Keeping the planet beautiful is one of the main benefits of recycling. A healthy environment can be maintained for future generations by reducing pollutants in the air and repurposing existing products to eliminate the need to source raw materials from nature. Every time you head to your nearest bottle depot in Calgary you can be proud of yourself for taking part in an environmental revolution.
Further Benefits of Going to Your Calgary Recycling Depot
Recycling is about more than taking care of the earth. Some of the top benefits are mentioned below:
- Recycling creates jobs. Employment in the recycling industry includes jobs for people sorting, counting, and picking up bottles and cans. This also creates a need for truck drivers, mechanics, facility managers, and equipment operators.
- You can add a little extra to your income with the refundable amount you receive from taking your recyclables to a bottle depot near you
- Funky jewelry, household items, furniture, and all sorts of everyday products are made by reusing recycled goods
Recycling has some interesting hidden facts you may never have heard of.
The Hidden Facts of Recycling
When you learn more about recycling, you understand why it is important.
- Fact 1: Conserve Water with Recycled Paper – During a drought, grass and forested areas becomes dry, causing an increase in wildfires. By producing less paper and recycling existing paper products you can save water. It takes about 7,000 gallons to create 1 ton of paper. Not only does recycling save water but it can save an immense amount of energy as well.
- Fact 2: Motor Oil is Infinitely Useable – Do you have old motor oil sitting in your garage? Instead of disposing of it and negatively impacting the environment, do some good for the earth by reusing it. Used motor oil can be recycled into new lubricants, reusable fuel oils, and serve other purposes in the petroleum industry.
- Fact 3: Most waste is recyclable but under 50% of it gets recycled – People often just throw things in the garbage bin because they are unfamiliar with the rules around recycling or knowing the benefits of it. When you educate yourself about recycling, it becomes easier to act when you consider the amazing results. There are many online resources to help you learn about what to recycle and how. You can ask your local bottle depot in Calgary for recommendations on the various types of recycling products they accept. They will also refer you to where you can recycle the materials they do not accept.
- Fact 4: Saves Double Energy – How? Recycling plastic! When you recycle plastic, you save more than double the energy it takes to create it from raw materials.
- Fact 5: Very Little Recycled Product is Required to Make a Warm Ski Jacket – Next time you drink out of a plastic water bottle, think about the fact that it only takes about 5 of these bottles to stuff an entire jacket with fiberfill to keep you warm.
- Fact 6: Recycling Glass Saves a Mass Amount of Energy – By using 50% of recycled glass to create new glass, enough energy is saved to light up 21,978 homes for a whole year. Additionally, this removes 181 tons of landfill waste.
- Fact 7: Aluminum Can Be Repurposed Quicky – It only takes 60 days to repurpose an aluminum can.
- Fact 8: Recycling Produces More with the Same Amount of Energy – When you consider that it takes the same amount of energy to produce one new can as it does 20 cans made from recycled materials, you may think twice about throwing your beverage cans in the garbage.
- Fact 9: Newspaper Recycling Can Help Save the Environment – If every newspaper in the world was recycled, 250,000,000 trees can be saved.
- Fact 10: One Ton of Plastic Can Save You Gasoline – Do you need a little extra gas? You can save up to 2,000 gallons of it with just this one ton of plastic.
Results of Recycling
You may have made recycling mistakes in the past or been guilty of not recycling at all, but you can rectify this. By learning recycling facts and taking action you can change the way you manage your materials. You may find more alternative, sustainable solutions than you thought.
When you start recycling, you encourage others to do the same, especially if you help them understand everything you have learned. Recycling must start somewhere so why not with you? Next time you ask your kids to take the garbage out, instead, head to a Calgary bottle depot with your family so they can begin understanding the process and benefits of reusing. At Happy Can Bottle Depot we encourage everyone to recycle!
