Recycling is the recovery of products and materials that are brought to a process that allows their use in other products or packaging. In this way, it is possible to decrease the accumulation of objects, in a process that makes the resources used to obtain new products are less harmful and costly to natural resources and the environment as a whole.

It is essential that the materials are separated, preferably in plastic bags, identical to those used to store organic waste. It is essential to clean plastic bottles and milk cartons, trying to let them dry naturally, so after this put them inside a bag to deliver in the selective collection. Beer and soda cans, which are made of aluminum, can be kneaded to reduce the volume of the bags, starting the recycling process.

Cardboard boxes should be stored unassembled for ease of transportation, and it is also essential that the papers be chopped to facilitate the recycling process. It is important to remember that most of the recycled materials are reused later, being directed to other purposes, different from the originals.

Why should you recycle?

If everyone reduced, reused, and recycled, we could make Earth’s resources go an awful lot further. Recycling saves materials, reduces the need to landfill and incinerate, cuts down pollution, and helps to make the environment more attractive. It also creates jobs, because recycling things takes a bit more effort than making new things. Recycling doesn’t just save materials: it saves energy too.

Manufacturing things use a lot of energy from power plants and hungry power plants generally make global warming worse. We can save a surprising amount of energy by recycling. If you recycle a single aluminum can you save about 95 percent of the energy it would take to make a brand new one.

That’s enough energy saved to power your television for about 3 hours! You’ll often hear people say that over half the trash we throw away can be recycled. We currently recycle somewhere between 30-90 percent of the various different materials we use.

Just imagine if everyone were recycling most of their garbage: together, we’d be making a tremendous reduction in the number of raw materials and energy we use and doing a lot of good for the planet.