1 of 2 Benefits of Recycling and Closing the Loop fact sheet

Recycling benefits Recycling is much more than a local waste management strategy. It is essential in achieving sustainability through minimising the environmental impact and ecological footprint of a products life cycle. Providing industry with a supply of recycled materials minimises the need to extracted virgin resources from the environment. Using recycled products is more environmentally favourable due to reductions in the greenhouse gas emissions, energy, water and virgin resource consumption over its lifecycle of transportation, production, consumption, and disposal. Furthermore, many recycled products can be reused or recycled again and again, closing the resource loop.

In 2006 alone, recycling in Australian saved (National Waste Overview 2009):

• 8.8 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions

• 202 trillion joules of energy

• 134 gigalitres of water

• 4 million tonnes of iron ore

Local communities also benefit enormously from the recycling through the creation of jobs and support of regional economies – 9.2 jobs are created per tonne of waste recycled (National Waste Overview 2009).

Facts

Paper and Cardboard

Virgin natural resource conserved – TREES

• Producing paper from recovered materials consumes 60% less energy and 55% less water, and creates 74% less air and 35% less water pollution.

• Recycling 1 tonne of paper and cardboard saves approximately 12 trees, 2.5 barrels of oil, 4100kw of electricity, 4 cubic metres of landfill, and 31,370 litres of water.

Plastic

Virgin natural resource conserved – COAL, OIL, NATURAL GAS

• Recycling 41 plastic bottles saves enough energy to run a refrigerator for one hour.

• It takes 125 recycled plastic milk bottles to manufacture a 140 litre wheelie bin.

• Manufacturing new products from recycled plastics uses one-third less energy than using virgin materials.

Steel

Virgin natural resource conserved – IRON ORE, COAL, LIMESTONE

• Steel is 100% recyclable and can be recycled again and again, requiring 80% less energy than if made from virgin materials

• Every tonne of steel recycled saves approximately 1131kg of iron ore, 633kg of coal and 54kg of limestone

• 17.5 million steel cans are recycled each week in Australia- this is equivalent to the amount of steel needed to build 900 family sedans (www.cansmart.com)

Aluminium

Virgin natural resource conserved – BAUXITE

• Producing 20 aluminium cans from recovered materials uses the same amount of energy as 1 can produced from virgin materials.

• Recycling one aluminium can saves enough energy to run a 100watt bulb for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours and a TV for 2 hours.

• Recycling 1kg of aluminium saves 8kg of bauxite, 4kg of chemical products and 14kWh of electricity.

Glass

Virgin natural resource conserved – SAND, LIMESTONE, SODA ASH

• Each tonne of glass recycled saves 1.1 tones of raw materials.

• Recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to operate a 100watt for 4 hours, and computer for 25 minutes, power a TV for 20 minutes, or power a washing machine for 10 minutes.

• Recycled glass products require approximately 40% less energy to produce than glass products made from virgin materials. (www.lgsa-plus.net.au)

2 of 2 Benefits of Recycling and Closing the Loop fact sheet

Closing the Loop

Placing recyclable items into the yellow-lidded recycle bin is only one step in the recycling process. A local market is created through the collection, sorting, and on-selling of local recyclable materials to reprocessing facilities. New products are produced from these recyclable materials, and shelved at outlets around Australia.

The greatest impact you can have on local recycling benefits comes during the final stage of closing the loop – purchasing products containing recycled content. By doing this, you, the consumer, create demand for recyclable products, ensuring the continual revolution of the market and opportunities to on-sell recyclable materials.

Reprocessing

Paper and cardboard is pulped, sieved, and then manufactured into new paper and cardboard products, such as recycled office paper and envelopes, recycled toilet paper, newspaper, cardboard boxes and other packaging products.

Plastic bottles and containers are shredded, rinsed, melted and remoulded into new plastic bottles and containers, wheelie bins, compost bins, worm farms, clothing, guide rails, furniture, car parts, and carpet.

Did you know?

The National Waste Minimisation Strategy and the more recent National Packaging Covenant involve a range of voluntary recycling targets for major packaging industries. The Buy Recycled Business Alliance in Australia is facilitating the increased use in business of products and materials made from recycled content. This alliance of high-profile businesses has great purchasing power and used strategically, could boost demand for post-consumer materials and improve the economic viability of recycling.

Reprocessing

Aluminium and steel cans and aerosols are melted down and remoulded into new steel and aluminium cans and aerosols, as well as bicycles, appliances, furniture, cars, boats, aircraft, and construction materials.

Glass bottles and jars are melted down and manufactured into new glass jars and bottles.