Why Recycle?

Recycling has many benefits for our community. Recycling conserves our natural resources including energy and water, creates new jobs, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and reduces the amount we waste by disposing to landfill.

When we recycle, used materials are converted into new products, reducing the need to consume natural resources. If used materials are not recycled, new products are made by extracting fresh, raw material from the Earth, through mining and forestry. Recycling helps conserve important raw materials and protects natural habitats for the future.

Did you know?

• Producing 20 aluminium cans from recycled materials uses the same power as making one can from raw materials.
• 1 recycled tin can would save enough energy to power a television for 3 hours
• Making steel from recycled material uses only a quarter of the energy needed to make steel from raw materials
• Recycling one tonne of paper and cardboard saves 13 trees, 31,000 litres of water, and uses 70% less energy than making paper from raw materials.
• Did you know that 17 trees can absorb the carbon dioxide emitted from one car each year, locking up the carbon in the wood and releasing the oxygen back into our atmosphere?
• Glass can be recycled again and again indefinitely! 1 recycled glass bottle would save enough energy to power a computer for 25 minutes
• Manufacturing plastics from recycled materials uses 30% of energy required to make plastic products from fossil fuels. So recycling one tonne of plastics saves enough energy to run a refrigerator for a month, and just 1 recycled plastic bottle would save enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for 3 hours.

So you see, recycling makes sense!

Useful Websites

• SKM Recycling
• ABC: Green at work
• Solo Resource Recovery
• Recycling near you
• Visy
• SITA