Synthesis Essay Recycling

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The increased recycling of metals is an important measure in society. There are multiple stakeholders involved in the current societal relationship with metals, and the need to change this relationship in the future. Increased recycling of metals can be justified through two arguments: the conservation of resources, including energy, and environmental benefits accrued through a reduction in waste and harmful by-products.
Stakeholders in the issue of increased metal recycling include mining companies, recycling companies, and the wider community. Increased recycling of metals will significantly impact mining companies, seeing a decrease in demand and production of mined metals. Recycling companies will experience the opposite, with an increase in production, and therefore profit. In terms of the wider community, increased recycling of metals may result in a downturn in price due to increased production …show more content…

Society worldwide is heavily reliant upon metals for use in consumables. However, as shown in Source 2, current trends are unsustainable in the long term, with reserves of commonly used metals (including, zinc, silver, gold and copper) due to run out by 2050 at the latest. Increased recycling of metals will alleviate this, as it will see a decrease in the exploitation of deposits as demand is satisfied through recycled materials. Another factor is energy considerations. As shown in source 3, significantly less energy is required for recycling, in comparison to extraction, and this is true for even the most unreactive of metals (e.g. gold). Therefore, it is essential that societal relationships with, and attitudes towards, the use of metals shift towards recycling in order to ensure long term sustainability of metallic resources,

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