Recycling In 21st Century America

Focus of Essay

In 21st century America it is hard to avoid such buzzwords as sustainability, eco-friendly, and going green, to name a few. One of the most common words seen today is “recycling.” After I asked several of my family and friends, “What do you think of when I say the word recycling?” I discovered that the word “recycling” carries certain connotations and perception. Curiously, the immediate response I received from each person somehow referenced “the physical trash bins.” We can’t avoid stepping out of the house without being greeted first and foremost by our own mandatory neighborhood recycling container. As we venture down the streets of center city Philadelphia we often see colorful and creative artwork plastered on the many public recycling containers on every corner.

Awareness of small-scale recycling on an individual basis has grown significantly over the past few decades. Nonetheless, there is still massive amounts of garbage going straight to landfills as recycling is a difficult and expensive process

Modricker mentioned several items such as picnic benches made of recycled coke bottles and recycled PVC siding as durable recycled products. Yet, he expressed concern over the high cost of producing these products out of recycled materials rather than wood. “Instead of using wood that rots, it’s a great idea, but it took a long time to get those things, and it’s still not down to the place where it’s cheaper than wood, it’s like twice the price of wood still. So, you know, it’s just expensive. Those are the prices. … So they still take real raw materials like the wood and the wood pulp or maybe even real wood and just clad it, or coat it, or mix it in and it’s not a fully recycled product because they can’t get the strength yet out of it. So, to actually take something that you could easily just cut, a piece of wood, and then have to actually mix it in and do all this stuff, put special chemicals in to make it strong it’s just a larger