Recycling is good for the environment

It takes less energy to create new items from recycled materials than it does to create new products from raw materials. Mining minerals and milling trees into lumber requires vast amounts of energy to create products. Recycling entails reusing materials as many times as possible to conserve natural resources.

Recycling is good for communities

Extracting materials from mines or forests is done far from the place where goods are consumed; however recycling starts in your own home. Gathering recyclables, and reprocessing them into feedstock for future products is done locally by people who live, work, and spend money in their own communities.

Recycling reduces pollution

Burning garbage or throwing waste into landfills produces byproducts that pollute the environment. Runoff from landfills and metals like mercury find their way into streams, rivers and oceans, fish, and eventually into human beings, harming our health.