If It Is Thursday It's Going Green - Recycling in the Community

Remember Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repair

I hope that most of you are lucky enough to have a recycling program in your community. I also hope that you and your family are participating in the process.

While recycling has become part of the daily routine for many people, the full importance of recycling is not always understood. In general, people do understand that recycling helps to minimize the drain on the limited resources of our planet. However, there are several other factors that make recycling important. Here are a few other reasons why recycling is extremely important to our world today.

One of the great things about recycling is that the process helps to minimize the presence of waste materials in our communities.Because items such as glass, paper, and plastics are being reused to create new products, they do not end up taking up space in a landfill somewhere. Since most people are not interested in having a garbage dump located near their homes or offices, recycling makes it possible to avoid creating newer and larger landfills that would otherwise be necessary to accommodate all the waste.

While many people realize that recycling is good for the environment in terms of easing the demand on our limited resources, they may not realize that choosing to reuse and recycle items also makes it possible to cut the cost of producing products significantly. For example, it takes anywhere from seventy-five to ninety-five percent less energy to produce aluminum cans from recycled products than it does to create them from raw materials. Thus, the importance of recycling not only extends to preserving raw materials but also to easing the energy needed to manufacture various goods.

Another example of the importance of recycling has to do with the creation of new jobs. As more people recycle, the number of people required to collect, sort and process recycled items continues to grow. More jobs in the community means more money spent in local stores, more taxes collected for the city or town, and in general a healthier economy for everyone concerned.

The importance of recycling also extends to maintaining a healthy balance in the ecology of the planet. By not having to mine raw materials in order to continue producing the same volume of products, there is less damage to our rivers, forests, and areas where wildlife is abundant. Since every form of life on the planet is dependent on the presence of another form of life, maintaining an ecological balance is key to providing security for the generations to come.

Think about all the reasons behind recycling the next time you begin to wonder if your meager contribution really makes a difference. The combined efforts of all people to recycle do in fact make a huge difference in our world. Look around your community and you are likely to see first hand the importance of recycling to your city or town in several different ways.

If you do have a recycling service in your community – use it. If you do not then start to petition your local politicians and decision makers to get one started in your city/town. It takes a little change in old habits to remember to place recyclable objects in another container, but guess what, it soon becomes a natural habit to separate the items.

Together we can make a difference!