Frederica Andoh
Professor Justine Matias
Writing for the Sciences
October 24th, 2022
Is recycling truly beneficial to the environment? Every day, so many aspects of life pass by that people believe they understand but do not. Recycling has a positive image, but how much do we really know about it? Most people are aware that recycling entails taking old materials and breaking them down to create new ones, but how effective is it? It protects natural resources, reduces depletion, protects the environment, and even creates jobs. Because of its ability to improve the environment and the future, recycling should be practiced and encouraged by everyone. The benefits of recycling outweigh the negative effects on our planet, even though some people are aware of the effects of not taking proper care of the Earth.
Recycling is beneficial for our environment because it helps protect animal habitats, conserve energy, and natural resources; especially if most people are aware of this issue that climate change is slowly becoming worse. For these reasons, many will argue that it is not effective for our environment because it is confusing, and it is time consuming. Due to confusion, they end up recycling items like plastic straws and takeout containers that are not recyclable, which ends up being burned or put in landfill (Danise and Morgan). As a result, it becomes time consuming to them because they feel like it is not worth really learning how to recycle to reduce garbage from spreading throughout the environment. Although those who feel recycling is a waste of time, here is why it is not: Recycling helps reduce pollution in the atmosphere, conserves natural resources, creates jobs, and indirectly helps to preserve animal habitats by lowering greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. For example, when recycling paper and wood, you can save forests and trees (Lamma). Saving trees and forests is essential for survival because it purifies the air we breathe, filter the water we drink, prevent erosion, and function as an important buffer against climate change. Forests offer homes to many of the world’s diverse types of plants and animals. You can argue that recycling is not always necessary to protect the environment and you can just throw everything in the trash, however, that is not true. Recycling e-waste and used engine oil is basically a necessity to protect humans and wildlife from water contamination. Discarded electronic waste contains hazardous substances such as mercury and cadmium that can leach into soil and water. Engine oil from a single oil change can negatively affect up to four million liters of freshwater. As a result, a person who disposes of a product in a wasteful manner or in an undesignated location may feel guilty because they are aware that the material will pollute the environment.
Although the concept of recycling and reusing is preached in schools, on television, and on billboard, people do not take it seriously enough. Recycling helps clean our environment. Regardless, overall waste generation has increased, recycling has also become more widely practiced (Liming). Conserving energy by way of recycling is a crucial environmental benefit. It takes far less energy to make new products and put them into working order using recycled waste than it does to make them from entirely new materials. A huge amount of waste is produced in this world and recycling is an important practice to reduce landfill disposal. Landfills are extremely bad, for both us and the environment, releasing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses such as methane into the atmosphere (“74 Recycling Facts & Statistics for 2022 | RTS”). By lowering greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, recycling can indirectly help preserve animal habitats. By recycling, society can be beneficial for the lives of future generations.
Recycling reduces pollution risks in our society. By keeping waste out of landfills, which can introduce contaminants and other toxins into groundwater systems, it will be able to reduce pollution. Recycling also keeps materials out of incinerators, which can pollute the air and create severe ash residue. Furthermore, recycling lowers environmental damage caused by logging, mining, as well as other methods that facilitate the procreation of raw materials. Most importantly, recycling prevents the emission of many greenhouse gasses and water pollutants. Recycling helps wildlife by eliminating the risk of animals consuming recyclable waste or getting trapped and injured by garbage. When recyclables are sorted into outdoor commercial recycling bins it also helps to preserve their habitats. According to byui.edu “Americans use 2,500,000 plastic bottles every hour-and most of them are thrown away!”. Since plastic bottles are thrown away almost every hour, there is a chance that animals like birds can mistake the plastic for food, and essentially die from consumption. Besides consumption of plastic bottles and other items, when we continue to litter, we maybe are unaware of the increase of litter in animals’ habitats. We invade their space with more garbage, which may lead to a decline in animal population or even a shift in climate change which may alter the life cycle.
Recycling helps provide jobs by creating programs in communities whether you live in a large or small, urban, or rural area. Programs like this strengthen the economy by keeping dollars and materials circulating throughout the community. The best course of action is to provide sufficient recycling facilities to the public. Job opportunities can persuade people to naturally be more inclined to join the team because there is money being involved. If companies pay is more than minimum wage today, then there will be more people trying to get involved in recycling. Distributing jobs can also keep people active and most homeless and criminals off the street. In California, many homeless people are recycling to earn money. It has become one of the forms of earning income for them (Abate). However, if we pave way for the homeless and criminals to recycle while earning money, we need to consider that this job can be unsanitary. Therefore, we should supply them with functional protective and sterilizing equipment so that they do not become sick or injured.
Furthermore, to pave the way for a cleaner environment, we need to recycle even if it takes time to accomplish this goal. Every aspect of recycling is countered towards the environment. Whether its energy consumption, pollution reduction or saving time and money, it all effects the environment. Some solutions to this issue include starting by educating people about recycling whether they have knowledge of it or not. There is always something new to learn about. Forming small groups in each community can be aid the reduction of garbage and influence others to recycle as well. In schools and workplace, we can replace regular garbage bins with recycling bins and make signs so that there will not be confusion. Think about the solid waste pollutants that would be released if you recycled your garbage the next time, you are about to throw something away, as well as the time, energy, and money you could save by separating your plastics, aluminum, metal, and paper every day. There are no excuses when it comes to keeping the Earth clean now that you are aware of the advantages of recycling.
Works Cited
Abate, Carolyn. “How Homeless People Make their Livings Redeeming Recyclables | Independent Lens | Blog.” PBS, 13 May 2016, https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/how-homeless-recyclers-make-living-redeeming-recyclables/. Accessed 18 October 2022.
Albihn, Ann. “Recycling Biowaste – Human and Animal Health Problems – Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica.” Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica, 31 March 2002, https://actavetscand.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1751-0147-43-S1-S69. Accessed 10 October 2022.
Danise, Amy, and Blake Morgan. “Why Is It So Hard To Recycle?” Forbes, 21 April 2021, http://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2021/04/21/why-is-it-so-hard-to-recycle/. Accessed 22 October 2022.
Lamma, Dr. Osama Asanousi. “The impact of recycling in preserving the environment.” ResearchGate, 2021, https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Osama-Lamma/publication/356977735_The_impact_of_recycling_in_preserving_the_environment/links/61b5912e4b318a6970d53b37/The-impact-of-recycling-in-preserving-the-environment.pdf. Accessed 15 October 2022.
Liming, Drew. “Careers in Recycling: U.S.” Bureau of Labor Statistics, 30 June 2017, https://www.bls.gov/green/recycling/. Accessed 19 October 2022.
“74 Recycling Facts & Statistics for 2022 | RTS.” Recycle Track Systems, 10 February 2021, https://www.rts.com/blog/recycling-facts-statistics/. Accessed 15 October 2022.
Tierney, John. “Recycling Is Garbage.” The New York Times, 30 June 1996, http://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/30/magazine/recycling-is-garbage.html. Accessed 20 October 2022.
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