Today sees the start of Recycle Week and organisers, Recycle Now, are inviting you to be part of it.
The theme this year is ‘Recycling around the home’. The idea is to get us all thinking about all the items we can recycle from around the home that we might not previously have thought about recycling.
There are lots of good reasons to recycle.
When we recycle, used materials are converted into new products, reducing the need to consume natural resources. If used materials are not recycled, new products are made by extracting fresh, raw material from the Earth, through mining and forestry.
As recycling also saves energy, it reduces greenhouse gas emissions, helping to tackle climate change. Current UK recycling is estimated to save more than 18 million tonnes of CO2 a year – the equivalent to taking 5 million cars off the road.
Also, when we recycle, recyclable materials are reprocessed into new products, and as a result the amount of rubbish sent to landfill sites reduces. There are over 1,500 landfill sites in the UK and these sites produce emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Thus less landfill = less methane.
As part of Recycle Week, Recycle Now will be tweeting on Twitter and posting on Facebook loads of fun and interesting stuff to do and get involved in. Just use the hashtag #recycleweek to find out what’s happening near you.
For more information about Recycle Now, please visit the website.
