This document discusses reasons for recycling various materials. It states that recycling is important because some materials are being used up and will run out, recycling uses less energy and causes less environmental damage than extracting raw materials, and metals, paper, timber and plastics can all be recycled. Recycling metals is more cost effective than mining and has less environmental impact. Plastics should be recycled to avoid catastrophic long term effects on the environment from dumping waste plastics.