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Peter Jameson
Henry Miller
Marketing
August 31, 2016
Recycling in Nature
The concept of “reduce, reuse, and recycle” is gaining popularity among the business
community. The increasing focus on recycling over the last decade may have created a perception
among many people that the concept of recycling is man-made. However, people and businesses may
increase their recycling if they realize that recycling is common in nature.
Some natural recycling is obvious to humans. Fallen tree leaves decompose and create a richer
soil for other plants. Bacteria and fungi are food sources for worms and insects, which in turn are food
for animals. Microbes break down organic materials and create the basic elements of soil. Earthworms
create tunnels that let air and water into the ground. Lichens emit chemicals that break down rocks and
wood. Holiday trees recycled in the woods create shelter for small animals; those deposited in lakes or
reservoirs become habitat for fish, or they can be chopped and turned into mulch. Most people are
familiar with composting, where food waste is saved and used as fertilizer for gardens. The entire food
chain could be said to rely on various forms of recycling.
Water is also recycled in nature. This is known as the water cycle. Water on earth evaporates
into the atmosphere from the heat of the sun and from rain and snow. Air currents move that
atmospheric water, creating clouds, which move around the globe and create precipitation. "When
precipitation falls over the land surface, it follows various routes. Some of it evaporates, returning to the
atmosphere, and some seeps into the ground (as soil moisture or groundwater). . . . The rest of the
water runs off into rivers and streams, and almost all of this water eventually flows into the oceans or
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other bodies of water, where the cycle begins anew (or, more accurately, continues)." Approximately
one-third of the water that falls on land drains into oceans (NASA Earth Observatory).1
Recycling is understood by scientists in areas far less accessible to the layperson, even regarding
the science of other planets. In the journal Science, author Elizabeth Pennisi says, "Once again, microbes
are proving just how versatile they can be. Key players nearly everywhere—from deep-sea vents to
termite guts, and perhaps even on the Red Planet—microbes carry out biochemical reactions that help
recycle the elements of life, such as carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen" (Pennisi 1043). Mathematical models
are used to study recycling in nature: "The salutary adaptive capacity of nature often claimed can no
longer keep up the inevitable further technological growth. A solution may come from high-technology
biological systems of life support designed on the basis of solid theoretical background. . . . A life system
is referred to as closed if it recycles all its biological and technological wastes." (Khlebopros, Okhonin
and Fet 111).
Other areas of natural science that study recycling include biology, chemistry, genetics,
environmental science, astronomy, and physics. One area of study for physicists is the recycling of
plutonium used in nuclear reactors.
School students learn about recycling in their classes and by participating in science projects.
Resources abound for more information in books, magazines, television shows, video games, and the
Internet. Recycling is something everyone can participate in regardless of age, education, or location.
Teachers also have many resources to choose from in providing students information on the importance
1
Groundwater is found in two layers of the soil, the “zone of aeration,” where gaps in the soil are
filled with both air and water, and, further down, the “zone of saturation,” where the gaps are
completely filled with water.
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of recycling. For example, the Web site Education World (education-world.com) provides materials for a
lesson titled "How Long Does Trash Last?"2
A key educational point that businesses must continually make is that recycling happens all
around us, even without our having to participate in it. From understanding this, it is a small step to
understanding the importance of contributing in our own ways by recycling our human-made products.
2
A wool sock will last one year in a landfill; a soup can, 80 to 100 years; an aluminum can, 200to 500
years; and plastic rings from a six-pack of cans, 450 years.
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Works Cited
Khlebopros, Rem, Viktor Okhonin and Abram Fet. Catastrophes in Nature and Society. Singapore: World
Scientific Publishing Company, 2007.
NASA Earth Observatory. The Water Cycle. 3 March 2009. 24 May 2016.
<http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Water/water_2.php>.
Pennisi, elizabeth. "Shale-Eating Microbes Recycle Global Carbon." Science (2001): 1043.
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