Hot Topics RecyclingHome Hot Topics Recycling
Recycling:
Protecting the Earth’s Air, Water and Land
Recycling is the cornerstone of global sustainability
A common practice for most of human history, recycling is taking on greater
importance as mankind seeks a way to build a more sustainable future. Recycling,
which takes obsolete and outdates materials and processes them into
specification-grade commodities (such as steel, aluminum, paper, plastics, and
numerous other materials) used in manufacturing, provides a means to meet the
challenges of today’s world, offering both economic and environmental benefits.
As the original recyclers for decades – and indeed centuries -- the scrap
recycling industry has been purchasing, processing, and brokering old materials
to be remade into new products, providing critical resources for manufacturing
industries. At the same time, scrap recycling protects the earth’s air, water,
and land, allowing society to have less impact on the planet and directly
contributing to today’s and tomorrow’s quality of life.
The scrap recycling industry recycled 150 million tons of materials in 2008,
thereby transforming society’s outdated and obsolete products and materials into
valuable raw materials needed to produce new products. In doing so, the scrap
recycling industry helped save both energy and natural resources. By purchasing
products at the end of their life and processing them back into raw materials
used in the manufacture of new products, scrap recycling reduces the need for
virgin materials, such as iron ore, trees, and other natural resources.
Recycled scrap materials account for 40% of the world’s raw materials. Recent
independent research shows there is enough material to meet domestic
manufacturers’ demand for recycled materials for the foreseeable future. The key
is to ensure that these scrap materials are made available for recycling.
Scrap recycling offers real sustainable solutions for balancing economic growth
and environmental stewardship. Scrap recycling stimulates economies from small
towns in rural America to major cities to international trade. The result is
economic and environmental sustainability for our nation and our world.
Saving Energy While Protecting The Environment
Scrap recycling reduces greenhouse gas emissions by significantly saving the
amount of energy needed to manufacture the products that we buy, build and use.
The energy saved by recycling can then be used for more important purposes, such
as heating our homes and powering our industries. The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency estimates that recycling here in the U.S. reduced greenhouse
gas emissions by approximately 300 million tons of carbon in 2008. The Bureau of
International Recycling, in a recent study, estimates that global scrap recycling
efforts reduced greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 500 million tons of
carbon in 2008. These are significant amounts of greenhouse gas reductions
achieved simply by recycling outdated and obsolete materials into useful raw
materials.
The scrap recycling industry takes the job of environmental
steward extremely seriously and is uniquely positioned to provide both economic
and environmental sustainability for our nation at this critically important
time.
Useful Links