Is Recycling Good for our Environment?
This essay will explore the environmental impact of recycling. It will discuss the benefits of recycling, such as reducing waste and conserving resources, as well as challenges and limitations. The piece will assess the overall effectiveness of recycling as a tool for environmental conservation. PapersOwl offers a variety of free essay examples on the topic of Human Impact On The Environment.
How it works
What is Recycling? How is Recycling done? Why should people Recycle? What is affected by Recycling? Recycling is the process of reusing material, It is done by breaking down material and using it for something else, like aluminum, If people recycle then future populations will also have raw materials. The atmosphere is affected by not Recycling.
Recycling is the process of reusing material. For example, an aluminum can take only 60 days to be brought back onto the Supermarket shelf (What is Recycling?).
Americans make about 4 pounds of garbage daily. When a person recycles, they can save energy as much as having a TV on for 3 hours straight. Something even more fascinating is that one ton of paper can save approximately seventeen trees, two barrels of oil (enough to run the average car for 1,260 miles),4,100 kilowatts of energy (enough to power the average home for six months), 3.2 Cubic-yards of a landfill, and sixty pounds of pollution (Beyond Recycling: Getting to 'Zero Waste'). Aluminum foil can be recycled almost infinitely. Americans use an average of 100 million coffee cans, soup cans aluminum cans etc. daily. Studies show that people recycle around 334 pounds of paper and cardboard boxes, They can turn into Corrugated cardboard, magazines and newspaper, and office paper and poster boards. Flint glass makes up 60% of recycled glass. Amber glass makes up only 31% because it has colors in it that cannot be removed. People can help recycle by picking up trash in their neighborhood or surrounding neighborhoods.
Recycling is the process of reusing material. Although recycling was introduced in the 1970 environmental movement it has been around for thousands of years. For example, the Industrial Age, you couldn't make goods quickly and cheaply so they recycled materials(Grabianowski, Ed. How Recycling Works). So basically everyone recycled some way. Let's say water bottles go to a recycling center. They use their machines to sort them into a box shape. Then they get it shredded like paper and get rid of impurities. The shreds are then melted and formed into pellets. These pellets can then be made into other products. Recycling can also use less energy so its energy efficient. Like we can also use steel from an old building. Same thing they shred and melt them and reform them to make new buildings or cans for the Supermarket Shelf. Recycling is also important because It is a huge negative impact on our planet. Harmful things can get released like greenhouse gasses and harmful chemicals from landfill sites. Recycling helps reduce pollution caused by waste. Recycling reduces the need for Raw materials so our Rainforest can be preserved (Environmental Benefits of Recycling).
People Should recycle because, If we recycle now there will be enough raw material for future generations. When people recycle, material can turn into new products. Using recycled material can use less energy than non-recycled material. Recycling reduces the need for extracting, refining and processing raw materials all of which create air and water pollution. As recycling saves energy it also reduces greenhouse gas emissions, which helps to tackle climate change (Why Should We Recycle? Bryson Recycling). Saving just 1 ton of paper can save 17 trees and 17,000 gallons of Water. Studies say that one tree can remove 250 pounds of Carbon dioxide each year (15+ Awesome Reasons Why We Should Recycle More). Recycling just aluminum can save up to 95% of the energy used on non-recycled aluminum. 60-75% of landfills can be recycled. Averagely, every American produces about 1600 pounds of waste yearly. Up to 1100 pounds of that waste can be recycled. Recycling also creates 10 times more Job Opportunities than landfill waste management. Also, a big one recycled material is cheaper on people's budget than non-recycled material. Recycling industries are ranking over 100 Billion in revenue Yearly. The Average American utilizes 2,500,000 plastic bottles each hour (15+ Awesome Reasons Why We Should Recycle More).
Things that are affected by recycling are Garbage piles up, more greenhouse gasses, Fossil fuels disappear faster, Natural Resources Diminish. The 2014 report states that residents produced 258 million short tons of solid waste, with recycled and composted materials making 34.6 percent of that amount or 89 million tons. About 33 million tons underwent combustion with energy recovery turning the waste into usable energy for fuel, heat and, electricity. A little more than half, or 136 million tons went to landfills. Without recycling and combustion with energy recovery, all 258 million tons would have filled landfills and begun to pile up (The Effects of Not Recycling). More Greenhouse gasses are bad for the environment because if the gasses and the sun heat get trapped into the Earth's atmosphere it could warm up the planet and oceans. This could cause floods and droughts. So too many in the atmosphere could cause devastating effects worldwide. If people recycle more the need for fossil fuel will decrease so we can save it because we are running low on it everything on earth is a limited supply nothing is unlimited.
Recycling is the process of reusing material, It is done by breaking down material and using it for something else, like aluminum, If people recycle then future populations will also have raw materials. The atmosphere is affected by not Recycling. People can help the planet by recycling things that can be recycled, Like paper and bottles, People can also help recycle on Earth day, send out fliers to help or on social media. With all these signs for the need of recycling why do some people still not recycle?
Works Cited
Awesome Reasons Why We Should Recycle More. Conserve Energy Future, 24 Dec. 2017, www.conserve-energy-future.com/why_should_we_recycle.php.
Beyond Recycling: Getting to 'Zero Waste'. NPR, NPR, 28 Mar. 2008, www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89169980.
Brenner, Laurie. The Effects of Not Recycling. Sciencing.com, Sciencing, 11 Apr. 2018, sciencing.com/effects-not-recycling-4827369.html.
Environmental Benefits of Recycling. All-Recycling-Facts.com, www.all-recycling-facts.com/benefits-of-recycling.html.
Grabianowski, Ed. How Recycling Works. HowStuffWorks Science, HowStuffWorks, 8 Mar. 2018, science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/recycling2.htm.
Superadmin. Why Recycle? Why Should We Recycle? | Bryson Recycling, www.brysonrecycling.org/recycling/why-recycle/.
What Is Recycling and Why Is Recycling Important? Conserve Energy Future, 25 Dec. 2016, www.conserve-energy-future.com/why-is-recycling-important.php.
What Is Recycling? What Is Recycling? | City of Little Rock, www.littlerock.gov/for-residents/solid-waste-services/what-is-recycling/.
Is Recycling Good for Our Environment?. (2019, Sep 25). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/is-recycling-good-for-our-environment/