“I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security. Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend?”
--Robert Redford, Yosemite National Park dedication, 1985
Recycling has been around for a very long time; thousands of years to be exact. Some recycling methods then were recycling animal skins and scrap metal. Animal skins were re-used by the Indians for clothes, shoes and shelter and metal was melted down to make swords and other weapons. However, now, century’s later metal is still melted down to make things such as airplanes, cars, appliances, war weapons and much, much, more. And animal skin is still used today, to make shoes, boots and certain clothing items; such leather coats. Recycling became noticed as a trend by the public in the 1970’s. The industries have known about recycling for years. The public grabbed the concept that turning old items into new ones was just as much their duty as well as industries when the environment began to go unhealthy and when recycling centers opened. Now, curbside recycling programs and recycling centers are common. In 2009, approximately 9,000 curbside recycling programs and 3,000 composting communities existed in the United States (EPA 2010). You can now recycle at home and in airports, schools, and the workplace. What is recycling? , What does waste consist of? , and what are the benefits of recycling?
Recycling basics and steps
What is recycling? Recycling can be defined as making a new product from used
materials or “to adapt to a new use” and “to make ready for reuse” seem to fit best
(Merriam-Webster, 2011). Don’t confused reusing with recycling. Reusing is far different from recyc...
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... incineration and landfills, prevents pollution caused by the manufacturing of products from virgin materials; saves energy; decreases emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change; conserves natural resources such as timber, water, and minerals; and helps sustain the environment for future generations (EPA 2011a and Palliser 2011).
In conclusion revisiting recycling has been a great experience. Recycling is very important for the earth and clean air. We need to continue to do our part in protect the environment and making sure that landfills decrease instead of increasing and that are properly maintained. Recycling is very important for earth. Many companies are on broad with recycling doing their part to help decrease waste.
Works Cited
Palliser, Janna. (2011). Revisiting recycling. Science Scope. November 2011, pp. 14-17.
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.
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?
Recycling is the practice of reusing old products to create knew ones in order to essentially “re use” them. In theory, this process is supposed to work perfectly, but because of other factors it doesn’t. The whole idea of recycling is supposed to lead, eventually, to a world where everything will be recycled and used over and over again; thus, no more mining, cutting down tress, and other jobs that require people to do some sort of labor in order to create a certain type of object. The process of recycling would in due time, end these types of labor. Recycling is not entirely a good thing because not everyone does, it requires unnecessary funds, and it takes away many jobs.
Recycling has been something that has always been in human society. Even before the modern era humans still used and reused natural resources to survive and develop as a society. Here in the US, recycling didn 't really make its impact until the 1940s, during the second world war and has only started to advance even further within the last 15 years as more efforts for environmental preservation are being made. From schools, and major companies down to individual homes, recycling programs can be found in most countries that are developed. As technology continues to grow many advancements have been made in renewable resources like solar or electrical power. Recycling though being around much longer has only recently made strides like collecting
I am not a big earth first person but I do believe in recycling because I work at a local recycling center and I think recycling is a good thing. In fact I think everyone should recycle to make the earth a better place as a whole. A few good reasons why recycling is a good this is, the more people recycle, the less room is filled in landfills. Also, when people recycle they are reusing materials, therefore saving resources. Another good reason is that when you recycle often times you get paid back the C.R.V. that you already paid for in the grocery store.
The words ‘Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle’ are what a person chants if someone mentions the word recycling. Nicks J defines recycling as ‘[T]he processing of waste materials in order to make them reusable” (11). Individuals who recycle are not just throwing papers in green bins, or cans in blue; in fact, they are helping the environment more than they can imagine. People who want to preserve and protect their planet take the initiative to recycle waste materials. Rather than throwing away old plastic or glass bottles, aluminum cans, and certain types of paper, one can simply recycle them, and they will go through a cleaning and the remanufacturing process to be remade into a new usable item.
Recycling is one of the easiest ways to save energy for all the living things on Earth. Recycling save energy because using recyclable items that are not recycled can take a lot of energy. Recycling often saves energy because the products being recycled usually require much less processing to turn them into usable materials. Sometimes recycling can also save energy for goods which is
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
Most importantly, it saves lives. We should all learn the importance of recycling. For example, some sea lions won?t get stuck in plastics if we recycle. We would also breathe better air. We can recycle and aluminum can and put it back on the shelf for something useful. If we just leave it in the landfill, it?ll decompose and it?ll be of no use. It?ll also reduce pollution or else it?ll make a new one.
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...
There are also several long term benefits of recycling. For example, “collecting and processing secondary materials, manufacturing recy...
Many people assume that the environment is not in danger. They believe that as technology advances, we do not need to worry about renewing natural resources, recycling, and finding new ways to produce energy. They state that one person in the world does not make a large difference. In reality, each individual's contribution greatly affects our environment. Our natural resources are slowly disappearing, and we must work together to save them and the Earth from ruin.
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?
One huge aspect of recycling is that it gives the recycler the fulfillment of helping the environment. W. Kip Viscusi a professor at Vanderbilt University said, “The warm glow environmental benefit that a person receives from recycling will be greater for those who place a higher value on the environment .” Therefore, the benefit of helping our environment is the greatest benefit of all. Although it might seem as if plastic is thrown away than it can not harm the environment, however, that is incorrect. Plastic is not biodegradable, therefore, it will never be able to completely decompose into the earth. With plastic not being able to decompose it takes up a large amount of space while also being capable of traveling through the air. Sati Manrich, the author of Plastic Recycling said, “The mounting volume of plastic residues, coupled with their extremely low biodegradability, generated a serious problem regarding the amount of space they took up.” Therefore, when plastic is thrown away it will last for at least four-hundred and fifty years before degrading in the landfills; thus allowing all the plastic that was thrown away in the last four-hundred and fifty years to start a stockpile in the landfills or even travel somewhere else.(Manrich
Recycling is of great importance, and its importance is economic and environmental. It preserves natural resources, reduces depletion, reduces the amount of waste, reduces its growth, conserves the environment, cleanses it of some harmful waste, reduces unemployment and creates opportunities. New work.