Environmental Conservation
Recycling is vital to the safe and economical disposal of solid waste, as well as to the conservation of our precious natural resources and the economic production of raw materials.
Without the recycling industry, the United States would be innundated with discarded appliances, automobiles and other unwanted materials at a volume far exceeding existing landfill and dump site capacities.
Recycling scrap metals results in a significant energy savings. For example, recycling aluminum from scrap requires less than one-tenth the energy necessary to process bauxite and alumina.
Approximately 40 percent of the copper used each year is from recycled scrap copper, processed at an energy savings of 87 percent. And roughly half of the lead used each year comes from recycled scrap, at an energy savings of more than 60 percent.
In addition to savings in energy and natural resources necessary to produce raw materials, recycling scrap metal bypasses the harmful environmental side ef fects associated with metal manufacturing. Recycling produces no environmentally harmful oxides which are by-products during the initial chemical manufacturing of ore to metals.
The recycling industry is vital in the fight to solve our nations's growing solid waste problem. Leading scientists estimate that municipal sources in the United States generate approximately 140 million metric tons of solid waste per year. An average household generates approximately 52 pounds of solid waste per week, of which roughly 75 percent is recyclable materials.
Scrap recycling companies across the Unites States are responsible for processing more than 62 million tons of scrap metal each year. In Fort Worth alone, Gachman Metals andRecycling Company has recovered and recycled thousands of tons of resource materials which would otherwise clutter streets, parks, neighborhoods, landfills and dumpsites.
Without the recycling industry, the United States would be innundated with discarded appliances, automobiles and other unwanted materials at a volume far exceeding existing landfill and dump site capacities.
Recycling scrap metals results in a significant energy savings. For example, recycling aluminum from scrap requires less than one-tenth the energy necessary to process bauxite and alumina.
Approximately 40 percent of the copper used each year is from recycled scrap copper, processed at an energy savings of 87 percent. And roughly half of the lead used each year comes from recycled scrap, at an energy savings of more than 60 percent.
In addition to savings in energy and natural resources necessary to produce raw materials, recycling scrap metal bypasses the harmful environmental side ef fects associated with metal manufacturing. Recycling produces no environmentally harmful oxides which are by-products during the initial chemical manufacturing of ore to metals.
The recycling industry is vital in the fight to solve our nations's growing solid waste problem. Leading scientists estimate that municipal sources in the United States generate approximately 140 million metric tons of solid waste per year. An average household generates approximately 52 pounds of solid waste per week, of which roughly 75 percent is recyclable materials.
Scrap recycling companies across the Unites States are responsible for processing more than 62 million tons of scrap metal each year. In Fort Worth alone, Gachman Metals andRecycling Company has recovered and recycled thousands of tons of resource materials which would otherwise clutter streets, parks, neighborhoods, landfills and dumpsites.