Why Recycle?

Recycling is now part of every day life in the UK, and figures from DEFRA show we produce 517kg of waste per capita per year, 21.86% (113kg) of which is recycled. But there is still room for improvement with the majority of the remaining 404kg of waste recyclable. The United Kingdom is near the bottom of the class compared with the rest of Europe.

There are many reasons why we should all make the effort to recycle, and not only is it environmentally friendly it also reaps financial benefits. Recycling creates employment in your local area and provides a source of income for individuals, councils and companies, by reselling the collected material. By not recycling, we end up using more raw materials, more energy to produce the product and release huge amounts of Co2. The additional cost incurred to the manufacturer is ultimately passed on to the consumer.

Below is a detailed look at each of the materials that households can (and are) recycling in the UK, and you may just be shocked how beneficial this is to you the consumer, your local council and the environment.


Aluminium (840£/tonne)

Aluminum scrap is ground and shredded into small chips before being melted and cast into ingots. The ingots are sent to manufacturing plants where they are molded or rolled into sheets that can be shaped into various products. By recycling aluminium cans, it takes only 4% of the energy to recycle them than to produce them from raw materials. Saving 64 300 kWh/t. Taking the UK average price of 7.52p/kWh, this equates to a saving of £4 835/t of aluminium in energy costs and emissions of about 29t of Co2. This is enough to power a Virgin Pendolino train for 4537km, that's over 15 one-way journeys from London Euston to Manchester Picadilly.


Plastics (90-320£/tonne)

Plastic needs to be sorted by type (PET, HDPE, PVC etc.) because many plastic resins are used that are incompatible in the recycling process. The plastic may be shredded, baled or chipped before it is shipped to the reprocessing plant. Resins are melted and remolded into new products. Plastics are derived from energy resources such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas, so any material recovered is an energy savings. 90% of the manufacturing process energy needs to produce new plastics is saved by recycling.


Steel Cans (90£/tonne)

Tin cans are really tin-coated steel cans. The tin coating on steel cans is removed with a caustic de-tinning solution by electrolysis. The remaining steel is rinsed and baled and sold. The tin is also a valuable ingredient for many products. One tonne of tin or steel saves 1.5t of ore. Tin saves an estimated 2 600 kWhs (saving £196 in energy costs) per tonne. Steel saves an average 4 300 kWhs (saving £323 in energy costs) per tonne or 47% of the energy required to process steel from raw materials. Preventing 1.17t and 1.95t of Co2 per tonne respectively.


Newspaper, White Paper, Cardboard (60-130£/tonne)

Recycling one tonne of newspaper, white computer paper or card saves three tonnes of wood pulp. It saves the equivalent of 3 000 kWhs (saving £225 in energy costs) of electricity, or 23% of the energy required to process a ton of newspaper from new pulp.


So as you can see, recycling can be beneficial financially and environmentally, however by not recycling additional landfills will need to be constructed by government paid through increases in council taxes. So not only is this a personal commitment, this is a community commitment, spread the word and reap the benefits that recycling can gain for your local economy.