There are numerous benefits to recycling: Â conserving conversing raw materials by using those already in use, reduction in energy needed to produce goods from scratch, keeping materials out of landfills, among others. Many of the products we use in our throw away society will – if tossed in the garbage – not only be around after we are done using them, but will be around long after we have died.
Below are the times it takes for various materials to decompose. The only things on the list that will decompose during our lifetimes are banana peels, paper bags, and wool socks. That plastic jug from which you poured milk into your cereal this morning? It will be around for 1 million years, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation, who created the list.
