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Recycling of solid wastes is an option that many municipalities have explored in recent years. It not only facilitates disposal but conserves energy, cuts pollution, and preserves natural resources. To make cans from recovered aluminum, for example, requires 10% of the energy needed to make them from virgin ore. At the same time ore is saved, and the pollution resulting from mining and processing are avoided. Making steel bars from scrap requires 74% less energy and 50% less water, while reducing air-polluting emissions by 85% and mining wastes by 95%.
Similarly, sludge from treated sewage can be used for fertilizer, but it has been less costly to dump it at sea or on open land (see sewerage). Dumped sludge has killed marine life and threatened beaches along the Eastern seaboard; elsewhere in the United States it is a growing nuisance. Between 1975 and 1985 the amount of sludge dumped in U.S. coastal waters increased by 60%; the effects of dumping and illegal dumping are still felt despite the fact that it has been illegal since the beginning of 1992. Recycling and composting take care of approximately 2.7% of municipal solid waste.
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