Small Action. Big Impact.

Small Action.

Recycling is actually quite easy.  Why?

It is required for all residences – so if you don’t have recycling at your house, townhome, or apartment, then the landlord is violating local ordinances.

There are recycling containers on our streets, in our parks, and on many locations on campus.

We do most of the separating for you.  Check out the How and What to Recycle section for more information. 

The Centre County Recycling and Refuse Authority – that’s who processes most of our recyclables – is able to market all of the materials they gather at their facility. So no, our recycling is not collected and then landfilled or burned.  It is sorted, crushed, sold, and then turned into new products.  

Big Impact.

When you put an item in your recycling bin instead of your trash can, you give new life to a product you no longer need. Here are 6 ways we all benefit from recycling.

1. Recycling is essential for manufacturers

Recycling plays a vital role in manufacturing. Manufacturers use our recyclables to create new packaging and products in industries ranging from transportation to infrastructure, electronics, and healthcare.

Aluminum has a great recycling success story. Incredibly, of all the aluminum ever created, an incredible 75% remains in use today, recycled into cans and cars and lots of other items in between.

And our manufacturers need your recyclables.  There’s actually a shortage of cardboard for product packaging and transport in this country which is impacting manufacturers and supply chains, but we’ve all seen those recyclable boxes filling up the dumpsters and headed to the landfill. 

2. Recycling saves energy

Recycling often requires less energy than using raw materials to make new products. For example, processing recycled aluminum cans to make new ones takes 76% less energy than using bauxite, the raw material that makes aluminum.

Using recycled products versus mining and processing raw materials also reduces greenhouse gas emissions by between 40% and 90%, according to the Recycled Materials Association.

Recycled Material	Energy Savings	Emissions Reduction
Glass jars and bottles	28%	46%
Plastic Bottles	56%	47%
Plastic jugs (milk, laundry, etc)	67%	50%
Aluminum cans	76%	83%

Source: Recycled Materials Association, July 2024

3. Recycling conserves natural resources

Competition for the world’s limited natural resources continues to grow. There are only two sources for raw materials: either we take them from nature or we reclaim the raw materials we capture through recycling. For example, the best estimates are that we will run out of known oil reserves in about 50 years. So recycle that plastic bottle!

Without recycling, more trees are cut for paper and cardboard boxes, more oil is drilled for plastic, and more bauxite, sand, and iron ore are mined to make aluminum, glass, and steel. And those natural resources are limited. For example, the best estimates are that we will run out of known oil reserves in about 50 years. So recycle that plastic bottle!

4. Recycling creates jobs

Recycling is important for the economy. In 2024, some 1.25 million Americans held jobs in the recycling industry. And if every city and town recycled 75% of its recyclables by 2030, estimates are that would create an additional 1.1 million new jobs. 

5. Recycling reduces how much waste is sent to landfills

Recycling gives new life to materials that would otherwise end up in landfills. Given the risks landfills pose to the environment and people living and working nearby, the more waste we can divert from landfills, the better.

Decomposing waste releases methane, a harmful gas that contributes to climate change. Landfills are the third-largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States, but your recycling reduces the waste in landfills.

And in Pennsylvania alone, we are slated to run out of current landfill space is about 18 years.  Sure, they can build more landfills and incinerators, but do you want those in your town?

6. Recycling benefits our environment.

Recycling reduces pollution. Because manufacturing using recycled materials uses less energy and requires far less extraction, that results in much less air and water pollution. For example, recycling paper results in 70% less air pollution and 35% less water pollution compared to making paper from new materials. And recycling could eliminate all those plastic bottles and bags littering our roadways, waterways, and oceans.

Recycling protects ecosystems and wildlife. Recycling reduces the need to grow, harvest or extract new raw materials which in turn lessens the harmful disruption and damage being done to the natural world: fewer forests cut down, rivers diverted, wild animals harmed or displaced, and less pollution of water, soil and air. 

Recycling encourages us to rethink waste. When businesses commit to recycling, they often rethink their manufacturing and operating processes to reduce waste further. This mindset fosters innovation, leading to the development of more eco-friendly materials and practices.

Because recycling means we need to use less energy on sourcing and processing new raw materials, it produces lower carbon emissions.

Of course, recycling has challenges, and it’s not the only thing we should be doing. Reducing our consumption, reusing or donating items, and only buying recyclable products are individual steps we can all take. Yet recycling remains essential. It’s key to creating a circular economy, a system where materials never become waste.

Recycling is not the only action we can take, but it’s one that’s pretty small and remarkably easy here in Centre County, and one that has a big impact.