By comparison, the United Stateslandfills more than 80 percent of all solid waste. Japanese families diligently seperate wastes into as many as seven different categories, each to be picked up on different day. Some conservationist say that Americans are too lazy. North stongton, Connecticut, however, faced with escalating disposal costs, reduced its waste volume by two-thirds in just two years. Overall, we are already making progress in removing material from the waste stream.
Recycling lowers our demands for raw resources.
Every piece of plactic we make reduces the reserves supply of petroleum and make us more dependant on foreign oil. Recycling also reduces energy consumption and air pollution. Plastic bottle recycling could save 50 to 60 percent of the energy needed to make new ones. Making new steel from scrap offers up to 75 percent energy savings. 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.