Whether it’s plastic, paper, or aluminum, the products and materials that can be used after they fulfill their original purpose are far from worthless. In fact, most materials have great recycling value. It is estimated that up to 75% of all the waste can be recycled or repurposed.

Recycling at PHS is very easy to do. Each classroom has two recycling bins for both plastic and paper. The student ambassadors sign up to collect the boxes every Thursday from each classroom after school and dispose of them in the recycling bins in Potosi. So if you have an empty plastic water bottle or worksheets that you don’t need anymore, it’s worth it to throw them in the recycling bins rather than the trash.

Recycling helps extend the life and usefulness of something that has already served its initial purpose by returning it to its raw materials and then using those materials to produce something that is useable

The recycling rate in the United States has increased from less than 7% in 1960 to over 34% in 2015. While the progress is promising, we still have a long way to go.

Recycling is a crucial human responsibility that needs to take place in order to help heal the earth. When you transform something old into something new, it benefits the environment in a number of ways. Materials and natural resources aren’t wasted, energy is saved during the manufacturing process, there’s less waste going to landfills, and it keeps wildlife safe.

The process of extracting raw materials can produce a lot of pollution. Because more recycling means less extraction, it also means less pollution. The more we recycle, the less material we send to landfills. Material decaying in landfills often emits methane, a greenhouse gas 30 times as potent as carbon dioxide, so the less of that, the better!

The reason why recycling is so important is that it prevents pollution, reduces the need to harvest new raw materials, saves energy, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, saves money, reduces the amount of waste that ends up in landfills, and allows products to be used to their fullest extent.