Recycling and reducing waste is small factor that is a huge way to reduce your carbon footprint. According to Indiana Recycling Coalition, 40% of the US’s greenhouse gases emissions are due to the making, transportation, and disposal of materials. Recycling more and repurposing items is a significant way to decrease your carbon footprint.
There are many costs of buying (or hastily throwing away) products that cause large amounts of greenhouse gasses to be emitted. For example, recycling an aluminum can saves 95% of the energy and potential greenhouse gasses used to make another can. When factoring in the costs of transportation, recycling just a single can saves the earth from harmful gasses.
There are also many harmful greenhouse gasses that are formed in landfills that recycling, reusing, or composting can prevent from entering the atmosphere. When trash goes in the incinerator, harmful greenhouse gasses such as methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide are formed. These gasses trap a large amount of atmospheric heat, contributing to global warming and climate change . By sorting out trash and recycling or reducing the amount of things you throw away, you can prevent these gasses from entering the atmosphere.
Finally, recycling paper allows more trees to remain standing. Trees have the ability to capture carbon dioxide store it in their wood. By allowing more trees to remain standing, we allow trees to continue their natural process of sequestering carbon. One interesting statistic states that if 7000 people recycle their office paper for a year, they can reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 570 metric tons of CO2, the equivalent of taking 370 cars off the road.
Before taking my carbon footprint, I did not realize how big of an impact recycling has on reducing your carbon footprint. After researching the topic a little more, I was amazed how small things such as recycling paper and soda cans have large repercussions in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Source:
http://indianarecycling.org/curb-your-carbon/

I​ ​agree​ ​with​ ​what​ ​you​ ​are​ ​saying​ ​i​ ​do​ ​think​ ​reusing​ ​and​ ​repurposing​ ​items​ ​can​ ​help​ ​our
carbon​ ​footprint.​ ​liked​ ​you​ ​said​ ​“​There​ ​are​ ​many​ ​costs​ ​of​ ​buying​ ​(or​ ​hastily​ ​throwing
away)​ ​products​ ​that​ ​cause​ ​large​ ​amounts​ ​of​ ​greenhouse​ ​gasses​ ​to​ ​be​ ​emitted.”
Instead​ ​of​ ​damaging​ ​more​ ​items​ ​than​ ​we​ ​already​ ​have​ ​we​ ​can​ ​start​ ​“saving”​ ​them
and​ ​reuse​ ​them.

I agree with you about how recycling plays a enormous part in the world's fight against pollution. One of the main benefits of recycling is reducing the amount of trash in landfills. Landfills not only hurt the environment, but they also release leachates. Leachates are liquids that are extracted from a landfill. Leachates can drain toxic chemicals into the fresh waterways that most people drink from. Trichloroethylene or TCE is usually found in leachates that come from landfills. Some evidence shows that trichloroethylene can cause kidney cancer, but even exposure to little amounts of trichloroethylene can cause headaches and dizziness. Studies show that about 82% of landfills have leakage.
   Another harmful impact of landfills are the amount of harmful gases emitted from landfills. Landfill gases are mostly produced by chemical reactions, volatilization, and bacterial decomposition. Some of the most common gases which are produced by landfills are: methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen.
  Everyday the Earth is suffering due to the choices we make as a community.  Wh at can we do as humans to ensure that the Earth is healthy?  What small changes can you make in your life to make an impact?

SOURCES:
https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaqs/tf.asp?id=172&tid=30
http://www.wegreen-usa.org/landfill-problems.html
http://leachate.co.uk/main/what-is-leachate/
https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/landfill/html/ch2.html