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You are here: Home > Waste and resource recovery > Information for local authorities > Benefits of recycling

Benefits of recycling: study and calculator

Recycling is making a substantial contribution to the improvement of our environment by:

• reducing greenhouse gas emissions
• delivering significant water savings
• delivering significant energy savings
• conserving non-renewable virgin resources
• conserving rapidly depleting available land fill space

To demonstrate the environmental benefits of recycling a range of virgin based products were directly compared to products made using recycled materials.

Benefits of recycling study

The Benefits of Recycling study found that by recycling, each year NSW households are saving 2,654 olympic sized swimming pools of water, the annual electricity requirement of almost 334,000 households and taking 55,000 cars off the road permanently.

Benefits of Recycling Study Summary (2005140_gov_benefitofrecysum.pdf; 94kb)

Benefits of Recycling Study Full Report (2005139_gov_benefitrecyrpt.pdf; 213kb)

 

 

Benefits of recycling calculator

 

 

 

 

 

 

How much are you saving? How are your recycling initiatives benefiting the environment? Why not find out?!

Use the Benefits of Recycling Calculator to graph your performance and plot your progress.

Benefits of Recycling Calculator (benefitrecycalcJune2008,els; 1.41mb)

At the touch of a button, your recycling activities are calculated and graphically displayed, providing simple everyday indicators for community education and internal communication.

Indicators include:

• Landfill space saved
• Greenhouse impact
• Energy
• Water
  

More information

Contact: Sustainability Programs Division.