Why do communities mandate recycling

The city transitioned from gallon containers to gallon wheeled carts and implemented automated collection. Not only did the carts create added convenience for residents, the program coordinators saw a boost in participation as well. Recycled materials are reprocessed and turned into a variety of new products. Recycled plastics are used in the production of toothbrushes, plastic construction timber, and carpets, to name a few. Recycling allows for greater innovation when it comes to the manufacturing of new products.

The complex generates power from landfill methane and houses a pallet company with master plans to have an integrated office park where each industrial by-product is used by another company or the office park itself. Recycling can be more than simply reusing one material over and over for the same purpose. Recycling can also mean using waste products for fuel, such as scrap tire rubber or leftover wood chips. By-product synergy allows the EcoComplex to achieve cost savings by using waste products for energy and as components in new products.

It also protects the community by preventing the release of unnecessary GHGs through transportation and development of materials from virgin resources. Efforts to develop recycling communities like the EcoComplex often require partnerships between local government and private industry. The result is a closed-loop facility that turns what would otherwise be waste into valuable feedstocks.

Dynamic Jobs : Strong recycling programs have the ability to create jobs. While trash disposal simply transfers waste to its grave, recycling gives new life to salvageable materials, thus creating opportunities for new jobs. The more times a recyclable material is used before disposal, the greater the number of jobs that can be created. Recycling jobs represent a wide range of salaries. These jobs also span several industries and involve numerous skill sets, such as marketing commodities, sorting materials, and handcrafting furniture.

Fact: According to The Economic Impact of the Recycling Industry in South Carolina published in , on average, every 1, tons recycled from landfills represents 1. Many people fail to recognize the growing impact recycling will have on the economic health of our region. It is a growing part of our economy by adding jobs and expanding tax revenues. In contrast, manufacturing jobs in the state have declined from , to , during the same ten-year period. Supporting Sustainable Industries : Recycling industries have been around for decades, with new companies emerging yearly.

The needs in the industry are diverse. Some corporations rely on recycled plastics to produce their carpet products, while others depend on donated computers for refurbishing. Some companies are using recycled plastic in the production of their fleece products.

The bottom line is that recycling facilities are bound to be established where supplies are plenty. According to Markets for Aluminum 32 pp, K, About PDF , consumers tend to buy scrap aluminum in the region where their plants are located.

For instance, a secondary smelter will generally limit its scrap purchases to a radius of miles. As long as the community is able to provide adequate recycling opportunities and accessibility, recycling should not be difficult for the consumer.

As part of their campaign, they provide large plastic recycling containers in the form of a plastic soda bottle to encourage recycling, and to also make it easily accessible. Providing visuals in the community will help residents know what can be recycled. Recycling Brings a Community Together. Emissions from Canadian landfills account for approximately 20 per cent of national methane emissions.

While landfill gas recovery is an option, diverting organic material from landfills will limit the production of methane. Another benefit is energy conservation. The extracting and processing of raw materials such as wood, oil or ore to make products like paper, plastic and metal is a process that requires a lot of energy.

While the amount of energy saved by recycling differs depending on what is being recycled, almost all recycling processes save significant amounts of energy when compared with processes that use raw materials. This is so because recycled products usually require much less processing to turn them into usable items compared to products made from scratch.

Recycling aluminium cans , for example, saves more than 95 per cent of the energy it would have taken to make the same amount of aluminum from the raw material bauxite. It has also been found that about 76 per cent of energy is saved by recycling plastic bottles , approximately 30 per cent of energy is saved from recycled glass, and an estimated 40 per cent of energy is saved when paper is recycled, while saving millions of trees.

Energy is expensive and many of our energy sources are being depleted. Saving energy in manufacturing processes can help to significantly lower production costs. Additionally, recycling is a diverse industry and when compared to waste disposal it is much more labour intensive. This means building the recycling industry is also a way to create more jobs.

It is said that disposing of 10, tons of waste in a landfill creates six jobs, as opposed to recycling the same amount of waste, which creates 36 jobs. Overall, there are many benefits to be derived from recycling, more than could be included in any one article. Each person has a responsibility to contribute to the recycling efforts. Growing City prides itself on award-winning customer service and being reliable, trustworthy and flexible.

We are a service for strata, office, restaurant, municipal, film, event, hospital, and many more kinds of commercial, residential and government industries. Contact us today and we will customize a best-in-class waste, recycling and organics management program for your needs!

Learn more about how the Vancouver branch of global engineering firm GHD successfully sorts their waste and recycling streams with Growing City, and how they encourage best practices at the office.

Get A Free Quote What services are you interested in? We'll get back to you with a quote very soon! Call us today! California already mandates use of recycled content in plastic bags, newsprint and some glass and plastic containers. Yet these end-user mandates are not environmentally or economically beneficial.

Proponents of mandates hope they will boost prices of recyclables to help offset city costs for curbside programs. And they believe mandates are necessary to create a sustainable, resource-conserving economy.

Resource conservation is important. Sometimes recycling does result in resource and energy conservation relative to use of virgin materials. But recycling is not always the best environmental choice. A Public Policy Institute study demonstrates that under certain circumstances, recycled content produces net benefits; under other circumstances it does not.

Our analysis of different materials shows benefits from using modest levels of recycled content in many instances.

But whether recycled content makes sense depends on the product. And where recycling does save resources, many manufacturers already use recycled content without government intervention. There simply is no single formula in the resource-conservation process. Many conservation efforts take place in small, almost invisible and difficult-to-regulate steps.

These little steps have big consequences. For example, one juice company reduced the size of its package by 10 percent.