text: is recycling really necessary, or just b.s? does bundling paper and crushing milk cartons really make a difference or is that just a way of making people think they are helping? recycling saves energy, landfill space and the planet.  it is necessary on many levels.  some examples are:  aluminum cans made from recycled metal only use 5% of the energy that's needed to make that same can from non-recycled metal.  every ton of paper you recycle is 17 trees that didn't have to be cut down.  so if you look at the amount of stuff we recycle you can see that it really does make a difference.  also, most of the materials we are currently collecting go back into making the things we buy.  if we didn't use recycled content, we would have less resources to use in manufacturing.