Recycling Reduces Energy Consumption

Recycling Reduces Energy Consumption

It takes significantly less energy to convert preexisting consumer materials into recycled versions than it does to extract, process and manufacture raw materials into brand new products. 

Take office paper, for example. Recycling 1 ton of it is 43 percent less energy intensive than starting from scratch, as is recovering steel, plastic and aluminum, at a 60 percent, 75 percent, and 96 percent reduction in energy consumption levels, respectively, per material (see References 7). 

The obvious energy savings are coupled with additional environmental benefits including the release of fewer polluting emissions into our air, water and soil (see References 2), all of which would normally require a great deal of time, labor and resources to clean up.