FROM June 17-23 it’s Recycle Week!

This week will mark the tenth anniversary of celebrating recycling week.

This special week has been held since 2004 and its mission has been to encourage us to recycle more.  As we all know, recycling is very important for the environment and we need to reduce, reuse and recycle.

Cllr Curtis said: “It was wonderful to have the support of one of Wales’ top Naturalists for the launch of Recycling week here in the Vale of Glamorgan. Iolo Williams knows what a real difference re-cycling can make to our natural world.

If you’re not already recycling, find out more about how easy it is and how you can really make a difference. For those who already recycle, discover the positive effect your recycling efforts are making and find out what else you may be able to do.

When we recycle, used materials are converted into new products, reducing the need to consume natural resources. If used materials are not recycled, new products are made by extracting fresh, raw material from the Earth, through mining and forestry.

Recycling helps conserve important raw materials and protects natural habitats for the future.

Using recycled materials in the manufacturing process uses considerably less energy than that required for producing new products from raw materials – even when comparing all associated costs including transport etc.

Plus there are extra energy savings because more energy is required to extract, refine, transport and process raw materials ready for industry compared with providing industry-ready materials.

Recycling reduces the need for extracting (mining, quarrying and logging), refining and processing raw materials all of which create substantial air and water pollution.

As recycling saves energy it also reduces greenhouse gas emissions, which helps to tackle climate change. Current UK recycling is estimated to save more than 18 million tonnes of C02 a year – the equivalent to taking five million cars off the road.

When we recycle, recyclable materials are reprocessed into new products, and as a result the amount of rubbish sent to landfill sites reduces. There are over 1,500 landfill sites in the UK, and , these sites produced a quarter of the UK’s emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.”