Can I Save Money By Recycling?

Everyone knows recycling helps the planet. But did you know that recycling can help your wallet too? By recycling intelligently, you can save yourself and/or your company money. Outlined below are a few of the ways in which recycling saves money for businesses and individuals.

• Tax incentives. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, many companies that show a commitment to conservation and sustainability by buying recycling technology will receive incentives. 25 states offer incentives on property, sales, and income taxes.

• Bottle and can return programs. Lots of cities and states have deposit programs in which every bottle and can is charged ten cents extra upon purchase. That ten cents is returned to the buyer when he or she recycles the cans and bottles, protecting the environment and the person’s wallet.

• Low priced recycled products. Lots of recycled products are less expensive than brand new ones. Buying cans, bottles, paper, and some clothing items made from recycled goods are all potential ways to save you money.

• Savings from reusing packaging. By using newspaper instead of wrapping paper, or reusing your old wrapping paper year to year for Christmas and birthdays, you can greatly reduce the amount of money you spend on wrapping supplies. Similarly, saving cardboard boxes from shipments or purchases can save you money when you move or need to pack items away for storage.

• Using compost instead of fertilizer. Fertilizer improves the quality of soil, increasing its nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium content to prompt better plant growth. Fertilizers can be created from entirely organic materials, but an even cheaper and simpler way to improve your soil quality is to make compost. Kitchen scraps and yard trash thrown into a pile in the right proportions produces a nitrogen and carbon rich compost that can be mixed into your soil.