Firzlaff1
Travis Firzlaff
English 1010
Professor Saul
Synthesis of Sources
In his article “Mandatory Recycling Programs Work” William Cohen states that mandatory recycling programs work. “waste collected from homes and small businesses during fiscal 1999-2000 achieved a 60 to 70 percent diversion rate. This was well above the 50 percent diversion target set by the province of Nova Scotia for the year 2000.” Cohen attributes this to individual households and businesses sorting their garbage into recyclables and non recyclables,
“Each household separates four "streams" of waste which are then deposited in their own containers and placed at the curb or roadside and collected every two weeks” Cohen’s stance is supported by Linda Borg in her article “A Tale of Two Towns’ Trash” where she states that “In
Seekonk, the trash disposal and curbside recycling program is hugely successful. There is widespread public support for the user-fee system there.” Borg also attributes the success of the program to individual household support and quotes Selectman Chris Matte “We are recycling
42 percent of our total waste stream, The bag fee provides a real incentive to recycle. People are less apt to throw away tin cans because they have to pay for it.”
The idea that individual support for recycling programs even mandatory ones is also supported by Andrea Falkenhagen in her article E.V. Schools' Recycling Efforts are a Mixed
Bag: Not all Districts have Mandatory Programs as do Municipalities." Where she states that in school districts where no mandatory program is instituted recycling programs exist because

Firzlaff2 individuals or student groups make them happen. “Here in the East Valley, where no such mandates exist, individual schools that have taken on the responsibility of recycling often did so because of a student group or individual teacher who pushed the cause.”Even in schools where there are programs in place it is student participation that keeps them working.
“At lunchtime, students come up to a line of bins and start the cycle: Dump the milk, dump the food, recycle the cartons. In addition, the school has paper recycling bins in its classrooms that are dumped weekly by Student Council members and the "Trendsetters" club.”
Another recycling point supported by my articles is that without a well organized and established recycling program very little recycling is done in cities or communities. As shown by
Andrea Falkenhagen in the article “E.V. Schools' Recycling Efforts are a Mixed Bag: Not all
Districts have Mandatory Programs as do Municipalities." Where she cites the differences in recycling rates between different schools and school districts with different policies on recycling.
“ in the Chandler Unified School District, schools recycle paper and cardboard, but nothing else.
Plastic soda bottles, milk cartons and aluminum cans fill the garbage bins, destined for landfills” versus another school district in Virginia Beach where “schools have recycled everything for several years, amounting to an average of 123 tons of recycled garbage per month, said spokeswoman Nancy Soscia.” This point is also supported by Linda Borg in her article “A Tale of Two Towns’ Trash” where we see her compare two cities one Seekonk with its well organized and funded recycling program were “the trash disposal and curbside recycling program is hugely successful. There is widespread public support for the user-fee system there.”
She adds that the other city Somerset “where the recycling and trash disposal program is running

Firzlaff3 a $100,000-plus deficit after eight months of operation, and a small but vocal band of taxpayers will try to throw out the town's pay-per-bag system at tomorrow night's Special Town Meeting.”
This argument is also supported by the article “L.A. OK’s Ban on Plastic Bags” written by David Zahniser where she cites the plastic bag recycling rates before the city passed the ban
“They estimate Californians use 12 billion plastic bags a year and that less than 5% of the state's plastic bags are recycled.” So while a ban is not the same thing as organized recycling program for said plastic bags the article still supports my assertion that if without any type of program or policy on the subject not a whole lot of recycling gets done.
The third point from my article is that in some cases where a certain product is not necessarily needed or can be replaced with a more environmentally friendly product; such as plastic products which are made from non renewable raw materials and doesn’t naturally break down for hundreds if not thousands of years. If that product can be replaced with a paper product, which is made from completely renewable raw materials and breaks down naturally in days or maybe months we have an obligation to do so. This argument is supported by David
Zahniser’s article “L.A. OK’s Ban on Plastic Bags at Checkout” where L.A.’s citizen in many cases will need to use paper bags or a reusable bag they bring themselves to grocery stores.
“The City Council voted 13 to 1 to phase out plastic bags over the next 16 months at an estimated 7,500 stores, meaning shoppers will need to bring reusable bags or purchase paper bags for 10 cents each.” Zahniser shows why this is a good thing in California where “less than
5% of the state's plastic bags are recycled.” The idea that banning certain products in areas is also supported by Shaun McKinnon in his article “Grand Canyon to Ban Sales of Bottles Water” in which he explains to us how large of a problem plastic bottle waste is becoming in national

Firzlaff4 and state parks. “Park officials have said discarded bottles have become an increasingly serious problem along trails on the rims and in the Canyon's interior.” But the litter along the trails which is not only unsightly but potentially hazardous to the wildlife but also accounts for a huge part of the parks waste expenses “Park officials say the plastic bottles account for 30 percent of the Canyon's recyclable trash and about 20 percent of all trash.” Shaun explains that the Grand
Canyon’s decision is based on the success the ban already in place at nearby Zion National Park
“Zion National Park in southern Utah banned plastic bottles in 2008, a move successful enough that the Grand Canyon took up the idea.” This quote shows that this idea is not a new one, that it works and any downsides are far outweighed by the pro’s.