Producing aluminum from scrap instead of bauxide ore cuts energy by 95 percent, yet we throw away more than a million tons of aluminum every year. If aluminum recovery were doulbled worldwide, more than a million tons of air pollutants would be eliminated every year. Reducing litter is an important benefit of recycling. Ever since disposable paper, glass, metal, and plastic packaging began to accompany nearly everything we buy, these discarded wrapings have collected on our roadsides and in our lakes, rivers, and oceans. Without incentives to properly dispose of beverage cans, bottles and paper, it is often easier to just toss them aside when we have finished using them.
Litter is a costly as well as an unsightly problem.