Reduce Reuse Recycle
"Recycling a ton of 'waste' has twice the economic impact of burying it in the ground. In addition, recycling one additional ton of waste will pay $101 more in salaries and wages, produce $275 more in goods and services, and generate $135 more in sales than disposing of it in a landfill." - From Recycling: Good for the Economy, Good for the Environment (planetenviornment.discovery). Recycling not only helps the environment, but also helps the economy.
I am currently a member of the Green Life Organization. One of the main issues that the Green Life deals with on campus is recycling. Recycling turns materials that would otherwise become waste into valuable materials (http://www.epa.gov/). Recycling not only helps the environment, but it also helps out with resources that are scarce. Students participating in recycling should be a big thing on campus and it should be something that all students who live on campus participate in. It doesn’t take much effort to separate the stuff you put in the trash and then carry it across the road to the nearby recycle station. The Green Life offers plenty of recycle stations so that no one would have to walk very far at all to recycle. A lot of them are even close to dumpsters so when you throw your trash away you can just recycle some of your trash as well. There are many good reasons to recycle and many benefits of recycling. Recycling can be fun and is really easy to do. The steps to follow in order to recycle are the well known reduce, reuse, recycle.
First let’s discuss the reasons to recycle and the benefits received from recycling. Recycling protects and expands U.S. manufacturing jobs and increases U.S. competitiveness, reduces the need for land filling and incineration, saves energy, helps sustain the environment for future generations (http://www.epa.gov/), and conserves natural resources. $160 billion is spent on the global recycling industry that employs over 1.5 million people. 544,000 Trees will be saved if every household in the United States replaced just one roll of virgin fiber paper towels (70 sheets) with 100 percent recycled ones. It takes 5 percent of our energy to recycle aluminum versus mining and refining new aluminum (planetgreen.discovery). By using materials more than once, we conserve natural resources. In the case of paper, recycling saves trees and water. Making a ton of paper from recycled stock saves up to 17 trees and uses 50 percent less water (eia.doe.gov). There is a constant count of the number of beverage cans and bottles that have been land filled, littered and incinerated in the U.S. so far this year online at container-recycling.org and currently the number is up to 75,066,400,000 and raises about 100,000 bottles and cans every second.
The first step in the recycle cycle is to Reduce the amount of trash that you throw away. If you reduce the amount you throw away there will be less for you to recycle and less that goes into landfills. One major way you can reduce the amount you throw away would be to reduce the amount of packaging. Packaging serves many purposes. Its primary purpose is to protect and contain a product. It also can prevent tampering, provide information, and preserve hygienic integrity and freshness. Some packaging, however, is designed largely to enhance a product's attractiveness or prominence on the store shelf. Since packaging materials account for a large volume of the trash we generate, they provide a good opportunity for reducing waste. In addition, keep in mind that as the amount of product in a container increases, the packaging waste per serving or use usually decreases (http://www.epa.gov/). Also just be cautious what kinds of items you are throwing in the garbage. If you reduce the amount of trash you have you are doing a huge part in helping reduce the amount of waste that is thrown into landfills each year.
The second step in recycling is to Reuse. Many items we no longer want, or need are exactly what someone else is looking for. Give your unwanted items another life by advertising them and consider buying used instead of new (kingcountry.gov). There are also many goods out there that you can purchase that have been recycled. Things that can be reused include paper, glass bottles, plastic, and many other types of recycled products. The main problem with the reuse concept is that many people don’t want to use things that someone else has already used. You don’t know where they have been. The thing that most people don’t know is that everything that is recycled, aluminum for example, is melted down and made into new products. They aren’t just washed like dishes and refilled for new use. Being able to reuse many goods requires you to recycle those goods.
The third and last step in the recycle cycle is to Recycle. Recycling is really easy and is something that your entire family can do together. When I was younger, my family and I used to load up all our recycled stuff into the truck and take it down to the recycle station and stop for some ice cream on the way home. My family made it something special to do together. I know throwing away stuff in the recycle bin doesn’t really sound all that exciting, but going down to the recycle station once a week with my family was something I always looked forward to. In our home we always had four bins in the pantry for recycling. One bin for paper, plastic, aluminum, and glass.
There are many different types of items that most people use in their homes every day that can be recycled and used to make new goods. Aluminum and steel cans, cardboard, glass, newspapers and plastic bottles are all recyclable. These items can be made into new products including cans that hold food and drinks, the steel used to build skyscrapers and school buses, cardboard boxes, glass jars and bottles, newspaper and office paper, plastic laundry detergent bottles and even playground equipment for children (depweb.state.pa). Also food scraps from home or cafeterias at school can be separated rather than put in the trash. The scraps can then be turned back into nutrients that help plants grow through a process called composting, which accelerates the natural decay process. Yard waste, such as grass clippings, leaves and small tree limbs, can be converted through composting into mulch to help gardens grow (depweb.state.pa).
There is such a wide variety of things that can be recycled and reused that when you throw anything away you should ask yourself the question “Can this be reused?” So what can you do? After using anything always remember the three steps of the recycle cycle; Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Reduce the amount of things you throw away and be conscious of how much packaging you purchase. Reuse recycled goods. Give the things that you may not need any more to someone in need that could use your goods. A lot of the stuff thrown away is stuff that people don’t want anymore. There are plenty of people who could use your unwanted stuff. Lastly Recycle. Take all of the goods that you have collected throughout the week or so and take them to a nearby recycling station. There are stations all over so there is bound to be at least one within 30 miles or so of your home. Many people argue that they just don’t have the time to take their stuff to a recycle station, but I encourage them to make a day out of it. Some of the best days I remember having with my family are the days when we went out to the recycling station. So don’t just make a day out of recycling, but make a lifetime out of it. Save our environment, help the economy, and make the world a better place for future generations to live. Do your part in changing the world by recycling.
Works Cited
Container Recycling Institute. 02 May 2009
"Energy efficiency." Energy Information Administration - EIA - Official Energy Statistics from the U.S. Government. 02 May 2009
GrassRoots Recycling Network Home. 02 May 2009
"How to Go Green: Recycling : Planet Green." Planet Green : Sustainable Living, Energy Conservation, Earth Day. 02 May 2009
"Justforkids: Recycling Home." PA Department of Environmental Protection. 02 May 2009
"Recycling - Garbage & Recycling Services - King County Solid Waste Division." King County, Washington. 02 May 2009
"Recycling Reduce, Reuse, Recycle US EPA." U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 02 May 2009
