Recycling Plant Recycling is a priority in the United States. In fact, the United States recycles more than 24 percent of its waste through a recycling plant. This is the highest percentage in the industrialized world. This is only appropriate considering the United States also produces the most amount of waste in the industrialized world. Recycling can bring out about economic and environmental benefits. The recycling industry has made a vital contribution to job creation and economic development in the United States. In 2000, the recycling industry was responsible for more than 1.1 million jobs and a yearly payroll of $37 billion. For every 10,000 tons of waste that is recycled, 36 new jobs are created. In addition, for every employee there is collecting items that can be recycled by a recycling plant; there are 26 employees that turn these items into new products. There are as many employees in the recycling industry as there are in the automobile and truck manufacturing industry. Also recycling industry employees make more money than employees in other industries. Recycling helps prevent global climate changes by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions can result from the manufacturing, use and disposal of products. Greenhouse gas emissions are a part of nature and they help create climates that sustain life on earth. If greenhouse gas emissions reach dangerous concentration levels, then you might see rising global temperatures, sea level changes and other climate changes. Recycling by a recycling plant can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in several ways. Manufacturing paper, plastics, glass and metal from recycled materials requires less energy than manufacturing these products from virgin materials because the recycled materials have already been processed. Also if you were to use virgin materials, you would have to spend additional energy extracting and transporting the virgin materials. For example, recycling aluminium cans in a recycling plant saves 95 percent of the energy required to make new aluminium from virgin materials. Recycling steel and plastics would require 60 percent and 70 percent less energy, respectively, than making these products from raw materials. Recycling nearly any material in a recycling plant will require less energy than producing the material from virgin materials. In 2005, recycling saved over 900 trillion BTUs, which is the same amount of energy used in 9 million households annually. This energy conservation results in less fossil fuels being burned. This means that less carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas is released into the atmosphere. If 6 tons of glass and one ton of aluminum were recycled, then 1 ton and 13 tons of carbon dioxide, respectively, would not be released into the atmosphere. A recycling plant is not the only way to save the world - trees help combat the global climate changes by absorbing carbon dioxide from the air and storing it in wood in a process called carbon sequestration. Continued efforts to recycle paper would allow more trees to continue to absorb carbon dioxide. If a ton of newspaper is recycled, 12 trees would be spared. Recycling one ton of office paper would save 24 trees. |
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