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Why recycling matters

Recycling reduces landfill

Recycling turns used materials into new products and reduces the amount of waste sent to the landfill site in Redhill. If we buried these materials in the landfill site instead they would produce methane, a greenhouse gas, which increases climate change.

Recycling conserves resources

When we recycle used materials into new products we have not used natural resources to make it. Recycling materials helps conserve these important natural resources and protects habitats for the future.

Recycling saves energy

Using recycled materials in the manufacturing process uses much less energy than required for producing new products from raw materials. This is even when comparing all associated costs including transport. More energy is also required to extract, refine, transport and process natural resources ready for industry compared with providing industry ready recycled materials.

Recycling helps protect the environment

Recycling reduces the need for extracting (mining, quarrying and logging), refining and processing raw materials all of which create substantial air and water pollution. As recycling saves energy it also reduces greenhouse gas emissions, which helps to tackle climate change. Current UK recycling is estimated to save more than 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. This is equivalent to taking five million cars off the road.

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