by:kevin nelson Before knowing the importance and benefits of recycling and its relation to a better environmental condition, it is essential to understand what is recycling. Recycling refers to the process of collecting used materials which are usually considered as 'waste' and reprocessing them. In this process these used materials are sorted and processed to be used as 'raw materials' for the production of new products. Recycling varies from 'reuse' in the sense that while reuse just means using old products repeatedly, recycling means using the core elements of an old product as raw material to manufacture new goods. Some of the most common items that are recycled are plastic, glass, paper, batteries, aluminum, etc.