Should Recycling be Mandatory in the United States? This is a major economic issue that needs to be addressed now more than ever. These concerning issues include the environment, aluminum, finances, landfills and natural resources. However, a matter of conflicting interest was brought up according to Craig Kohtz the author of “Community columnist: Why we shouldn’t force recycling” posted on JournalStar.com August 9, 2013.
In Mr. Kohtz article it was quoted that “The reason we pay for curbside recycling isn’t because it makes economic sense or even environmental sense. It’s because it is convenient and it makes us feel better about the environment”. More importantly is a society where the community follows mandatory recycling programs, are less susceptible to diseases caused by an unclean environment. For example cancer, which is a disease where abnormal cells divide uncontrollably. In addition to the statistics shown in the American Cancer Society, Cancer Facts and Figures for 2014 it was estimated that 585,720 Americans were expected to die from cancer.
Mr. Kohtz was very detailed in his writing about “Taking the known reserves for aluminum in 1990, an engineer would have forecast that we had 63 years left of consumption. But 23 years into this forecast, are aluminum prices on the rise? Are we projecting shortages within our lifetimes?” Another approach to look at this would be how resourceful aluminum is. The Aluminum Association stated that “nearly 75 percent of all aluminum ever produced is still in use today. Aluminum is 100 percent recyclable and retains its properties indefinitely. Aluminum is one of the only materials in the consumer disposal stream that more than pays for the cost of its own collection”.
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... by Andrew Weil an author and Medical Doctor on holistic health. He is also the founder of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona.
One thing Mr. Kohtz and I can agree on is that Americans thrive on finding ways to solve problems. We continue to ensure a high quality of life for ourselves and generations to come with new inventions, technology and discoveries. This debate starts the process of finding a solution to the tough challenges of recycling.
As a concerned human being for my current environment as well as the future to come, I agree with these four great tips: Reuse, Reduce, Recycle and buy Recycled as being an effective formula in guiding us to keeping the environment clean and reducing global warming. This would have to start with every individual working together to take the first steps in improving our environment.
In conclusion to this investigation one thing is clear and that is that recycling reeks benefits to the environment, Recycling material when compared to making material from raw material is a more efficient energy saving and more environmentally friendly way to reuse material that is usually consider as trash such as empty glass, and plastic bottles, or old newspapers. Recycling helps reduce the possible carbon emissions greatly and does reduce the human carbon footprint. But Recycling doesn’t resolve the pollution that is around the world today. Leading to new questions, questions like what about the landfills are they sustainable, and if so for how long. How long until the air becomes unbreathable? How long until Earth becomes its own furnace?
Barlaz says, “Recycling still causes some emissions” (62). However recycling starts at home with the consumer. When people go out to buy groceries, clothes, food or any other things they should think about the purchases before they buy them. Consumers buy groceries but they chose to use plastic or paper bags. Instead of using those they could use reusable cloth bags. Some people would rather use the plastic or paper bags. If they do then they should recycle those bags instead of just throwing them away in the garbage and hoping they get in the recycling area. Recycling cans and glass jars saves energy needed to make new ones. People can save energy by recycling other things like paper and plastic. Humes says, “Recycling aluminum cans saves ninety-six percent of the energy needed to produce aluminum from bauxite ore” (260). Also, “recycling the glass jars and bottles saves twenty-one percent of the energy needed to make new glass” (260). So if everyone could start recycling their cans, glass, paper and plastic that would save us a lot of energy that would need to be used to make new ones. If we can start recycling at home that will make things much easier on the waste management plants and our world. If people don’t want to recycle at their homes and separate everything they can just put all their trash in the can and it will eventually be separated and recycled. As people become more educated about
Let 's take a look at the points from the article 10 ways recycling hurts the environment, by Andrew Handley. The number one point is that recycling gives false promises, but how? Andrew Handley says, “The biggest reason recycling hurts the environment doesn’t have anything to do with the technical process—it’s the mindset it gives people. Recycling’s main impact is to convince us that it’s okay to be wasteful in other areas, because we make up for it through recycling. It encourages consumption, rather than pointing out ways to reduce consumption overall.” Honestly, the biggest reason people don 't recycle is because they are plain lazy, there is no way to sugar-coat that. People don 't want to take the extra 10 seconds it would take to get another bag for the cans or bottles. They just don 't care.
Melanie Scruggs recently wrote an article titled “Cost will be too great if Houston doesn’t recycle” about the dangers that Houston may face if they continue to put recycling as a last priority. I believe that Melanie Scruggs does an amazing job describing the issues that we are facing and poses an effective argument on why we should recycle.
Fain, N. C. & Lewis. N. M. (2002). Wellness: The Holistic Approach to Health. Journal of
Recycling was never really a big impact for people, in fact even when the percentage of people using it increases greatly throughout the years 1990 following up to present time only rose up to the 30s. Out of the 100 percentage of total population, only 30 percent practice some sort of recycling; not even half of the population (Evans). If
According to the internet human behavior has a very big affect on the environment. Environmental settings such as air pollution, oceans, energy, or noise are all sources that can negatively impact the environmental quality and conditions. Our daily routines have a huge impact on the environment and we do not realize it. New laws that are passing and educating people will help a lot. People are being educated on how to use less water, use our cars less, how to use less energy, and even taking reusable bags when going grocery shopping because plastic bags are very bad for the environment. There are simple solutions that can help in getting started with these efforts. Every little step and effort we make in our daily routines count.
If everyone recycled then there would be less need for new materials to be made out of unused resources; instead they would be made with recycled materials. Recycling saves a lot of natural resources because every time you turn something into the recycling center part of that is reused on a future product. In fact I read once, that each aluminum can that is recycled, a quarter of that is used on a new can. That twenty-five percent can add up in the long run. When people don't recycle that plastic bottle, aluminum can, or glass bottle that is in their trash can it is only used once and then is sent to a landfill just to take up space.
It starts with us. We need to consciously change our lifestyle to help better the planet. We could begin by recycling, investing our money on energy efficient appliances and technologies, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and if you could, buying a hybrid vehicle to lessen carbon emission in the
Do you hate seeing litter on the streets, or seeing and smelling heaps of garbage sitting, and rotting away? Humans recycling more will help to reduce this. We throw many things that can be recycled. Recycling glass, plastics, paper, and metals will reduce solid waste dumped into the ecosystem daily. “96 percent of U.S. plastic, and 50 percent of its paper, goes into landfills. Mexico, not exactly a bastion of environmental awareness, recycles more glass than the U.S.” (Alice Horrigan 1). That’s 96 percent of the millions of tons of plastic, which will outlive most of us in a landfill that we could recycle and keep it out of our landfill. Paper is made from trees, if we recycle it, we can decrease our rate of ugly deforestation and the destruction of animal habitats. When paper gets to the landfill, it is guaranteed to get wet. The wetness and decomposition of paper atracts mold spores, which produce an odor and are potentially bad for your health. Also k...
Many people believe that we should not recycle anymore, but this is not the case. We, the people of the world, need to continue to recycle because we do not want our children to grow up in a world where there are no certain species of animals due to recycling failures. We also do not want our children to grow up thinking that it is okay that they throw their garbage on the ground, and not have to pick it up. We need to teach our children that they need to take care of the earth that they are living on, because they only get one. Recycling is one of the most beneficial environmental issues that we have here on this earth. Recycling saves energy, limits pollution and supports several environmental factors of the economy. “In 2003, the savings from recycling 54 billion aluminum cans exceeded the energy equivalent of 15 million barrels of crude oil- or the amount of gas the U.S. uses in one day,” according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA estimates that 200 million gallons of used oil are not disposed of properly, and if we were to dispose the oil properly then we could keep the oil from polluting the ground and the fresh water source. According to E. Takatori, “… While on-going societal regulation treats material recycling as the dominant cycle, the properties of recycled plastic remain the most port
Have you ever wonder what can you do about the bottles and cans you find around you? People that doesn?t care about the world being clean is littering the place. It makes things very difficult to put up for. Recycling cans and bottles can help save the earth form waste and trash buildup and can make new things. I think that recycling should be mandatory and there should be recycling cans in various locations at school and everywhere else.
In the 1870’s, plastic was discovered in the United States when John Wesley Hyatt was trying to create a different material to make billiard balls (Manrich, 3). Little did he know it would majorly evolve into material we use everyday. However, plastics are now taking over our landfills. The average American throws away one-hundred and eighty-five pounds of plastic a year (Popescu, 121). The answer to decrease this statistic is easy: recycling. I believe that recycling will help eliminate littering and the growth of landfills, while also creating jobs for the unemployed. Not only does recycling plastic help eliminate littering, but also reuses the plastic so there is not a production of additional unneeded plastics. The
While walking through the park last Sunday, I observed a shocking scene. There are two cans: one for recycling and one for trash. The recycling receptacle had only an empty Dr. Pepper can and a few used Ozarka water bottles. On the other hand, the trash can had a plethora of half eaten meals, wrappers, banana peels and disgustingly even bottles, cans, newspapers and plastics that could have been recycled. Because people do not understand or do not care to understand about conserving our resources, many reusable items are being put in landfills when recycling these items could help save the environment.
Therefore, recycling can protect natural resources, preserve energy and lessen pollution. If people want to save planet Earth for generations to come, then recycling is necessary. On Debate.org, the question “Should there be mandatory recycling?” was asked and 84 percent said yes, while only 16 percent said no (“Should There Be Mandatory Recycling”). Recycling is very important to the planet and can make a huge difference in so many ways. Recycling is a way of life and once a person has made the choice to follow through with the steps, recycling can become second nature. Every small contribution adds up to how the society shapes the Earth’s future. How will someone make a difference?