The importance of recycling | The benefits of recycling

Recycling not only conserves natural resources and reduces the amount of waste but also helps and benefits to reduce pollution and energy demand. Knowledge in the importance of recycling can reduce pollution and waste materials because of their mass production nowadays.

The recyclingis a process by which waste materials are subjected to treatments that enable their transformation into new raw materials or products. Recycling provides clear net benefits to the environment among which include:

• Saves raw materials, some of which are available only through expensive mining processes and pollutants. For example: for every ton of recycled aluminum prevents extract four tons of bauxite, the ore from which aluminum is obtained and the extraction is costly and highly polluting, for every two tons of plastic recycling saves oil.
• Recycling, thus saving energy and reducing pollution. Thus, recycling the tin content in steel can reduce up to 86% air pollution in mining and manufacturing process thereof.
• Recycling is to reduce the final volume of waste that ends up in landfill. For example: 3,000 glass bottles recycled 1,000 kg of waste posed no longer end up in landfill.
• Recycling helps to preserve important natural resources such as water, timber and minerals. Each ton of recycled paper pulp contains as much fiber as 4 m3 of timber, as well as about 12-14 trees.

Recycling means giving each residue the most suitable to their nature and to that end, the waste must be grouped into homogeneous fractions. This task of separating municipal waste generally falls on the citizen, to be deposited in each fraction containerwhich he is or the assigned collection point.

The proper separation of wastes makes their treatment more effective. Thus, materials such as glass, role or plastic that are recycled are of better quality if the residues of which are coming clean, and organic fertilizer obtained by composting is more healthy for the less crops have been exposed to toxic substances, and cleaner if no remains of plastics which can contaminate fields.

The production of municipal waste is growing every year in our country, and where in the late 90s of last century Spanish originated each 1.036 kilos of garbage a day, a decade later that figure has risen to 1.4 kg per day.

In parallel, environmental awareness on waste has also increased during this period, both in government and economic and social sectors, and the population as a whole, and have expanded and improved infrastructure for solid waste treatment urban as well as funds for research and implementation of technological improvements to its management.

However, data on recycling in our country remain poor and are still far from European countries like Denmark or Sweden, which recycle virtually all consumption. In our country we recovered for recycling only 12% of the garbage generated, while the other 88% just piling up in landfills or incinerators feeds.

In order to improve the management of all waste generated in Spain, to encourage the various administrations and actors involved in achieving ambitious environmental goals.

Unsustainability of increasing waste generation, the shortage of treatment facilities, the lack of separate collection of certain wastes and the need to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfill and that over 50% of the total.

In the first, dedicated to urban waste, specific objectives are pursued among which mention may be reduced by 10% of municipal waste generated in 2010, and 20% five years later. Among the measures to be implemented to help achieve this goal is the reduction in consumption of commercial bags made of non-biodegradable materials, proposing to replace at least 70% of stock plastic single-use biodegradable bags by 2015.

Similarly, reducing by 50% of waste paper and board originating from unsolicited commercial advertising, distributed through mailings, from 2012. And it proposes a model of pricing for municipal garbage fee, whose amount is directly proportional to the amount of municipal waste generated.

A sustainable waste policy must always pursue minimization. The reuse and recycling are a recovery of raw materials and its reintroduction in production processes, but cannot prevent the material sooner or later end up as waste. So the best strategy is prevention, especially applied to those difficult to use waste, toxic or hazardous. Residue is always the best one that never occurs.