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In Delta about 6000 tonnes of diverted municipal waste are reprocessed into new products each year. We can't rely on landfills forever. Huge amounts of waste are generated in order to bring goods to the modern home -- and most of it we don't see. When a household trash can is placed at the curb, 71 times that amount of waste material has been created in mining, logging, agriculture, petroleum exploration and other industrial processes to make and package the products that account for that full can of trash. - Source: Grassroots Recycling Network www.grrn.org. So the more we recycle plastic, paper, metals, glass and other materials, and the more we refrain from buying new products, the less natural resources are needed by industry. In this way we significantly reduce our ecological footprint: -- that is, both the amount of material being extracted from the natural environment, and the amount of human generated waste polluting it.
Remember too that reducing your consumption of new products is essential
to reducing the affects of global warming. This is because the transportation
of a product to market requires burning fossil fuel which in turn produces
carbon dioxide. Also, when used goods accumulate in a landfill, they
decompose and generate methane. Both carbon dioxide and methane are
powerful greenhouse gases. 
Recycling Our Waste Resources Isn't Just For The Birds. This chart shows how you can reduce your household waste. For example, if you recycle all your paper products, and compost your kitchen and yard trimmings, you can reduce what you send to the landfill by 60%. By adding plastics, metals and glass you can reduce your waste by a total of 70%. |
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