Photo credit:
Peter Kaminski
Recycling is the act of processing used materials into new ones. It prevents the waste of useful material, slows down the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduces energy usage and air and water pollution, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions as compared to virgin production. Recyclable materials include glass, metals, paper, textiles, plastics, and electronics.
There is some debate as to whether recycling is an efficient use of resources or is economically efficient. Efficiency increases in more populated areas due to economy of scale, and studies have shown that recycling is the most efficient method of dealing with the disposal of household waste. More importantly, recycling has shown to lead to a reduction in envornmentally damaging mining activity and reduces energy, waste, and resource consumption as well as air pollution and hazardous waste leaching from landfills.
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