Collected materials are further sorted and processed for sale to manufacturers in Pennsylvania and other states. Money earned from the sale of recyclable materials can benefit the individual recycler or help communities and companies offset operating costs for recycling. Recycling also allows some communities to reduce waste disposal costs. Society's energy consumption is also reduced by recycling. For example, it requires less energy to make a new glass bottle from a recycled one because recycled glass melts at a lower temperature than the raw materials.
Recycling also prolongs the life of the glassmaking equipment.
Similarly, making an aluminum can from recycled aluminum uses a fraction of the energy needed to make from bauxite ore. By 1997, nearly nine million people in more than 1,600 communities and all state agencies participated in the recycling effort. While curbside recycling is mandatory in 415 communities with populations greater than 5,000, more than 450 additional communities have developed curbside recycling programs voluntarily. All of these elements of Act 101 create a comprehensive program that will allow everyone to participate in the recycling and waste reduction effort.