What does recycleing save?

Why recycling is cheaper depends on what you are recycling.

We can take aluminum as one example. Aluminum does not occur as a metal in nature because it is too reactive to stay free. To make aluminum from ore, the ore has to be mined, extracted, and refined. Extracting aluminum from ore requires enormous amounts of energy, because it is so strongly reactive. If we start with scrap aluminum, the extraction has already been done, and so all we have to do is melt it, which requires very much less energy, only about 5% of what extraction takes.

We can take another example in paper. Inexpensive paper can be made from trees. It can also be made from recycled paper products. The difference between the two processes is not great, but the source materials have very different costs. Making paper from trees requires going out Into the Woods and cutting the trees down. Making paper from other paper only requires picking up something people are throwing away, which would wind up costing money to put into a landfill. Scrap paper is cheaper than new wood.