Garbage and Recycling

One of the most pressing environmental issues facing the contemporary society is the issue of garbage. As much as the global population continues to rise, people have become more wasteful and the products of modern convenience such as plastics have rendered the earth a dumping ground for non biodegradable refuse. This problem crosses all international boaders and touches of all the world people. Although some specialists argue that recycling is not good and beneficial from an economic perspective, some people believe it will reduces the need for new landfills, creates job, saves energy, and conserves resources. Increasing in Population results an increase in waste which requires finding and buying more landfills to bury the increasing amount waste, and this is becoming a very serious problem in many areas around the world. The question is how can government find a place for the huge quantities of material where does not affect humans health. Every Canadian knows that Toronto has world-class garbage problems. A growing number of Torontonians feel uncomfortable about shipping garbage to distant landfill sites. Until 2010, our trash will continue to be shipped to Michigan, and then it will be dumped at a newly purchased landfill site near London, Ontario (News at U of T). But within the next four or five years, the city needs to choose more alternate method for dealing with residual wastes. Diseases from poisonous gases and micro-organisms in the air near garbage dumps and poisoning by polluted underground water and soil may result in serious health problems too. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) estimates that more than five million people die each year from diseases related to inadequate waste disposal systems. Therefore, Landfills are not seen as attractive additions to the neighborhood. Neighborhoods are concerned about not only health hazards but also noises, increased traffic, lowered property values, toxic gases and effluents, and all these problems mean for the government spending more money to overcome such problems, but recycling seems to be the only solution. Recycling can reduce some of these costs, and communities can even make money by selling certain recyclable materials (Lopez). Many people think that landfills and incinerators are more cost- ffective than recycling, but it is not true. Statistics show that when recycling programs are designed properly, they save at least as much money as landfills an incinerators would. A large percentage of waste that is brought to the landfills can be recycled or reused. By paying close attention to what we are putting in our garbage cans and recycling materials whenever possible we can increase the stream of goods produced by recycling rather than using up precious space and money in landfills. Recycling not only cut down our litter it can add to our growing economy by saving energy. Energy savings can be seen when most materials are recycled. One example of valuable energy savings is the recycling of aluminum cans. It takes 95 percent less energy to recycle an aluminum can than it does to make a new can from bauxite ore (denver). Plastic bags made from recycled polythene rather than virgin materials save two thirds of the energy required for production and reduce the water used by almost 90% , or recycling a single glass bottle can save enough energy to light a 100-watt light bulb for 4 hours (Thrope). According to the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, in 2000, recycling resulted in an annual energy savings of at least 660 trillion BTUs, which equals the amount of energy used in 6 million households annually (Denver). Companies that make new products from recycled material use 30 percent less energy. That's because they don't have to process the raw materials from scratch. For example, a company in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, called Cedar River Paper makes cardboard boxes by recycling paper products from all over the Midwest. If Cedar River Paper didn’t use recycled materials, they'd use up a lot of a trees – and a lot of energy to cut them down, transport them hundreds of miles and grind them into paper pulp (Rinaldi). http://www. alliantenergykids. com/stellent2/groups/public/documents/pub/phk_ee_001509. hcsp Recycling generates significant economic benefits by creating jobs for communities. In fact, the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive estimates that recycling and remanufacturing industries account for approximately one million manufacturing jobs and more than $100 billion in revenue. As a matter in fact, the drive for efficient handling and use of recycled materials spurs innovation which is a key to long-term economic growth. Recycling is a very important step in slowing down and eventually stopping wasting of earth's natural resources. In other words, The less we concentrate on recycling, the more we will rely on use natural resources which will results in depletion of the world’s natural resources and the increase of garbage mass. By reusing materials and re-manufacturing them into new products we are reducing the amount of virgin natural resources that we need to use. . For example, for every ton of recycled paper that we use we can save 17 trees (denver),but unfortunately, paper and its derived products such as carton are now being recycled successfully everyday. Can you imagine that 44 million newspapers are thrown away every day in the United States. This is like throwing 500 000 trees into a landfill each week. The loss of natural resources affects animals too. Our landfills are taking over animal’s habitats and causing many species to become endangered. For example, Animals like black footed ferrets and prairie dogs are in danger of becoming extinct (Baron). We should think broadly because recycling has a large impact in our economy over the past few decades. Although recycling of wastes entail large hidden costs in collecting, sorting, and manufacturing, it can solve issues concerning landfills. When we recycle our waste products rather than throw them all in the garbage we save room in landfills. Recycling plants also create many more jobs than people would think. Recycling activities around the country promote community development while reducing the need for new landfills, preventing pollution, saving energy, and preserving natural resources. The economic value of clean air, water and land is significant, but difficult to quantify. Since recycling plays an important role in protecting these natural resources it must be attributed an economic value in this context, as well (Rinaldi).