Why don't more people start recycling?

Question

I recycle almost everything. Tim Hortons cups, envelopes, fabric softnener containers, empty cat litter boxes, pretty much everything made of plastic, paper, tin and/or glass. Yes you have to devote a space for recycling in your home and stick with it, but don't people feel guilty to let all this crap end up in a landfill somewhere? It keeps building and building, day after day after day.

Answer 1

The idea that we're running out of places to put garbage is largely a myth. Typical landfills are well-monitored, miniscule compared to the size of the communities they serve, and may even be energy-producers instead of consumers if the methane from decaying material is piped off and used. And it's not like garbage goes nowhere... it decays. Anthropologists have such a difficult time finding garbage from a few millennia ago that it makes the news every time they miraculously locate a garbage dump (and don't kid yourself - the Romans made as much garbage as anyone).

Most people who recycle do so poorly (plastic labels and caps on plastic bottles, for example, are usually completely unrecyclable and should be stripped off) and thus badly degrade the resulting recycled product. In many cases, the materials obtained from even the best source recycling material is of far lower quality than original material, and more expensive to boot. Paper fibers wear out. Plastics become polluted and are easily replaced. And so on.

There a few exceptions, of course. Aluminum is wickedly expensive to produce from naturally occurring aluminum oxide, so it's little wonder that this is the one kind of recycling that will actually pay more than the gas required to haul it to your local centre. And the very VERY best part of the 'recycling triad' is just to reduce your consumption of materials in the first place. The biggest change since the energy crisis in the 1970's is the many ways people and companies have found just to use less energy and be more efficient!

Don't get me wrong - I respect your effort. I just think your energies would be put to better use if they were re-focused a little bit. Good luck! Link below for much the same information in an entertaining format.

Answer 2

Recycling takes time and effort and in the end doesn't do anything. If your entire town recycles everything they can with 100% efficiency, they might delay the filling of a landfill by a day or so. Besides, landfills are abstract things. You never see them in real life, so to the average person, the garbage just goes 'away'. Recycling is a lot like voting. One person can't make a difference, so if you aren't expected to vote (or recycle) as an unwritten social rule where you live, you won't do it.

Answer 3

Well its a good idea to reduce and reuse first, but the next step to get the rest of your house hold involved would be to....try buying another garbage pale for the kitchen and put it right next to the garbage....above it put a sign that reminds everyone what goes in there....(papers, plastic, aluminum,) if you have little kids in your family.....try putting pictures or labels off of a coke bottle or something on the sign so the kids are motivated to recycle too! :) If you are really feeling motivated get a third garbage pale for compost, food, newspaper, fruit peelings, ect. I bet by the end of the week the original "garbage" will be the most empty out of the 3!! :)

Answer 4

well i do recycle as much as i can