Since 1960 the amount of municipal waste being collected in America has nearly tripled, reaching 245m tons in 2005. According to European Union statistics, the amount of municipal waste produced in western Europe increased by 23% between 1995 and 2003, to reach 577Kg per person. As the volume of waste increased so has the recycling efforts. In 1980 America recycled only 9.6% of its municipal rubbish; today the rate stands at 32%. In Europe, countries such as Netherlands and Austria now recycle 60% or more of their municipal waste. Britain's recycling rate is at 27%. A study by Waste & Resources Action Programme (WARP), a non-profit British company, Britain's recycling effort reduce its carbon-dioxide emissions by 10m – 15m tons per year. This is equivalent to a 10% reduction in Britain's annual carbon dioxide emissions from transport, or roughly equivalent to taking 3.5m cars off road. America's Environmental Protection Agency estimates that recycling reduced the country's carbon emissions by 49m tons in 2005.
Recycling has many other benefits too. It conserves natural resources. It also reduces the amount of waste that is buried or burnt. It saves energy and reduces greenhouse gases and pollution that results when scrap materials are substituted for virgin feedstock. Extracting metals from ore is extremely energy intensive. Recycling aluminium, for example, can reduce energy consumption by as much as 95%. Savings for other materials are lower but still substantial: about 70% for plastics, 60% for steel, 40% for paper and 30% for glass.
Source: "The truth about recycling" The Economist Technology Quarterly, June 9th 2007: 22-26.