How Recycling Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Did you know the energy sector produces the most greenhouse gases worldwide? Roughly, 73% of all greenhouse gases are generated from electricity and heat, buildings, manufacturing, and transportation. While deforestation and landfills account for an estimated 25% of the global greenhouse gas emissions annually. Recycling eliminates the need for raw materials, and this in turn reduces the amount of greenhouse gas produced from extraction as well as manufacturing.

 Here are 11 ways you can reduce greenhouses gases in your everyday life:

1. Recycle! By recycling half of your annual household waste, you can divert 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
2. Buy energy-efficient products: light bulbs & appliances.
3. Drive less: work from home whenever possible, or carpool.
4. Purchase a fuel-efficient vehicle.
5. Unplug appliances when they’re not in use.
6. Turn off lights when you’re not in the room.
7. Add solar panels to your house.
8. Use less heat: add insulation or simply, turn it down.
9. Purchase food from local markets.
10. Plant a tree!
11. Encourage others to cut back on emissions as well.

Click here to find out your carbon footprint. Use this information to determine where you can change your habits to ultimately cut back on releasing emissions. It’s important we make these little changes now, to protect our planet.

Here are a few countries who have focused their attention on reducing greenhouse gases:

1. Morocco: Established a goal to generate 42% of energy from renewable sources by 2020 and 52% percent by 2030.
2. India: As a leader in renewable energy, India has a goal to generate 40% of power from renewable energy by 2030 but they are already close to reaching this goal.
3. Costa Rica: Plans to be 100% renewable by 2021! For the past 4 years they have generated 98% of electricity from hydropower.
4. The EU: The Paris Agreement has pushed the EU to reduce emissions by 40% in 2030. Countries throughout the EU have put plans in place to make this goal a reality.

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Looking for more recycling and sustainability tips? Check out these other blogs

• 4 Ways to Avoid Single-Use Plastics During the COVID-19 Crisis
• What to Recycle and What Not to Recycle
• What Goes in the Compost Bin? 4 Tips to Get Organics Collection Right at Your Business

CleanRiver Recycling provides a variety of innovative, flexible and customizable recycling solutions. To determine the right solution to meet your needs, use the CleanRiver product selector. If you have additional questions that weren’t answered in this blog post please call us at 1-866-479-4038 or email solutions@cleanriver.com.

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