http://www.msnbc.msn.com/.  This site anwers just the question you are posing. 

I have heard that not all recyling products actually get recycled.  I don't know if that was just a rumor or someones justification.

http://www.recycling-revolution.com/recycling-benefits.html

Another site.Does recycling help?  Here are tons of reasons why we all should keep recycling.

"Recycling a ton of “waste” has twice the economic impact of burying it in the ground. In addition, recycling one additional ton of waste will pay $101 more in salaries and wages, produce $275 more in goods and services, and generate $135 more in sales than disposing of it in a landfill."

http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/Publications/Economics/41004002.pdf

These facts are concentrated more on California (I'm from California myself) but as you can see you affect all aspects of life when you recycle, whether it's the environment, social life or the economy. 

 But look here's a list of more generalized facts that were gathered;

544,000: trees saved if every household in the United States replaced just one roll of virgin fiber paper towels (70 sheets) with 100% recycled ones.

20 million: tons of electronic waste thrown away each year. One ton of scrap from discarded computers contains more gold than can be produced from 17 tons of gold ore.

9 cubic yards: amount of landfill space saved by recycling one ton of cardboard.

$160 billion: the value of the global recycling industry that employs over 1.5 million people.

79 million tons: the amount of waste material diverted away from disposal in 2005 through recycling and composting… http://www.epa.gov/msw/facts.htm

5%: the fraction of the energy it takes to recycle aluminum versus mining and refining new aluminum. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_recycling

315 kg: the amount of carbon dioxide not released into the atmosphere each time a metric ton of glass is used to create new glass products.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_recycling

98%: the percentage of glass bottles in Denmark that are refillable. 98% of those are returned by consumers for reuse. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_recycling

51.5%: the percentage of the paper consumed in the U.S. that was recovered for recycling in 2005. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_recycling

Continue being an aware and strong member of society by recycling, don't stop! :)

Best regards, lily.

As Earth Day approaches, you have to take a minute to think of the state of affairs our planet is in.  I definitely think that all the info points to the benefits of recycling. 

We also need to think wisely.  Instead of using plastic water bottles, try taking your own thermos, or instead of using paper napkins all the time, try entertaining with cloth.  These little changes can also make a huge difference.