Environment and economic benefits
To do your share in conserving resources and protecting the environment, you can reduce, reuse and recycle residual materials, goods or products you no longer use. Every little gesture counts.
By sending printed matter, as well as paper, cardboard, plastic, glass and metal containers and packaging for recycling, you conserve resources by cutting down on the need for virgin raw materials. Moreover, recycling these materials enables new products to be made, using less energy and water.
In addition to helping conserve resources and protect the environment, the responsible management of residual materials through source reduction, reuse and recycling results in economic and social benefits for Québec : $1.2 billion in business and over 10,000 direct jobs.
Think before you throw it out. It pays!
Paper and cardboard
Recycling paper and cardboard produces a net energy gain of 35 % and conserves resources while decreasing the need for virgin fibre. It reduces water pollution caused by the manufacture of paper by 35 %.
And that's not all! Recycling these materials eliminates certain environmental risks associated with the use of virgin materials to manufacture paper. When paper and cardboard are buried, they partially decompose in the absence of oxygen and release methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.
What can be done.
With recycled paper?
- cardboard;
- paper for domestic use;
- tissue paper;
- sanitary paper;
- towels;
- envelopes.
With recycled newsprint?
- egg cartons;
- fruit dividers;
- litter;
- shoe boxes;
- cereal boxes;
- phone books.
With recycled cardboard?
- corrugated cardboard boxes;
- brown paper grocery bags;
- construction materials.
Metal
At the moment, 65 % of steel products are made from recycled steel. Recycling this material eliminates extraction, refining and transportation operations, which consume energy and produce greenhouse gases.
A steel manufacturing plant that uses recycled scrap metal instead of iron ore reduces water pollution and mining waste by 70 % in addition to saving energy. Each tonne of recycled steel saves 1,135 kg of iron ore, 635 kg of coal and 54 kg of limestone.
The production of aluminum using recovered aluminum materials results in energy savings of 95 % and saves global reserves of bauxite, the raw material used to manufacture aluminum. By recycling a single aluminum can, you help to save enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for 20 hours.
That's right! And don't forget that aluminum can be recycled endlessly!
Plastic
There are several types of plastic, which for the most part are easily recycled. In addition to conserving petroleum, a non-renewable and precious resource, recycling plastic results in considerable energy gains. Recycling plastic eliminates the burial of plastic containers and materials, which occupy a large portion of landfills for several hundred years.
What can be done with recycled plastic? You'd be surprised!
- About five 2-litre softdrink or water bottles made of PET* or nine 600-ml bottles made of PET make a T-shirt.
- About five 2-litre bottles made of PET make enough insulating fibre to fill a ski jacket.
- About thirty-five 2-litre PET bottles are enough to make the insulating fill for a sleeping bag.
- About thirty-six 2-litre PET bottles or sixty-six 600-ml PET bottles make a square yard of carpet.
*Polyethylene terephthalate or code 1 in the triangle
Source: Information adapted from the Canadian Plastics Industry Association website
Glass
The manufacture of glass from recycled materials allows for a large net energy gain of about 30 % and eliminates certain environmental risks generated by the manufacture of virgin materials.
By recycling a single glass bottle, you save enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for four hours! Even more important, glass can be recycled indefinitely.
What products are made out of glass?
- containers;
- bottles.
Ground into a fine powder, glass is also used as an aggregate in jet sandblasting.