So you’re wondering—what does recycling have to do with me? Turns out, it’s all about you, your home and the good stuff you deserve. Here are the ins and outs of recycling.

• Recycling’s about the economy:
• The United States' major industrial sectors need recycled materials now more than ever. In fact, they are counting on those supplies to expand.
• There are around 530 recycling businesses in North Carolina employing more than 14,000 people.
• Let’s go on the low side and say all those recycling people make $25,000/year. That means recycling creates a $325 million payroll for North Carolina each year, which is plowed back into the economy through purchasing, home buying, savings in local banks and paying of property and income taxes.
• A 20 percent increase in recycling would create as many as 500 new jobs in this state. And you know the drill - more jobs mean more money, a stronger economy, cuter babies and all that.

• Recycling’s about smart use of your tax money:
• Your city or county taxes pay for things like trash and recycling pickup/drop off. That means the folks running the show downtown need to use your bucks responsibly, right? In implementing recycling programs, local governments are making an investment on your behalf, in a public service that has economic and environmental benefits for society. If only half of the homes in your community participate in recycling, the local government’s investment fails to deliver the highest possible “dividends.”
• Local governments that make a small “co-investment” in programs to motivate households to recycle are maximizing their return on investment. They are also making sure that citizens are getting what they pay for through their taxes and fees. Okay. Enough with the economics.

• Recycling’s about the environment:
• You know recycling is good for the environment, but here are the specifics.
• Energy Savings, for example:
• Recycling an aluminum can saves 95 percent of the energy required to make the same amount of aluminum from virgin materials.
• Producing new plastic from recycled material uses only two-thirds of the energy required to manufacture it from raw materials.
• Producing glass from virgin materials requires 30 percent more energy than producing it from crushed, used glass.
• Producing recycled paper requires about 60 percent of the energy used to make paper from virgin wood pulp.
• Resource savings, for example:
• One ton of uncoated virgin (non-recycled) printing and office paper uses 24 trees.
• Every ton of steel recycled saves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone.
• Prevention of emissions and pollution, for example:
• Producing recycled paper causes 74 percent less air pollution and 35 percent less water pollution than producing virgin paper.
• The pollutants created in producing one ton of aluminum include 3,290 pounds of red mud, 2,900 pounds of carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas), 81 pounds of air pollutants and 789 pounds of solid wastes.
• Recycling one ton of steel reduces air pollution by 86 percent and water pollution by 76 percent, and saves 74 percent of the energy and 40 percent of the water that would have otherwise been used.
• And what about North Carolina’s environment?
• Climate change – the term “global warming” makes us think about the whole planet, but sea level rises and more frequent and stronger hurricanes should make climate change a big deal for all North Carolinians. You know that waste reduction saves energy and resources, but did you know that it could also slow the accumulation of greenhouse gases? Whoa! Recycling means you can sleep at night! I like that.
• Air quality –Among the many strategies to improve air quality, recycling has a strong role to play. Recycling helps lower emissions of pollution-forming gases and lowers the amount of methane that landfills have to burn off. Also, using more discarded paper to make new paper allows the trees left standing to do their job cleaning the air.
• Trees – Speaking of which, recycling paper has long been touted as a saver of trees. Even if you’re not a tree hugger, you can see that the fewer we use for making paper leaves more for other, higher-value products, such as lumber.