Why is recycling so important?

running out of places to throw stuff away.

Recycling is VERY important. Please, do everything you can to recycle. Some towns (like mine) pick up recycling every few weeks. Call up city hall to see if they have a program like that in your town. Otherwise, try to get a neighbor or a friend to bring yours. Obviously, don't make them go every week, but save up a bunch of recycling and go only like once a month. It really is crucial that everyone recycles.

It's important to recycle because a majority of our landfills are already overflowing with waste. If we don't recycle we'll keep adding to the landfills and pretty soon we'll be knee-deep in trash! Here's a great page that explains the importance of recycling: http://www.greenstudentu.com/recycling.aspx

There are other things you can do other than recycling. Pay attention to your packaging and reduce it when you can. Try to avoid bringing things that will need to go into the garbage. Ask a friend or neighbor if they would be willing to take your recycling once a month for you. You can also buy recycling. The greater the demand for recyclable material, the greater the chance your city will find a way to collect it from you.

i think in an individual case recycling it not important. Instead limit gasoline powered devices. (cars, etc). This helps air and saves u money. I think recycling earns money for cities, etc. And transporting it causes pollution.

Recycling paper is not a good thing. It reduces the number of trees in the world! Here's why: There is a supply and demand relationship between forest land and 'new' paper production. If the demand for pulpwood is reduced the value of forest land is reduced and some forest is eliminated. Example: Joe Woodsy has some wooded land that he uses for hunting. The taxes are pretty high but he is able to harvest some pulpwood every few years to offset the cost. Now the price of pulpwood drops because everybody is recycling paper. It now costs Joe quite a bit to keep land just to hunt. A local entrepeneur approaches Joe about buying his land to turn it into a golf course. Joe sells. The forest is eliminated. Moral: Cutting down trees is ok. Eliminating forest is bad. They are not the same thing.

See if there is a service that will pick up your recyclables at the curb in your area. Recycling is important because the planet only has limited resources. Only so many trees to make the paper we need, and only so much oil to create the plastics we need. It's a waste for perfectly good material to be thrown in with trash and buried for years and years.

I am an avid recycler. Everything I recycle I can get rid of for free. This certainly helps me be to obsessive about recycling; I just wish there was more of my garbage stream I could recycle. I also have a house with a yard so, I have the space to maintain recycling bins. My recycling bins are all discarded garbage cans from other folks so they came to me free; most of them are larger cans from when folks around here had to reduce their can size. Both of these make it even easier and more affordable in terms of dollars and labor to recycle. I currently work within a mile or two of a place that I can get rid of my recyclables for free. And, I own a pickup truck. This makes it even easier. I used to gather a truck load of cans full of recyclables and then drive about 10 miles one way to be able to recycle for free. If I had extra tin, or glass, or paper I would re-designate cans until I had a full truck load of cans of recyclables. Initially, curb side recycling was not available but, I did it because it was the "right" thing to do and it kept my garbage down to one can. Often my actual garbage can wasn't full so, I was able to take friend's and family's extras or, put "heavy" things in the can. When we finially got curb-side recycling instead of the promised savings, we had to lease the garbage can (which was much smaller), lease the recycle bins, pay $2 more per month for the curb side recycling option, and the garbage rates increased by almost $5/can. Instead, I canceled curb-side and worked on reducing my garbage stream. For you however, it sounds like recycling is a labor of love. Is there someway for you to connect with someone who has curb-side recycling close by? - For a period since canceling curb-side garbage pickup, I "can shared" with someone. They gathered their recyclables which I placed in my bins and in exchange they took my partial can of garbage. - Or, is there some way to connect with someone who is elsewise willing to get your recyclables into the recycling streamin your area? If possible, something like this would be, in someone elses words, "a good thing".

Recycling is important for several reasons. Perhaps the most important one is that the energy savings from recycling some products is tremendous. For example, according to the Department of Energy, recycling aluminum saves 95% of the necessary energy for production! This energy savings not only saves companies money, but reduces harmful air pollutants such as nitrous and sulfur oxides, particulate matter, and carbon dioxide. Recycling also reduces litering, keeping our planet beautiful. Finally, recycling conserves our natural resources, ensuring that future generations have access to the same resources we do. Recycling programs vary from town to town - it doesn't sound like your town has a curbside pickup program. I would suggest saving your recycled products so that you only have to go the recycling center monthly, or organizing a system with your neighbors such that you only have to travel to the center occasionally. Perhaps you can contact a local community group (scouting organization, school, church, etc.) that will recycle your products for you.