Skip to page content
+ Menu

It almost always takes less energy to make a product from recycled materials than it does to make it from new materials.

Kids recycling

Source: Stock photography (copyrighted)

Recycling saves energy and other resources

Recycling is the process of collecting and processing materials that would otherwise be thrown away as trash and turning them into new products. Recycling often saves energy and natural resources.

Natural resources include land, plants, minerals, and water. When we use materials more than once, we conserve natural resources.

Making a product from recycled materials almost always requires less energy than it does to make the product from new materials. For example, using recycled aluminum cans to make new aluminum cans uses 95% less energy than using bauxite ore, the raw material aluminum is made from.