Why recycle?

The simple answer is to Save the Planet!  

Rare  materials, such as gold and silver, are  recycled because acquiring  new supplies is expensive. 
Other  materials  may not be as expensive  to replace, but  they are  recycled  to conserve  energy, 
reduce pollution, conserve land, and to save money.

Recycling conserves natural resources by reducing the need for new material. Some natural resources are renewable, meaning they can be replaced, and some are not. Paper, corrugated board, and other paper products come from renewable timber sources. Trees harvested to make those products can be replaced by growing more trees. Iron and aluminium come from non renewable ore deposits. Once a deposit is mined, it cannot be replaced

Recycling saves energy by reducing the need to process new material, which usually requires more energy than the recycling process. The amount of energy saved in recycling one aluminum can is equivalent to the energy in the gasoline that would fill half of that same can. To make an aluminum can from recycled metal takes only 5% of the total energy needed to produce the same aluminum can from unrecycled materials, 95% energy savings. Recycled paper and cardboard require 75% less energy to produce than new products. Significant energy savings result in the recycling of steel and glass as well.

Recycling reduces pollution because recycling a product creates less pollution than producing a new one. For every ton of newspaper recycled, 16 lb's of air pollutants are pumped into the atmosphere. Recycling can also reduce pollution by recycling safer products to replace those that pollute. Some countries still use chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) to manufacture foam products such as cups and plates. It is widely accepted in the scientific community that CFCs harm the atmosphere's protective layer of ozone. Using recycled plastic instead for those products eliminates the creation of harmful CFCs.

Recycling saves valuable landfill space, land that must be set aside for dumping rubbish, building debris, and garden waste.

Landfills fill up quickly and acceptable sites for new ones are difficult to find because of objections by neighbors to noise and smells, and the hazard of leaks into underground water supplies. The two major ways to reduce the need for new landfills are to generate less initial waste and to recycle products that would normally be considered waste.

Most of the things that we throw away could be a valuable resource for someone, somewhere. 
That’s why when we call something “waste” we are making a mistake. The problem is
that we are a nation addicted to throwing stuff out.