When done thoughtfully, recycling is cost-effective. Less energy is required to make products from recycled materials than to produce them from raw materials.
The cost-effectiveness of recycling is mostly found in energy saved. It takes less energy to make products from recycled materials than to produce them from raw materials.
According to private hauler Waste Management, recycling one aluminum can save enough energy to run a television for two or three hours. It takes less energy to make new aluminum cans from recycled aluminum than to refine aluminum from the bauxite ore it comes from. Bauxite is mostly imported, an additional expense.
Recycling steel cans, like those used for canned foods, saves 75 percent of the energy it takes to create steel from raw materials.
There’s a reason people say to recycle paper and save the trees. According to Waste Management, recycling 500 average phone books could save between 17 and 31 trees, 7,000 gallons of water, 463 gallons of oil, 587 pounds of air pollution, 4,077 kilowatt hours of energy and landfill space.
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Recycling is cost-effective as long as it is done thoughtfully. Paper should be dry, food cans should be rinsed out and oily cardboard, like pizza boxes, should be kept out of the recycling bin.
You may wonder if the water used to clean jars or bottles is worth it. After all we live in the desert. However, you can be smart about this.
You can wash out food containers when you’re doing the dishes. Most could go on the top rack of your dishwasher. If you do dishes by hand, clean them out in the dishwater in your sink after you’ve done the other dishes. Rinse quickly. Some people fill a second sink with rinse water. You wouldn’t be using any extra this way.
In the end, you must decide for yourself.
