Recycling Benefits for Business and Individuals

While there are many disadvantages and problems that are caused by not recycling, this article provides information on the benefits of recycling to date and the positive outcome that we have experienced as a result of businesses and individuals who have decided to get behind recycling for personal and less selfish reasons. On one level the cost of recycling is actually much less than incineration, land fills and waste collection meaning that the more we shift towards recycling the more the world can benefit as a whole through reduced taxation, meaning funds are spent in a better way which will ultimately benefit everyone.

According to information provided by the Nation Recycling Coalition many cities are starting to change their perception on recycling, years after claiming that it would be a drain on their economy. New York is one of the more prominent examples. City decision makers felt years back that recycling would be a $40 Mil drain on the economy, however after speaking with experts they re asserted their position and found that they could save $20 Mil with a carefully planned and well executed recycling campaign.

Now local councils are trying to increase people’s propensity to recycle with new measures being taken to charge people for as much waste they throw away. Now this really means that people can save big by turning towards recycling, and they have further incentives when they are actually being charged for the burden on the economy that they create.

At the moment, recycling is responsible for 1.1 Mil jobs in the USA, with that number expected to rise as more governments get behind recycling. Already creating around $37 Million in salaries annually, we can be in no doubt that recycling has a positive effect in that regard. As well as creating jobs directly, recycling also creates many jobs indirectly in the form of private sector contracts, innovation and subsequent revenues and employment. For those reasons alone recycling has certainly had a positive impact.

Recycling and composting now moves more than double the waste away from landfill sites that it did 10 years ago. Now 70 Million tons of previously useless waste is now put to use and being resold as products and put to use in our gardens up and down the country. To give an indication of how that impacts us; for every one ton of paper that is recycled rather than thrown away, we can expect to save 15 trees from being cut down. And another great indicator is that the energy consumed from creating the glass that can be saved from recycling one glass bottle is enough to light a single bulb for 4 hours straight.

Recycling is also reducing most categories of water and air pollutants, so as we recycle more, as we are doing at the moment, we are reducing the amount of pollutants that would otherwise end up in the water that we drink and the air that we breathe. So far, our recycling efforts are working well, and a great sign that as our recycling efforts scale, we will all benefit.