The positive effect of recycling on the environment

​ Most people want to find ways to help the earth. Some do this by driving their car less often or skip buying products like plastic water bottles. It’s good to always look for new tips to live a greener lifestyle, but old habits like recycling can have just as much of a positive impact on the planet.

The following are a few of the positive effects of recycling on the environment. Check them out as it may give you a renewed sense of drive to minimize your waste by recycling everything you can.

1. Recycling Maintains Oxygen Levels

Paper is a material many people take for granted.

Recycling paper is an easy way to help maintain oxygen levels around the world, which is especially necessary during the current unprecedented rise of global warming. Every time the New York Times prints their Sunday edition, the paper requires the demolition of 75,000 trees to form the many pages. One tree can produce over 260 pounds of oxygen, so creating new paper out of recycled materials minimizes oxygen depletion from forests.

2. Recycling Reduces Landfill Waste

Landfills are a common resource for people looking to throw away junk, but they contain materials that could be recycled instead. See if you’ve thrown some of these materials into your local landfill and commit to recycling the resources you use every day.

What to Recycle

Cardboard is easy to breakdown and made into new cardboard.

Recycled glass gets melted and reformed.

Aluminum recycling factories shred and melt it into new objects, such as cans.

3. Recycling Conserves Energy

Compared to the energy it takes to burn and process landfill waste, recycling plants save more energy than they use. The amount of energy saved only grows larger compared to the electricity needed to create products from fresh materials and not recycled ones.

4. Recycling Saves Natural Habitats

The destruction of trees to make new paper does more than reduce the oxygen in the atmosphere. It also eliminates natural habitats due to forest reduction.

5. Recycling Cleans the Oceans

Plastic is easy to recycle, but eight million metric tons still end up in the ocean and hurt marine wildlife every year. Recycling helps prevent plastic products from ending up in the ocean.
 

Sources: BIO Friendly Planet