Recycling Is an Important Process That Saves Resources Essay Example
Recycling Is an Important Process That Saves Resources Essay Example

Recycling Is an Important Process That Saves Resources Essay Example

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  • Pages: 4 (988 words)
  • Published: April 21, 2022
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Recycling is the simple act of gathering, separating, and refabricating used elements into new products. The process is of manifold importance; foremost of which is the fact that it saves a considerable amount of energy that would have been expended in the production of entirely new products. It also cuts down production costs and leads to the preservation of the dwindling resources that are on the verge of depletion. In addition, recycling promotes green living, which constitutes one of the primary counter-initiatives in the war against climate change (MacBride, 2011). The daily per capita trash production in the US is roughly 4.6 pounds. Accordingly, the US today recycles approximately 32% of her wastes (MacBride, 2011). Unfortunately, this proportion is relatively tiny.

The number of persons who take up the initiative to recycle is quite small. Mac

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Bride (2011) points out that those who fail to recycle, do so primarily because they are indifferent or lazy. There is a great deal of ignorance concerning the damage that the environment suffers as a result of the deficient efforts in recycling. The dire consequences of this deficiency are redirected back to the people. One deadly repercussion is an increase in landfills, which directly impacts the health of the society. Due to such hazards and the reluctance of the majority to salvage their salvageable wastes, recycling should be enacted as a law so that a healthy environment can be achieved and maintained; otherwise, those who do not recycle will persist in their indifference, and the environment will continue to deteriorate and perhaps pass the point beyond which it cannot be redeemed, which will be a tragedy.

Recycling, to begin with, can minimiz

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the chances of trash getting dumped into landfills and thus reduce land, water, and air pollution. Most landfills consist of tons of decomposed trash that give off foul, toxic gases that can pose significant health risks when inhaled. The danger mainly affects those who live close to such areas. Studies have shown that there is a high prevalence of several forms of cancers amongst women and men living close to landfills (MacBride, 2011). In this regard, landfills are a significant risk factor for cancers. Living close to landfills has also been noted to have detrimental effects on the body size of children, i.e. Causes slow growth (MacBride, 2011). Besides the gaseous pollution, there is also an increased danger of pathogen bacterial growth that can result in disease outbreaks. The best counter-strategy in this instance is to avoid using plastic paper and plastic bags.

Aside from the adverse effects on human health, the emission of methane gas in landfills leads to global warming and climate change. Methane is a very potent greenhouse gas. It is produced during composting, and its chief source in landfills is food wastes (Tammemagi, 1999). Composting is a natural biological process that entails the microbial breakdown of organic matter in the presence of oxygen. Thus, cutting down the amount of organic wastes, and more so food items can curtail the emission of methane significantly. The much organic matter that constitutes the greater proportion of human trash can be made into useful compost rather than being dumped in landfills (Tammemagi, 1999). This initiative would see to the attainment of a clean environment if it were enacted as law.

Recycling also leads to cost-saving. This is

more so true in manufacturing where the recycling of already gathered reusable components such as container packages saves costs in terms of disposal space, the amount of energy needed to make new parts and shipping costs. The recycling of elements such as metal, glass, and paper as raw materials for production processes cuts down the prices of raw materials significantly. If recycling were to be enforced as law, much revenue would be saved (Goodship, 2008).

Although recycling is undoubtedly beneficial, the mandatory recycling of all garbage can, in some instances, result in a waste of resources because the cost of recycling the garbage may exceed the cost of its natural disposal. This case mainly applies to yard wastes such as tree limbs torn off by hurricanes whose salvage may involve their shipment to landfills located miles away from their original situation. Recycling in such instances may be unnecessary (Denison, 1996).

Also, errors may occur in the recycling process, which can lead to improper disinfection of components such as containers for food packaging. The reuse of such elements can cause disease outbreaks and endanger lives. The chances of occurrence of such events exist because human beings are not perfect and make mistakes from time to time (Aquino, 1995).

In addition, mandatory recycling, in some sense, violates the principles of human morality. Forcing individuals to do things undermines their freedom of choice. As a matter of fact, it changes nothing. People will only be recycled because of the consequences of not doing so rather than because they see the benefits. In this respect, recycling should be voluntary rather than compulsory (MacBride, 2011).
In all, recycling has a lot of significance in

the world today, especially in the light of global challenges such as climate change. The failure to recycle is detrimental, and this is evident in the increase pollution, poor health, as well as climate change. Due to such hazards and the reluctance of the majority to salvage their salvageable wastes, recycling should be made mandatory so that a healthy environment can be achieved and save the planet from a possible catastrophe in future.

References

  1. Aquino, J. T. (1995). Waste Age and Recycling Times: Recycling Handbook. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
  2. Denison, R. A. (1996). Environmental life cycle comparisons of recycling, landfilling, and incineration: A review of recent studies. Annual Review of Environmental Resources, 21(2): 191-237.
  3. Goodship, V. (2008). Introduction to Plastics Recycling (2nd Ed.). Shropshire: Smithers Rapra Press.
  4. MacBride, S. (2011). Recycling Reconsidered: The Present Failure and Future Promise of Environmental Action in the United States. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
  5. Tammemagi, H. Y. (1999). The Waste Crisis: Landfills, Incinerators, and the Search for a Suitable Future. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
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