What are the benefits of recycling?
Why recycle?
So, you may ask, why should I recycle? What does it matter which bin I put my waste in!
Some of the benefits of recycling
Many items are made of natural resources. For example trees are used for paper and cardboard boxes, oil is used to make plastics, metal ores are mined to make cans, and, sand and minerals are used to make glass. These resources are precious and should be preserved. One way to reduce the amount of natural resources we use is to recycle.
Money saved from recycling
Recycling is a cheaper way of managing our waste, it is more financially beneficial to recycle items and this means that the savings made can then be put back into other vital services for the community.
Climate problems
Recycling produces considerably less carbon than creating brand new products from raw materials. This reduces the amount of greenhouse gas emissions.
Animals
Recycling paper and card is particularly good news for animals that live in trees. Many creatures and other wildlife make their homes in trees, and recycling means there is less need to cut trees down – preserving valuable habitats.
No more landfill for non recyclable waste
The majority of red top bin waste (non-recyclable waste), is now diverted from landfill, it is taken to one of Veolia’s Energy Recovery Facilities, where it is used as a fuel to create electricity. After the burning process, any leftover metals are extracted for recycling, and the bottom ash is used as an aggregate for roads.
What's the point of recycling if the red top bin waste is being used for electricity?
That is a great question, although we are able to put the residual waste to good use by creating electricity with it, this is still more expensive than recycling all that we can, so should only be used as a last resort for those items that cannot be reused or recycled.
It’s important to recycle as much as possible as it keeps the raw materials in use, reducing the need to deplete natural resources.
Watch our YouTube video on the battlefield energy recovery facility:
Last updated : 6 December 2024
In 2023 we invited residents within Telford and Wrekin to have their say on what they thought of the recycling and waste services, this was an online survey and 2,493 response were received.
Thank you for recycling, you can see just how well we are doing by taking a look at our current recycling rates.
View information on our recycling rates and why you should recycle
Last updated : 1 October 2024
Watch the YouTube video about what happens to your recycling:
Last updated : 6 December 2024