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Recycling three typical 12 ounce aluminum beverage cans, to create an aluminum sheet for making a new can, saves about a kilowatt-hour of electricity compared to the electricity it would take to make a sheet from aluminum ore. Glass, steel, plastics, car batteries and paper recycling can also create energy savings. Waste materials that are recycled are not sent to landfills, and thus do not contribute to the use of land for landfills.

Recyclable materials are typically mixed at the initial collection point (recycling bins). It takes capital investment and labor to create and operate a sort...