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Darci Kaizer
Aughenbaugh
English 12
30 January 2014
The Benefits of Recycling
On average, each person produces four and a half pounds of solid waste per day. That
equals 1,642.5 pounds of garbage every year from one person (Maczulak). That is solid waste
alone, not including liquid wastes. Of all this “garbage,” a whopping ninety percent of it is
recyclable materials. Only thirty percent of it is actually being recycled (Largo-Wight et al).
Waste treatment is the most critical part of waste management. Today’s society has a throw away
mentality. Many consequences from this mentality are being surfaced. There will be more to
come. Everyone should be recycling because of its immense environmental and economic
benefits.
Many problems arise from not recycling, especially when the amount of recycling that is
being done is being outweighed by the amount of trash being produced (“The Past, Present, and
Future of Recycling”). When harvesting raw materials for new products, it diminishes
environmental resources such as air, water, soil, and trees. These sources are the building blocks
necessary for good human health (Largo-Wight et al). Climate change affects human health as
well and can be seen as another problem arising. There is an increasing rate of environmental
disasters, hazardous waste spills, wholesale destruction of forests, stretches of land no longer
able to sustain life, and clean water, all of which could be prevented or maintained by recycling
efforts (Maczulak).
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Although recycling may not seem to have had a spot in history, it has been known that
the waste humans produce needs to be dealt with. In 1899, Congress passed The Rivers and
Harbors Act to ban discharge of solid and liquid wastes into waterways due to immense pileups
(Maczulak). For over 100 years, the nation has been trying to figure out ways of disposal. In
1973, not one curbside recycling program existed. There are now more than 8,000 recycling
programs in the country (“The Past, Present, and Future of Recycling”). These numbers should
be multiplying like the population is, and hopefully soon enough every household or business
will be recycling.
Recycling can be broken into two categories: internal and external. Internal recycling is
classified as when manufacturers reuse their scrap materials. External recycling is classified as
the collection of materials to be recycled. Recycled materials can be made into the same product
it once was or into a completely different product. Aluminum cans may be recycled into more
aluminum cans and or glass can be made into paving material (“Recycling”). Successful
recycling efforts start with bundling newspapers, but should also include buying goods made
from recycled content (“The Past, Present, and Future of Recycling”). Recycling is not as
convenient as throwing things away in these times. Results from one experiment show that
having recycling bins in convenient places alone, without education or promotion, increased
recycling in an institute. If those results could be shown on a national level, the earth would reap
the benefits and so would the human race.
Reaching into the twenty first century, there is a ton of electronic waste that is going
nowhere but landfills. In 2009, twenty-five percent of all electronics at the end of their useable
“lives” were recycled (“Recycling Facts and Stats”). There are drop offs specifically for
electronic waste. Some cell phone carriers even have special offers for the non-working cell
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phones that so many people do nothing with but throw away. Nine states today have laws that
require recycling of “tech trash” (“The Past, Present, and Future of Recycling”).
The list of recyclable materials is quite vast. Paper, plastic, tech trash, steel, aluminum,
and glass are some of the main few materials that can be recycled. Plastic bags should be a huge
target for recycling. Only nine percent of plastic bags, sacks, and wraps were recycled in 2009.
$694,000 dollars’ worth of bags was discarded (“Recycling Facts and Stats”). One statistic states
that the U.S consumes 380 billion plastic bags a year and recycles less than five percent. Other
plastics that rack up in landfills, oceans, and shorelines are plastic bottles. Two million tons of
plastic bottles in the U.S in 2005 wound up in the garbage instead of recycling bins (“The Past,
Present, and Future of Recycling”).
Glass, aluminum and steel are also materials that should be recycled most definitely.
Using recycled steel to make new steel products saves about seventy-four percent of energy to
make new steel (old auto bodies, refrigerators, washing machines, and other appliances). Twenty
recycled aluminum cans can be made with the same amount of energy needed to produce one
virgin ore can. When the U.S.A recycles aluminum cans, it creates a less dependent nation
because producing new aluminum requires buying ore from other countries (“Recycling”).
Paper is the largest share of biodegradable materials in a landfill. This fact does not make
it okay to throw it away. When any biodegradable material (paper products, food scraps, and
yard trimmings) gets buried in a landfill, they do not break down as they would in nature or in
compost. These things buried in a landfill are left to breakdown anaerobically, or without
oxygen, and become methane. Methane adds to climate change. The infrastructure to recycle
paper is there, they key is to simply take action (“Compostable Organics”). Paper products are
among the most easily recycled materials to make more of the same things such as newspapers,
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office paper, and paper bags (“Recycling). “(Recycling) is virtually beyond dispute. Modern
paper recycling mills produce no air or water pollution and no hazardous wastes while the virgin
pulp and paper industry is among the world’s largest generators of toxic air pollutants, surface
water pollution, sludge, and solid wastes” (Hershkowitz).
Furthermore, recycling is not just about materials that can be reused. Composting organic
materials to keep them out of landfills is also important. By getting compostable organics out of
landfills, it helps to prevent potent methane emissions from being immersed into the air
(“Compostable Organics”). The methane that is produced in a landfill is twenty-two times more
potent than carbon dioxide emissions coming from automobiles (“The Past, Present, and Future
of Recycling”). The composted organic material produced could then be used on farmland and
gardens everywhere instead of using the intensive, polluting fertilizers farmers rely on now to
produce crops (“Compostable Organics”). In the last fifteen years, 10,000 landfills have been
closed in the U.S mainly because of the environmental problems they caused. If that does not
scare populations, of the approximate 30,000 landfills less than half of them attempt to control
dangerous air pollutants. One third of the landfills have synthetic liners to keep groundwater
from being fouled (“Recycling is Virtuous”).
Reducing waste is an extremely helpful addition to recycling. There are many things that
can be done to reduce wastes. One of them includes using durable, long-term-use things such as
sponges or mugs over paper towels and disposable coffee cups. Another effective way to reduce
wastes is to introduce municipal composting programs in communities. The amount of
packaging manufacturers use should be reduced as well. In addition to these sure-fire ways to
reduce waste, more demand for products made with recycled materials rather than virgin
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materials would add to the success of diverting waste from landfills (“The Past, Present, and
Future of Recycling”).
Some people may argue that recycling “costs more”. Financial risks, though, in no way
negate recycling benefits. Some recycling programs lose money over adverse conditions, but
dumping at a landfill or an incarcerator always loses money (“Recycling”). In 2001, the
recycling industry employed over 1.1 million and generated over $236 million dollars in annual
revenue. Recyclable materials in the U.S. would generate seven million dollars if they were
recycled which is equal to Donald Trump’s net worth (“Recycling Facts and Stats”). Any full
accounting should include the hard to measure consequences (“Recycling is Virtuous”). The cost
of collecting and sorting recyclables can be higher than processing new materials, but in the long
run energy costs are reduced, fewer people suffer from pollution related illnesses, and land that
would have been a landfill can be productive (“Recycling”).
The future of recycling is single stream recycling. This concept of single stream recycling
is expected to reduce waste going into landfills by thirty to fifty percent. Single stream collection
is not limited. Residents toss everything in a blue garbage cart, which is picked up by trucks and
taken to a sorting facility. Recyclables are then sorted in a facility where up to sixteen kinds of
items can be recovered and sold wherever there is a market. Present day recycling only takes
about six kinds of materials, meaning single stream more than doubles the amount of things able
to be recycled (Taylor). Curbside sorting is slow and limited by the number of compartments in a
truck.
If people are wondering when to start recycling, the time is now. The information needed
to begin and successfully recycle is out there; the benefits of doing so are endless. If the nation or
world continues to favor trash over recycling, there will be severe consequences. “Health
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professionals should motivate people toward both appropriate behaviors and collective decisions
that will protect health from the effects of climate change” (Largo-Wight et al). Recycling is not
something that will only positively affect Mother Nature; it will also help health problems and
prevent them. With an interest to leave a better Earth for generations to come, think twice the
next time you carelessly throw something away.
Works Cited
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“Compostable Organics Out of Landfills by 2012.” Cool 2012. Cool 2012, 2012. Web. 14 Jan.
2014.
Largo-Wight, Erin DeLongpre, Dedee Johnston, Jeff Wight. “The Efficacy Of A Theory-Based,
Participatory Recycling Intervention on a College Campus.” Journal of Environmental
Health 76.4 (2013): 26. MasterFILE Main Edition. Web. 6 Jan. 2014.
Maczulak, Anne. Waste Treatment Reducing Global Waste. New York: Infobase Publishing,
2010. Print.
“NRDC: The Past, Present, and Future of Recycling.” NRDC. Natural Resources Defense
Council, 28 Mar 2008. Web. 9 Jan 2014.
“Recycling.” Current Issues: Macmillan Social Science Library. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 10 Jan. 2014.
“Recycling Facts and Stats.” Keep America Beautiful. Keep America Beautiful, Inc. 2013. Web.
15 Jan. 2014.
“Recycling is Virtuous.” The Wilson Quarterly 22.4 (1998): 133+. Opposing Viewpoints in
Context. Web. 13 Jan. 2014.
Taylor, Kevin. “Single-Stream Recycling Is Economical and Easy.” Garbage and Recycling. Ed.
Margaret Haerens. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from
“Rethinking Recycling.” Pacific Northwest Inlander 1 Dec. 2010. Opposing Viewpoints in
Context. Web. 13 Jan. 2014.