Recycling

Pennsylvania's natural resources are being depleted rapidly, particularly with the increasing use of disposable products and packaging. Most people already know that recycling plays an important role in managing the garbage generated in homes and businesses, and that it reduces the need for landfills and incinerators. In fact, in 2002 Pennsylvania achieved a recycling rate of 37.6%. However, fewer people are aware of the external and indirect benefits that can be achieved by recycling.

Manufacturing takes a heavy toll on irreplaceable natural resources from forests and mines, but reprocessing used materials to make new products and packaging reduces the consumption of natural resources. By recycling 620,000 tons of steel in 2002, Pennsylvanians saved 775,000 tons of iron ore, 434,000 tons of coal, and 37,000 tons of limestone. Through recycling newsprint, office paper and mixed paper, nearly 7 million trees were saved. Recycling often produces better products than those made of raw materials. For instance, the tin in cans is more refined (thus more valuable) after being processed for recycling.

Energy use requires the consumption of scarce fossil fuels and involves emissions of numerous air and water pollutants. The steps in supplying recycled materials to industry (including collection, processing and transportation) typically use less energy than the steps in supplying raw materials to industry (including extraction, refining, transportation and processing). Additional energy savings associated with recycling come from the manufacturing process itself, since the materials have already undergone processing. Recycling in Pennsylvania in 2002 saved nearly 46 trillion BTUs of energy, enough to power over 439,000 houses. Recycling paper cuts energy usage in half. Recycling used aluminum cans requires only about five percent of the energy needed to produce aluminum from bauxite. Recycling just one can saves enough electricity to light a 100-watt bulb for 3½ hours.

Recycling reduces pollution emissions by reducing the amount of energy used by industry. This is because much of the energy used in industrial processes and in transportation involves burning fossil fuels like gasoline, diesel and coal, the most important sources of carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions into the environment. Additional benefits are derived from reduced emissions from incinerators and landfills and by slowing the harvest of trees, which are carbon sinks. By converting waste into valuable products, recycling creates jobs, contributes feedstock to manufacturing, and adds significant value to the entire U.S. economy. The first steps in recycling alone, collection and processing, employ nearly 10,000 people in Pennsylvania, with a payroll of $284 million and annual sales of $2.3 billion.

http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/airwaste/wm/RECYCLE/FACTS/benefits6.htm