As the supply of all natural resources gets depleted, the concern for conservation of the remaining natural resources becomes more serious, and governments of all countries activate several programs to achieve this objective. Among the many different actions to be ensured for conservation of natural resources, recycling is an important measure which produces a direct impact on the whole effort of conserving the environment. Recycling of many products is possible, and the process involves collection of the necessary waste, segregating the waste to further improve the quality of waste, and following the same steps that are required to produce the original product.
A common example of recycling is the manufacture of recycled paper from waste paper. This reduces the demand for fresh paper which involves cutting of trees. Several trees are to be cut to produce each ton of paper. Hence, recycling of waste paper directly reduces the demand for cutting trees to produce paper, and thus saves the environment. Another example of recycling involves the manufacture of plastics from waste plastics. By recycling plastics, the addition of more plastics to the environment is reduced, and the existing plastic content in the environment keeps getting recycled and reused.
Paper and plastics account for a large proportion of generated waste. The collection of waste paper and waste plastics is also streamlined in most large cities. Even then, a large proportion of the waste gets regularly dumped in landfill sites, from where recycling is not possible. Many wastes that are not bio-degradable can often contaminate the soil and underground water reserves. It is therefore essential that proper waste management methods are adopted and strictly enforced to minimize the impact on the environment.