Help the development of the site, sharing the article with friends!
Knowing the importance of recycling is one of the best ways to motivate ourselves to do it. In addition to the general ideas that we all know, such as saving natural resources, reducing pollution or energy efficiency, recycling is a source of wealth that generates employment and constitutes a millionaire business.
However, the differences are significant globally, both when it comes to recycling and in terms of its use as a source of income. This means that some countries turn recycling into a real economic reef, even exporting garbage from others, while the vast majority give up exploiting that potential and end up generating waste and wasting energy, money and natural resources.
The three R
If the citizenship in general And, of course, even if industrial policies and processes were to bear in mind the theory of the three r's when consuming, landfills would not be as saturated as they are today. Instead of the prevailing consumerism, thanks to the 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle) the miracle of throwing away less garbage, preserving the environment and, in short, being a much more conscientious consumer or producer would work.
In addition, at the domestic level, the three Rs translate into savings and a lower carbon footprint. Without going any further, recycling a stack of newspapers saves enough electricity to heat a house for about 12 hours and recycling an aluminum can allows you to keep a TV or computer on for three hours. Or, even more surprising, turn on a 100-watt light bulb for 20 hours. If the bottle is made of glass, recycling it allows you to light it for 4 hours, and 11 more if it is a bottle from plastic.
The big business of recycling
In addition to the good practices of reduce Y re-use, recycling completes the circle of the three r's, taking advantage of a waste after subjecting it to a process that transforms it. We can do it at the domestic level, through home recycling, which offers great possibilities for savings and creative expression for decorative and practical purposes at the domestic level.
In this sense, the reuse and recycling carried out by citizens is a way of carrying out eco-friendly practices that in turn help us to moderate consumerism and, therefore, also save good money. Likewise, the citizen is expected to actively collaborate when it comes to recycling the waste generated at home through its separation (colored containers) and the use of clean points.
Besides the good Will of citizen, Garbage also moves large amounts of money and reactivates the economy, but not always in the desired way. There are many organizations and entities that participate and take their share of the cake. In Spain, according to PlasticsEurope, recycling and energy recovery of waste would inject more than 300 million euros and could translate into 33,000 jobs.
A promising panorama, but very different from what the mirror of reality reflects. Currently, corruption and fraud around waste management contracts are frequent. Without forgetting economic interests that go in the opposite direction, derived from the international garbage trade, in which both those who import and those who export earn money. Therefore, for some countries it is profitable not to recycle.
Infographic
Plastic recycling in our country is an example illustrative. In Spain, more than 10 billion plastic bags are used every year, although only 11 percent are recycled, when it takes a whopping 150 years to degrade.
If all the discarded plastic were recycled, it would generate Benefits worth 2,000 million euros a year, more than 30,000 jobs and energy would be saved that we do not really have, since it has to be bought from other countries. This would reduce energy dependence, warns PlasticsEurope.
If you want to read more articles similar to Infographic about recycling, we recommend that you enter our Recycling and waste management category.
