Recycling Research Paper

The EPA said that 75% of the American peoples waste are recyclables, but we only recycle about 30% of it. Some might say that the recycling economy is dying and that it will cost United States citizens more money; however, the recycling industry will keep streets and oceans clean which keeps plastic out of both.

Mandatory recycling programs would be too expensive and cause financial hardship for some municipalities. The recycling industry is slowly going to not exist there for you will need to change your ways of recycling, and pay more for it, as a result (Tita). The material that the people are recycling like paper, plastic, glass, and metal are not turning up high profit anymore they more of a liability, not an asset. According to the Wall Street Journal, Bob Tita wrote, 122 million pounds of recycled glass was used for roads and trash to cover last year because there was no one willing to buy the glass. Recycling markets are changing due to the volatility of changing trends, particularly trends overseas. China has recently changed there recyclers and they are looking for new buyers. The market for different types of paper has gone down drastically in the past year, this means it costs the company to recycle that material (Tita).To run a recycling center you would have to sell what you are recycling if you don't then you run the risk of losing the factory. There are no buyers for mixed glass Wegmans food market ditched glass jars for the pasta sauce and went to plastic. They did this because when shipping glass has a chance to break were as plastic is guaranteed to not break. However, there have been study's made that say in about 20 years the recycling industry will begin to increase and the demand for the recycling industry will become more needed.

Furthermore, The United States recycling management industry is dwindling away that means that they charge residents to recycle their plastics and for disposal of it. Prices for scrap paper and plastic have collapsed, this is charging residents more to collect recyclables. According to Rochester Democrat and Chronicles Steve Orr, The plastics, papers, and cardboard are piling up at recycling plants because they have no one paying for them and they're not being exported or processed in a domestic market. Changes in the economy have cut off exports from the U.S, the world's largest generator of paper scrap and plastics. The people of waste-management authority in Lancaster county doubled the charge that residential trash collectors have to pay to recycle their recyclables (Orr). This will drive the cost up for upgrades for the processing facilities, collecting waste materials, finding different utility vehicles, educating residents by having seminars or different types of programs. Sacramento County collects recyclables. Now, the county is paying what will amount to about $1 million a year, or roughly $35 a ton, to defray the processors' costs (Tita). That increased from $250 thousand as of the next year. This was due to the change in the recycling economy, the price paid to by plastics, glass, and mixed paper. The price that you will pay to recycle may get higher but there are many studies that say in another 100 years we will be drowning in plastics if we do nothing about it. The choice is a world full of plastic laying everywhere or pay a little extra to keep the oceans and the streets clean.

It is often argued that mandatory recycling programs would keep plastics out of the landfills and could be profitable for cities and residents alike. According to the National Geographic Society, Laura Parker wrote, The world has made 9.2 billion tons of recycling and only 6.3 billion made it to a recycling bin. They say for the plastics to biodegrade it would be about 450 years to never. All of the plastics in the ocean are estimated to kill millions of marine wildlife every year. There is a beach in Hawaii that is called big island there are ankle deep microplastics that covers the beach. The sound like rice crispy treats when you step on them. Marine species from zooplankton to large wales are digesting what we produced. This is slowly deteriorating there body from floating in it and eating it. According to the Vermont resource economist Ted Siegler, We know how to pick up garbage. Anyone can do it. We know how to dispose of it. We know how to recycle. It's the matter of building the necessary institutions and systems for it (Parker). If the necessary institutions were built then the oceans would be cleaner and not turn into a thin scoop of plastics. Another word for these small plastics are Microplastics coined by Thompson it means small dissolved plastics which has a large accumulation in the ocean. The recycling institutions would keep not only the oceans clean but the streets of your town or city.

Moreover, the zero waste movement gains traction, so do various waste-to-energy (WTE) technologies. The plans are to turn plastics and even trash into reusable energy or product. This is the basic definition of the term zero waste and waste-to-energy. There are even a growing number of people that have joined the Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA). They specialize in establishing a global standard to guide people to the waste-free zero waste standard. This ultimately this is to eliminate the toxicity and waste that is produced by the American people. They have different ways of disposing of the product like incineration, gasification, and pyrolysis these are some of the ways that the eliminate the waste that is produced. Green-friendly micro-factories can reduce landfill, create jobs, provide business opportunities and boost our declining manufacturing sector (Sahajwalla).

The government is the only problem of why this technology is not yet been produced they need the support them, and the businesses need to use it. These micro-factories can operate on like 50 square meters and can be put wherever there is a large stockpile of the recycling. These micro-factories will help make the number of plastics, glass and mix paper is laying around not being reused and recycled back into the cycle. This will help keep the recycling out of the towns and out of the oceans.

As well as, reducing global warming and conserving natural resources. During waste disposal, huge amounts of waste have combusted that lead to the emission of vast greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, sulfur, and nitrogen, which contribute to climate change and global warming.(Conserve Energy Future). What happens when you don't recycle it goes to landfills and they get buried and plastics are very toxic to the environment. They are bad for the are. When plastic sits in the sun for hours it produces gases that are toxic when breathed in. Recycling reduces the emission of these fumes and the toxins and handles them properly. Global warming is a problem and fixing one thing at a time will help stop the global warming epidemic.

Starting to recycle all of the recyclable items makes us one step closer to stopping global warming. Recycling is a surefire way of conserving existing raw materials and protecting them for future use. (Conserve Energy Future).As well as getting closer to stopping global warming by recycling this also helps conserve natural resources. If the process of recycling was not around then that means that the new product will need to be made. This means that more trees will be cut down to make paper and more plastics will be made that will just start piling up even more. Stopping are bad habits right now will help us in the long run. Conserving our natural resources should be one of our biggest goals because when we run out we are screwed recycling is the start of saving the resources.

The final analysis is, that even though the recycling industry will cost people more to recycle things properly and the recycling economy is slowly rotting away due to the decrease in recyclable items worth. The people will still benefit from recycling like keeping plastics out of the oceans and street. They also help us get to that zero waste and waste to energy goal while also help stop global warming and slow the depletion of the natural resources. The recycling industry helps remove plastic from the streets and collect the trash and plastics from the oceans.

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