Recycling and other waste-reducing methods keep the older landfill open longer. Because these avoided costs are not seen when people pay the bills, they do not usually think of the savings recycling produces. Environmental Costs Recycling is economical in several ways related to manufacturing processes. Recycling cuts down on waste produced by processing raw materials into usable forms. For example, recycling aluminum reduces mining wastes, processing wastes, and emissions produced by extracting the aluminum from the ore.
Recycling usually requires less refining than raw materials.
For example, it takes much less energy to melt down an aluminum can to make another aluminum can than to process the raw materials to make a can. This cuts down on chances for environmental damage and conserves our natural resources. With any product, the costs of cleaning up wastes and limiting emissions usually are passed on to consumers who purchase the product. But sometimes damage to the environment is not realized for years, is difficult to attribute to certain industries, or is caused by a combination of many industries. Acid rain is one example of this type of environmental damage.