Recycling Fact Sheet
What is recycling?
- Recycling is a series of activities that includes the collection of items that would otherwise be considered waste, sorting and processing the recyclable products into raw materials, and remanufacturing the recycled raw materials into new products.
- Consumers provide the last link in recycling by purchasing products made from recycled content.
- Recycling can include composting of food scraps, yard trimmings, and other organic materials.
What are the benefits of recycling?
- Recycling helps both the environment and the economy.
- Recycling prevents materials from being thrown away, reducing the need for landfilling and incineration.
- The use of recycled materials reduces the need for raw material extraction and processing.
How does recycling work?
Many people already recycle items like paper, glass, and aluminum. These efforts are a vital part of the process. However, important recycling activities continue long after recyclables are collected from household bins or community drop-off centers. Collecting, processing, manufacturing, and purchasing recycled products create a closed circle or loop that ensures the overall success and value of recycling.
Collection:
How and where recyclables are collected varies by community. Some communities collect from residences, schools, and businesses. Four primary methods are used:
- Curbside collection programs are provided in many communities. Residents set recyclables, sometimes sorted by type, on their curb to be picked up by municipal or commercial haulers.
- Drop-off centers are locations where residents can take their recyclables. These centers are often sponsored by community organizations.
- Buy-back centers are local facilities where recycled-content manufacturers buy their products back from the consumers to remanufacture the used products into new products.
- Deposit/refund programs require consumers to pay a deposit on a purchased product. The deposit can be redeemed when the consumer brings the container back to the business or company for recycling.
Processing:
After collection, recyclables are prepared for delivery to manufacturing facilities. Processing usually includes making sure the materials are sorted properly and that non-recyclables are removed.
Manufacturing:
Once cleaned and sorted, the recyclables move to the next part of the recycling loop - manufacturing. An increasing amount of today's products are being manufactured with recycled content.
- Recycled cardboard and newspaper are used to make new boxes, papers, and other products such as tissues, paper towels, toilet paper, diapers, egg cartons, and napkins.
- Recycled plastic from soft drink, milk, juice, and peanut butter containers is used to make new products such as carpets, fiberfill (insulating material in jackets and sleeping bags), bottles and containers, auto parts, and paint brushes.
- Recycled glass is used again and again in new glass containers as well as in glasphalt (the roadway asphalt that shimmers in sunlight), road fill, and fiberglass.
- Recycled aluminum beverage cans, one of the most successful recyclables, are remade into new cans in as little as 90 days after they are collected.
- All steel products manufactured in the United States contain between 25 to 100 percent recycled steel, depending on the manufacturing process used.
Recycling Facts
- By recycling one ton of paper, we save: 17 trees, 7,000 gallons of water, 380 gallons of oil, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, and enough energy to heat an average size home for six months.
- Manufacturers can make one extra-large T-shirt out of only five recycled two-liter plastic soda bottles.
- Americans throw away enough aluminum every 3 months to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet.
- When one ton of steel is recycled, 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal, and 120 pounds of limestone are conserved.
- Recycling aluminum cans saves 95 percent of the energy required to make aluminum cans from scratch.
- The amount of aluminum recycled in 1995 could have built 14 aircraft carriers.
(The above facts came from "The Quest for Less," an activities and resource guide for teaching K-6, published in November 2000 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.)
Where can I get more information?
For more information, contact the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, Office of Pollution Prevention and Technical Assistance at (800) 988-7901 or visit our IDEM Web page at: http://www.recycle.in.gov/
Stay Connected
