By extending the useful life of certain materials, it reduces the volume of garbage – especially non-biodegradable garbage or that with very long decomposition periods – that we dump into the environment, in order to contaminate the soil and seas less. Thus, we give the planet more time to regenerate the ecological damage that our model of life causes.
- Provides new inputs to the industry at low cost. Recyclable materials have a very low cost, since they are part of the waste, and can perfectly be reused or reprocessed to re-manufacture consumable products, feeding industries more economically.
- Reduces the amount of raw materials extracted from the environment. Something that emerges from the above is that less raw material is demanded from the environment, therefore reducing the ecological cost of its extraction and primary processing. For example, for every ton of recycled paper, the felling of 18 entire trees is avoided. By recycling, we are prolonging the life of the planet's resources.
- Generates new jobs. The recycling industry, like any other, requires personnel to carry out continuous work, which represents a demand for personnel that contributes to reducing unemployment and trains industrial professionals with an ecological orientation.
- Save energy. Savings in raw materials and extractive work not only save direct ecological damage, but also indirect damage, since they reduce the amount of energy that these activities need. This energy is obtained at the expense of exploiting the environment, in one way or another, so that by recycling we are doubly protecting nature.
- Educate in responsibility. Getting involved in recycling as a society implies not only an environmental duty, but is also part of the activities aimed at promoting responsible consumption, not having an attitude of reckless and unconscious consumption before the world, as if our way of life had no future consequences. Therefore, recycling is also educating future generations.
Continue with: The three Rs
References
- “10 reasons to recycle” at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain).
- “The importance of recycling” at the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (Argentina).
- “Why do we have to recycle?” (video) in Creative Impulse.
- “The Importance of Recycling” in The New Times (Rwanda).
- “Why is Recycling Important?” at Recycling Bins (UK).
