Recycling, Does it Really Make a Difference?

     Plastic packages in all shapes and sizes now display the ubiquitous recycling mark. But when so much energy is used to collect, clean, and re-manufacture products from recycled materials, does it make sense to go through the hassle of recycling?  Does it really make a difference?

    Acknowledging that it's best to limit packaging and unnecessary purchases, and reuse whenever possible, once the package or container is no longer useful, is recycling is the most environmentally sound option?  The answer begins with energy consumption, but goes well beyond.

 
     The amount of energy needed to extract raw materials is, in fact, greater than the amount required to collect and process the recycled material for reuse in manufacturing.  Popular Mechanics reports that on average it takes “10.4 million Btu to manufacture products from a ton of recyclables, compared to 23.3 million Btu for virgin materials; collecting, hauling and processing of those recyclables adds just 0.9 million Btu.”1 That is significant energy savings.

The difference in energy use when comparing processing recycled, rather than "virgin" materials, varies a great deal from product to product:
 (videos describing each process are included)

Recycling an aluminum can uses only five percent of the energy needed to make a can from bauxite ore, the natural source of aluminum.

Newsprint, the paper used in newspapers, can be recycled into new newsprint using only 55 percent of the energy needed to make it from wood and other raw materials.

Recycling glass into new products uses 80 percent of the energy required to make new glass. While this is a smaller energy savings than some other materials, it still adds up when the huge amount of glass used worldwide is considered.

Many plastic water and drink bottles are made from PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic. While it can be difficult to recycle these into new bottles, PET can be recycled into other plastic products using roughly 33 percent of the energy needed to make plastic from scratch.² 

 Recycling does far more for our environment, however, that save energy.

• Recycling avoids wasting valuable materials (a recent study that found that about 90 percent of the material going to landfills has a market value³).
• Using recycled material in manufacturing creates less air and water pollution than using unprocessed, virgin raw materials.⁴
• Compared to incinerating, recycling significantly reduces the amount of CO² in the atmosphere.⁵
• Recycling saves natural resources: trees, ores, sand, and petroleum.
• Recycling makes it unnecessary to deface the land by logging and mining.
• Recycling avoids utilizing land for landfill.
• Recycling creates jobs.  The US Bureau of Labor lists a variety of jobs related to recycling: drivers, sorters, mechanics, technicians, and machinery maintenance workers, material recovery facility managers, route managers, and sales representatives⁶. 

Recycling reduces the need to extract, process, refine, and transport timber, crude petroleum, and ores. It lessens the toxic air emissions, effluents and solid wastes that these manufacturing processes create.⁴  

     So when you find the familiar triangular arrows on packaging, know that it is worth the effort to recycle.

1 Recycling Statistics - Is Recycling Worth It - Popular Mechanics 

² http://www.ehow.com/facts_5519046_recycling-save-energy.html

3 http://earth911.com/recycling/plastic/plastic-bottle-recycling-facts/

⁴ http://www.nrdc.org/cities/recycling/recyc/chap1.asp

⁵ http://www.nrdc.org/cities/recycling/recyc/recytbls.asp

⁶ http://www.bls.gov/green/recycling/

Purchase Power

To view a larger, more readable version, of this chart go to Cornucopia.org;
 click on the chart to enlarge.

       Money is power--politically speaking--and when I make purchases, I am channeling my money to companies that can then use that money in the political arena.  When I spend money on a product, I support the company that sells that product.  When I withhold spending on  a specific product, I withhold my support for not only the product or label, but the larger company, as well.
     Cornucopia's chart shows the amount of money different companies spent to support or oppose Prop 37, which would have require labeling of GMO’s.  Since I support GMO labeling, a concrete action I can take is to purchase organic products from companies that support my “right-to-know”.   It's a simple, effective way to make a personal statement.
     I can't compete with the millions of dollars spent to fight the labeling legislation, but I can funnel my family's grocery money to companies that support the causes we value.