Why should I recycle?
The answer to this question is four fold, with many facts and ideas coming from ecocycle’s Ten Reason’s to Recycle:
- Resources: plastics are synthesized from oil, natural gas, or coal. These resources are non-renewable. The more plastic we can recycle, the less new plastic we need to create. The less new plastic we create, the less non-renewable resources we’re using up.
- Energy: Producing plastic product from recycled PET plastic uses two thirds less energy than producing the same product from raw materials.
- Pollution: Plastics that get thrown away end up in landfills or end up as pollution. Pollution upsets the balance of ecosystems and is just plain bad. In the case of landfills, the plastics can leach harmful chemicals into the ground, rendering the land unlivable for long periods of time. Furthermore, plastic manufacturing often creates chemical pollutants, so by decreasing the demand for new plastic manufacturing, we are decreasing the amount of chemical pollution occurring.
- Economy: The recycling industry creates jobs. For every one job created by landfills, there are approximately 35 jobs created by the recycling industry. Furthermore, recycling saves money! Because the income from the sale of the recycled materials to product manufacturers offsets the costs of collection and processing, recycling can be up to three times cheaper than disposal.
So basically, you should recycle because you care about what happens to this world. We’ve only got one world to pass on to future generations. Let’s take care of it. Find out more about recycling in general at MoreRecycling.
So how is the recycling effort faring in the United States?
The US recycles about 32.5% of its total waste. However, Americans have the highest average amount of waste per person per day – 4.6 pounds. That means America has a responsibility to clean up its act and recycle more. One cool state-level initiative is the deposit/refund program for beverage containers. Through this program, the cost of each bottled beverage is raised by a small amount (in Hawaii it’s 5 cents, and the program is called HI 5). Consumers can then return these bottles to recycling facilities and get the same amount of money back (in Hawaii, 5 cents) for every bottle recycled. Twelve states have adopted these deposit laws.
However, the bottom line with recycling in the US is that we can always do more. We can always choose to walk an extra fifteen yards to the recycling bin; we can always choose to tell our friends and family to think twice about throwing a soda can in the trash. Everyone can contribute, and the numbers have shown that the little things can add up.
Things to remember about recycling:
Recycling is should always be the third step. The first two are Reduce and Reuse. Reduction and reuse of plastic (and other) products are the most effective ways to help the planet. With recycling, materials and energy were still consumed to make the original product. Through reduction, we can eliminate that usage altogether, and through reuse we can eliminate the creation of more products (reuse is especially great for non-recyclable products).
It is essential to remember what happens to your recycled materials after they get remade into new products. If no one buys products that contain recycled materials, companies will no longer have any incentives to buy and use recycled materials. If no one buys or uses these materials, the whole process is pretty much useless. We have to reward companies that use recycled materials in their products if we want recycling to mean anything. That being said, you can check out RecycledReused to discover a range of great recycled products and learn more about how to vote with your dollars.
The Perils of Plastic 