When you hear about Recycling, it seems like an obvious win-win: Turning used materials like paper and metal into new products keeps them out of landfills and saves both raw materials and energy. And more and more of today’s products are being made with total or partial recycled content. This is a great step away from the linear “take-make-dispose” model towards a more regenerative circular economy.

Recycling reduces greenhouse gases which contribute to global climatic change, saves energy, provides valuable raw material resources for industry, creates jobs, stimulates the development of greener technologies, and conserves natural resources for future generations. It also helps to avoid pollution from trash burning in incinerators or leaching from landfills and reduces the need to devote land to traditional waste disposal.

Once a material is collected, it’s often sent to a materials recovery facility (MRF) or a paper processor for further processing into marketable commodities for manufacturing. Some processes, such as pyrolysis or hydrolysis, transforms materials into fuel or other industrial outputs, while other technologies, such as nanotechnology, can strengthen and improve traditional materials to make them better suited for recycling.

Of course, the most important part of the whole process is making sure that you’re actually recycling your materials properly – that includes keeping metal bottle caps on bottles and not tossing plastic bags in with other plastics. And don’t forget to purchase recycled products, which will help to complete the cycle. This will encourage manufacturers to continue producing high-quality, environmentally-sound products and keep recycling a viable option for our planet.