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Jocelyn Wood

Jackie Burr, Instructor

English 2010, Section 7

29 March, 2018

Benefits of Recycling: The Harmful Effects of Trashing

“Recycling is the process of collecting and processing materials that would otherwise be

thrown away as trash and turning them into new products. Recycling can benefit your

community and the environment.”(epa.gov/recycle) Recycling has always been known to be the

ideal situation. You can ask anyone and they would know what recycling is. How is it that so

many people are aware that we have a problem of disposing things that are harmful to the

environment, yet it is still a major issue? If so many people are of knowledge about the problem,

then why has it not gotten solved? There are many benefits to recycling and the outcomes it

brings; there are also just as many negative effects of not recycling and the pollution that humans

have brought to the table. It is not that we are unaware that there is a problem, it is that not

enough people know the specific harm we are doing to wildlife, the earth, and ourselves.

There is fear that human consumption of what we do every day is causing climate

change, mineral scarcity, and biodiversity loss. These factors are causing the physical elements

of the earth to decay and become unuseful. Not only is it unusable to us as humans, but to the

animals and nature evolving around us. The idea of reuse has recently sparked interest in

environmentalists because of the assumed benefits of the study. The most important factor of

reuse is enabling the decrease of constant consumption of new product, like a brand new

refrigerator every 5 years. Instead of creating brand new product, reusing the old product to

create another will not only make access to the products cheaper, but minimize landfill and
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represent additional consumption. “Attention must be paid to restoring and upgrading old

product efficiencies, minimizing overspecification in the new application, and considering

whether more efficient, new products exist that would be more suitable.” (Cooper 1) The three

R’s-- “reduce, reuse, recycle”-- is exactly what the process of remaking human consumptions for

our benefit and environmental benefit is for.

Climate change is becoming more and more dangerous to human and wildlife health.

This problem has been pursued in many ways to be solved, but still continues to present itself.

Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is the major contributor to global warming along with many

other toxic gases. Manufacturing certain products releases more CO2 than if we recycled them.

“Aluminum for example produces 95% more CO2 than recycling old aluminum objects.”

(helpsavenature.com) With the continuous population increase, demand for products from

factories also increases. The gaseous waste produced from the burning of product in factories has

created a large portion of the air pollution in the United States. Exhaust from cars, and other

vehicles is another component to the air quality and pollution all over the world. Acid rain is

formed when the pollutants and chemicals react with water molecules in the atmosphere.

Therefore, air quality is not only a factor to human life, but to the ecological balance of the earth.

The oceans take up most of our earth, so it is inevitably a large portion that collects trash

and waste. The ocean is one of the most beneficial aspects of human life; it produces most of the

air you breathe each and every day, the food we eat, and the water we drink. There is so much

life and optimism in the ocean; this is what we need to fight to protect. If the ocean is not

healthy, neither are we. Ocean Conservancy, a program that focuses on tackling some of the

greatest threats facing our oceans today. “Ocean Conservancy has collected 228, 919,809 pounds

of trash since 1985.” (Ocean Conservancy, 5)


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“Scientists estimate more than 8 million metric tons of plastic is entering our ocean every year.

If we don’t act now, there could be a pound of plastic for every 3 pounds of fish in the ocean

within the next decade.”(Ocean Conservancy, 5) A study was conducted from 2007 to 2012 in

Braila testing the effects of human activities on their rivers and ground waters. They resulted as

the most populated areas had worse water pollution than other areas like private SC Promex.

Thus, explaining that the more active we are in certain areas, the more polluted and untreated the

water becomes. Making the water unhealthy and in unlivable condition. The more action we take

on our oceans, the more results we will see everywhere else. The ocean is a major feeding system

into most of the things we use every day.

Plastic is one of leading causes of death in wildlife in our oceans and on land. Mike

Biddle, a garbage man devoted to decreasing waste, collects 1 million pounds of discarded items

every day. Most of the items that are discarded are plastics and metals. “Over 90% of metals that

are recycled are reused; yet plastic, even though more valuable, less than 10% of plastic is

recycled.” (Biddle, TED talk) Plastic is much more valuable and plentiful than metals, but much

harder to separate once they have been recycled. Biddle has created a plant that will take old

product and sort it enough into grade and type and pressed enough to create pellets that are

reusable in new products being built. Biddle has taken Cooper’s theory or reuse and made it a

reality with his company. The reuse of plastic has made a significant change in the harm plastic

can do. Not only is plastic not biodegradable, it does not dissolve in water either. Plastic waste

sits and harms everything around it. Many animals have encountered tragedies because of a

plastic bag, a bottle, a straw, or other debris. Reusing the plastic keeps them from ending up in

the wild, harming animals, and the nature around it. As shown in the infographic to the left,

according to Green SC, “Over one million seabirds, 110,000 sea mammals and 50,000 for seals
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die annually as a result plastic litter floating in the water.” The amount of harm that is done to the

wildlife in the ocean is skyrocketing and unfortunately not decreasing. We need efforts out there

physically removing solid waste and debris to make a change. In the U.S. alone, people throw

away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour and each one takes 500 years to decompose.

This is a significant amount of reusable items that get disposed and never looked at again. If they

were recycled, we could keep them out of harm's way and make a new product from them

whether it be a new bottle or a completely different item.

Along with conserving the environment, conserving animal and wildlife is another major

issue. When we do not recycle or dispose of our consumptions properly, they are left to the

animals that use the environment as their habitats. Unfortunately, this happens more frequently

than we think. Over one million seabirds die each year from ocean pollution; soda rings suffocate

animals all over the world; fishing line and hooks cut animals and bleed them out; gum can get

matted in animals fur and cause them difficulty moving. These are just some of the examples that

cause harm to animals, yet are so easy to prevent. Doug Johnson, a district attorney for Sandy

City and a volunteer and multiple animal rehabilitation centers states, “The hardest part about

volunteering is seeing how many lives are ruined due to the laziness and capacity of human

nature.”(Johnson, Interview) There are many ways to prevent tragedies with animals from

happening so frequently. Cut apart all sections of the soda rings including the inter-diamonds.

Rinse and crush cans before disposing of them properly in a recycling bin. Wrap your gum up

and throw it away in a bin, do not spit in on the ground. Rinse out containers and put the lids

back on them, so animals do not get their heads stuck in them. When shopping, choose paper

bags or invest in your own reusable bags. Many of these things are very easy and simple and take

very little effort. The most important thing is spreading the word on what to and not to do in
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certain situations.

Although recycling is a

concept that has been an idea for

hundreds of years, scientists

predicted that acting upon it would

be a more dominant role in today's

actions. However, it still goes

unnoticed and it is everyone job to

take action and step up on

confronting those who do not.

Such small efforts can make such a

big difference, yet people claim, “I

would do it more often if it was

easier.” This type of mindset is

exactly why we are at the point we

are at today; killing animals,

destroying soil, and polluting the

air. Johnson entails in an interview, “I don’t think enough people are aware of the destruction our

waste causes. It needs to be more firmly addressed so that people recognize what they are doing

to animals, oceans, the air, and inevitably, themselves.” The goal that needs to be achieved is to

inform more people about the good recycling can do rather than saying “do it.”
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Works Cited

Cooper, Daniel R. and Timothy G. Gutowski. "The Environmental Impacts of Reuse: A Review."
Journal of Industrial Ecology, vol. 21, no. 1, Feb. 2017, pp. 38-56. EBSCOhost,
doi:10.1111/jiec.12388.

“Compelling Reasons Why We Should Recycle.” HelpSaveNature, HelpSaveNature,


helpsavenature.com/why-should-we-recycle.

SUN, MONIC and REMI TRUDEL. "The Effect of Recycling Versus Trashing on Consumption:
Theory and Experimental Evidence." Journal of Marketing Research (JMR), vol. 54, no. 2, Apr.
2017, pp. 293-305. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=buh&AN=122357743&site=ehost-live.

“Recycling Basics.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 7 Nov. 2017,


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www.epa.gov/recycle/recycling-basics

“Ocean Conservancy.” Ocean Conservancy, oceanconservancy.org/

CIOBOTARU, Ana-Maria. "Influence of Human Activities on Water Quality of Rivers and


Groundwaters from Brăila County." Annals of the University of Oradea, Geography Series /
Analele Universitatii Din Oradea, Seria Geografie, vol. 25, no. 1, June 2015, pp. 5-13.
EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=aph&AN=108616785&site=ehost-live.

Biddle, Mike. “We Can Recycle Plastic.” TED: Ideas Worth Spreading,
www.ted.com/talks/mike_biddle#t-639384

“Protecting Wildlife from Trash.” Protecting Wildlife from Trash (EnvironmentalChemistry.com),


environmentalchemistry.com/yogi/hazmat/articles/trash.html.

“How Littering Kills Animals.” PETA, www.peta.org/features/litter-kills-animals/.

“44 Interesting Facts about Recycling.” Interesting Facts, www.factretriever.com/recycling-facts.

Johnson, Doug. Personal Interview. 18 April, 2018.

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