Recycling may not be the total answer to saving the earth, but it's a good part of the solution.
One example of recycling is to consider the mechanical stuff we discard into land fills: appliances, tools, etc. If you break them down by separating the metals, plastics, wiring, and wood and recycle them at the appropriate depots it helps keep a lot of this kind junk from ending up in the landfill.
Most metals, if sorted, can actually make the recycler a few bucks for their effort. In some cases plastics are worth a few bucks if recycled. Most wiring for a lot of things is made from copper, with a plastic or rubber coating. Wiring taken to a scrap yard can net the recycler a tidy profit, depending on whether the wiring is stripped of its coating or not. And it's still worth something with the coating on. Even wood can be recycled, with the possible exception of particle board.
A lot of these materials are in ordinary household things we buy then just throw them in the dumpster when they break down. We, the people of the planet, need to learn to recycle more of this kind of stuff to keep it from the landfills.
