OK, so we all know that recycling is one of those things we should do. It’s right there on the list next to ‘Buy cat food’ and ‘Phone Mum’. Yet each time you recycle, you’re helping change lives for the better. Not just those in your community, also across Britain and the rest of the world.
Here’s why recycling should give us all a warm fuzzy feeling…
Recycling cuts pollution, so people can live longer, healthier lives
Did you know that air pollution has been linked to one in every twelve deaths in London? The average Brit has their life expectancy shortened by six months due to long-term exposure to pollution. The culprits? Car exhausts, industry and domestic energy use?
The simple fact is that recycling saves the energy that would go into making new products, thereby cutting polluting emissions and helps change lives for the better. In the UK, our recycling saves more than 18 million tonnes of CO2 a year. That’s the same as taking 5 million cars off the road!
The more we recycle, the more jobs we’ll create and the more communities we’ll support
Secure green jobs are a boost to any community. Studies have proved that better employment opportunities lead to healthier, happier families, better access to education and the lowering of crime rates. This truly change lives for the better.
The recycling industry employs millions of people across the world. Also, unlike many industries, the number of people employed in the recycling industry is projected to grow year-on-year. As our recycling rates increase we’ll benefit from new technologies that allow us to recycle a greater variety of materials, such as clothing fabric, cooking oil and old computers.
Each time you recycle, you’re helping to support and create green jobs across the world!
By protecting the environment, recycling helps to keep us happier and healthier!
Ever go out for a walk to ‘clear your head’? Studies have proven that access to pleasant surroundings such as urban parks, countryside, farmland, forest and woodland, waterside areas and wild habitats can have extremely beneficial effects on our mental health, even if you only visit for 5 minutes a day.
Recycling reduces the need to sacrifice green spaces across the UK and in the wider world. Mining, quarrying and logging can displace wildlife and turn idyllic natural environments into depressing landscapes of nightmares.
Remember to recycle for a greener, more beautiful world – and happier people!
Recycling cuts our energy needs, helping to reduce conflict in the world
This one’s a biggie. Fulfilling the world’s energy needs from fossil fuels is getting more and more difficult each year. Why? ‘Easy access’ supplies of oil, gas and coal are running out. Many countries are now entering into conflict over control of the remaining resources; for two examples, oil supplies in the Middle East and gas supplies in Eastern Europe.
Recycling saves energy, lots of energy. Recycling aluminium saves 90% of the energy of producing new aluminium from ore; recycled steel saves 60% over raw; making recycled newspaper saves 40%, recycled plastics 70% and recycled glass 40%.
By reducing the world’s energy needs and the reliance on polluting fossil fuels, our recycling simultaneously removes the need for the dangerous skirmishes, bombing campaigns and occupations that have begun to occur as countries compete for oil, coal and gas supplies. Also, our recycling helps us leave ‘virgin’ materials for the benefit of greener future generations – who knows what the people of the world will be able to achieve in two or three hundred years’ time?
Next time you recycle, just think… we’re saving and improving lives with our recycling – one glass bottle, aluminium can and sheet of paper at a time!
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