Recycling means collecting used materials such as metals, glass, paper and plastics and turning them into new products. Deciding whether to recycle a material means weighing up several factors, and different groups of people may reach different conclusions.
The benefits are clear. Recycling helps to conserve finite raw materials such as metal ores and crude oil. It usually needs less energy than extracting and processing new material, for example recycling aluminium uses far less energy than extracting it from its ore. It also reduces the amount of waste sent to landfill and cuts the pollution caused by mining and quarrying.
There are costs too. Used materials must be collected, transported and sorted, and this takes energy and money. Mixed or dirty waste is hard to separate, and some plastics lose quality when recycled so cannot always be made into the same product. Economic and social factors matter as well: the cost of recycling compared with the price of new raw materials, the jobs created, and whether people are willing to separate their waste. A balanced evaluation uses evidence from both sides before reaching a judgement.