FAQ
Q: Why is it important to recycle?
A: Recycling is important for many reasons. Often we promote recycling as a way to keep wasteout of landfills, which are often unpopular. It is also important to remember that recycling recovers valuable raw materials. If we make aluminum cans from recycled cans, then we don't have to disturb the environment by mining and smelting the mineral bauxite which is used in the manufacture of aluminum. Finally, recycling reduces pollution and saves energy that would have been expended when making products from "virgin" or unrecycled raw materials. In many places, you may be required or encouraged by law to recycle. Recycling works best when we remember to buy and use products made from recycled materials, such as newspaper or glass.
Q: How can one person make a difference?
A: If not you, who? If we combine all our individual efforts together, we can make a difference. To look at it another way, each of us contributes individually to the waste problem. All the millions and millions of tons of waste that currently goes to landfills started as an old pair of slippers, a broken toaster or a used magazine at somebody's house, or your house!
Q: When did recycling start?
A: Recycling has really been around for perhaps thousands of years! For example, ancient cultures that began making metal products, could melt down old broken items like pots or swords and make new ones. More recently, during World War I and II, people would have paper drives and metal drives to collect materials for the war effort. Nothing was wasted! When landfilling became a cheap way dispose of trash in the 1940's and 1950's, recycling was less popular. But modern recycling of glass, paper, cans, etc. became more popular again in the 1970's with drop-off recycling centers. Mother nature is, of course, the ultimate recycler... without the natural decay or composting process, we'd all be covered in leaves and other dead organic matter!
Q: When recycling came about, did many people contribute to it?
A: Recycling has been very popular in most communities, but often there is resistance if people think it will cost more money, or take more time. Often there is difficulty over who will pay for recycling (i.e. the city, or the residents) but when you analyze the savings of not throwing things in the landfill (which creates significant costs to collect and dispose of waste) it make sense to recycle. Plus, many recyclable products can be sold to help cover the cost of processing.
Q: How can people learn more about recycling?
A: You can find many links to sites with information about recycling on our "Outside Links" page. To learn about recycling in your community contact Multi-Materials Stewardship Board (link).
Q: How does recycling help the environment?
A: Recycling helps the environment by slowing down the rate at which we have to burn garbage or put it in landfills. Recycling also helps by reducing our need to consume fresh natural resources to make new products. As a result we can save these resources for use by future generations. Most importantly, recycling saves energy and reduces pollution. This could help slow down global climate change, another environmental problem caused by burning fossil fuels like oil and gas.
Q: What would happen if everyone stopped recycling?
A: Disposing of your garbage could become much more expensive. Since everybody would be throwing away everything, landfills would fill up faster. We would have to build more and more to accept all of the new garbage. People who have to live near landfills are generally opposed to building new ones. Many of our natural resources would disappear even faster. The supply of any material on our Earth is limited. While it may seem like we could never run out, if we keep filling our landfills with aluminum, plastic, and steel there will eventually be no more left.
Q: What can be recycled?
A: Technically, almost anything could be recycled. If we had complex collection, sorting and processing facilities, we could separate almost any household or industrial product and find a new use for these materials. Unfortunately, it can be expensive to do this. For example, polystyrene (often called Styrofoam) can be recycled into several products. The problem is that it is very expensive to bring polystyrene (because it is bulky and lightweight!) to recycling stations. As a result, most cities don't recycle polystyrene. Most recycling programs recycle the most valuable items or the items that make up the majority of the waste stream. These include: cardboard, newspaper, office paper, #1 (PET) and #2 (HDPE) plastic, aluminum, and glass
Q: What can be made with recycled items?
A: There are more recycled content products on the market than we can list here. Cardboard, office paper, newspaper, plastic, aluminum, steel, and glass are often made back into their original product, or made into new products. For example, some types of plastic (such as HDPE milk jugs) are used to make plastic lumber. Recycled glass can also be used instead of sand to fill asphalt. Yard waste is composted and then sold as topsoil. There are new and inventive uses coming up all the time. One company even converts old tennis shoes into athletic tracks for high schools.
Q: Has recycling changed throughout the years it has been around? If so, how?
A: Recycling technology always has to keep up with new packaging and materials. For example, 20 or 30 years ago you could still buy milk in returnable, refillable glass bottles. Planners have to create new systems to collect, process and recycle the #2 plastic "HDPE" (high density polyethylene), and then make the plastic into a new product (such as plastic lumber).
Changes in how landfills are managed have affected recycling. It is getting more expensive to throw things in landfills, because more engineering and environmental protection goes into designing landfills. So, provinces and municipalities are pushing recycling more.
Q: Do you think recycling will be the way of the future or do you think it is already?
A: Yes, recycling is the way of the future. People do not want to build new landfills, and are also starting to recognize that it is just plain wasteful to throw so many reusable things away. There are a lot of energy savings and resource savings associated with recycling.
Q: Do many companies or schools recycle?
A: Many businesses recycle to save money. The most commonly recycled material at businesses is corrugated cardboard. Depending on the type of business, they also recycle things like metal shavings from machining operations, or leftover product from manufacturing, because these waste items actually have a lot of value in reuse or recycling. A lot of schools recycle beverage containers, office paper and cardboard.