Recycling... is it true?!?

Question

What's all the fuss about recycling, guys?
Everybody does it faithfully. Some neighborhoods charge a penalty if they found recyclables in a trash can other than the recycle bin.
Is it true?
Why do they say it's just a hoax by the government, and that for most of the materials recycled, it costs more to recycle than making from scratch?
And Penn and Teller's B******t episode about recycling was rather convincing (don't go off-topic about the show, please!)
Should I feel bad for throwing recyclables in regular trash cans?

Thanks, y'all!

Answer 1

Yes you should feel bad if you don't recycle, if for no other reason than when the landfill gets full, they will destroy another piece of property making a knew landfill.

Answer 2

The world seems so big, full of so much, doesn't it? But we really have only a certain amount of each resource. It's a lot, but a lot of it has been thrown in landfills, lost, destroyed. Regardless of the cost versus using new materials, recycling extends the time we have to use those resources because we are re-using what we have already used. And, in some cases (particularly with aluminum cans) you can actually be paid for recycling.
Yes, you should feel kind of bad when you throw away recyclables. Think of what the Earth will be like for future generations, for your children (if you have any), for the younger members of your family. Do what you can to make it better. We can't all be heroes and save the world, but we all do a bit of hero work by recycling.

Answer 3

Okay I haven't heard about a hoax by the government but I do think you should feel bad for throwing recyclables in the garbage. There are lots of reasons:
1. Plastic doesn't biodegrade in land fills - it just takes up space and the PCB's (bad chemicals that can cause reproductive problems in people and animals) leach into the soils and eventually into the water and cause health problems.
2. I don't know if it costs more money to make something out of recycled materials but I think it costs more if you don't because then you have to go to the source to get the material (i.e. cut down trees to make newspapers, mine for metals for cans and so forth, use more petroleum products because that's where plastic comes from, the list goes on and on). So cost can be figured as money or as a cost on the environment.
3. Aluminum is very recyclable and is used to make more cans. Also, you can SELL your aluminum cans to the recycling center - they will pay you by the pound - isn't that proof enough that recycling is real and that they do really reuse the materials? I have done this numerous times. Granted, it's not a lot of money but who doesn't like to get a little money back out of something?

So please recylce - it'll make you feel good and it really is better for the environment.

Answer 4

You as well as everyone can feel just fine with their own actions regardless of how good for others or bad for society it can be.
Knowing that when one recycles, it puts material back into the use rather than burying it in landfills means that down the road, our environment isn't penalized by your actions.

Social conciousness when recycling is given as an option is mostly a guilt complex. Most of apartment dwellers have NO real working options to recycle plastics/ cardboard/ glass or other materials without searching out a recycling center and packing up all the extra Garbage(recyclable junk).
There are times to feel good about recycling and times to not care.
Many municipal trash hauling services set in place recycling programs to reduce their costs, relying on the remorse of the public, and especially to put the recycling option into your hands. They made it not only Possible, but quite convenient, and sometimes, downright economical.
So, the moral dilemna is up to your own morals or how you want to feel about yourself.

Answer 5

There are flaws in your argument. If everybody does it faithfully, then why are considering tossing recyclables into regular trash? Certainly not everyone is as faithful!

Depending on the products, recycling does take more effort than using new materials, but using new materials often requires consuming limited resources (oil for example). So recycling saves resources.

Recycling aluminum cans for example also saves in other ways by lowering the amount of land that is strip mined for the raw materials required to make a new cans. Not only is the material recycled into new cans, but land is saved too and landfills are spared as well.

Should you feel bad? That's up to you and your own sense of environmental consciousness and responsibility.

Answer 6

If you are a young able bodied person, it is fairly easy to recycle. I do and I am 50. It only take a few mins. out of each day. I do my best. There are times that I will NOT go to extremes. I.E. At work the only thing I can recycle is paper, so I do not search the garbages for things I might be able to recycle at home. Guilt is up to you. Some communities do charge if they find recyclbles in garbage (CA) Recycle if you can. Don't be anal, but every little bit helps.

Answer 7

The truth is that the processing of the recycled materials, such as melting aluminum cans down and turning them into new aluminum cans actually is cost saving. It actually costs about one-third the energy to recycle an aluminum can as it does to make a new one from raw materials.

Here's where recycling does cost more. When communities have recycling pick up programs (such as picking the recycled materials up at your front door) that is where recycling ends up costing more than it does for regular materials. The sorting and collecting process is what costs a lot.

So pretty much, it would be better if people took their recyclables to recycling centers instead of depending on pick-up programs.

Another way some cities gain benefits out of their waste is by incinerating it. By incinerating it, they can use the energy gained from incinerating it to heat city water and city buildings and possibly to produce electricity. I believe this aspect is called Recover. Others collect methane from the garbage dumps that they recover to produce energy.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover

These are listed in order of importance.

It's best to reduce what you use. The next best thing is to reuse what you use (ie - ceramic plates, metal silverware, cloth napkins, reusable cups). After that its best to recycle, basically turn the old product into a new product. And finally if you can't do any of the first three, it's best to recover energy from the product by methods such as incineration or methane collection.

Answer 8

Yes, you should. By throwing recyclables away, you are creating unnecessary waste in our landfills. Also, these products can be recycled/reused, therefore, reducing the amounts of resources we need to extract from the earth (i.e. trees for paper). While the cost of recycling may be higher than the cost of producing a new item from raw goods, the future benefits of recycling far outweigh the present costs. I hope this helps.

Answer 9

definite they do. that's an inconvenient reality that recycling quite often isn't economically attainable. i recognize of one city that figured that out yet had puffed up their recycling application lots they did no longer abandon it. extremely they nonetheless placed out the recycling bins so voters can tackle plastic, paper, glass, ect. Then they arrive by using with sequence vehicles and haul the entire works to the landfill and bury it with something of the rubbish. So what they're achieving is dropping a infinite manhours spent sorting recyclables by using the cities voters. All so the city officers can declare they have a recycling application.

Answer 10

I think Penn and Teller got it exactly right. It's a myth that landfills are running out or that land is "destroyed" by landfills. The recycling industry is big business with lobbyists and advertising, etc. We've been sold a bill of goods that we are helping the planet by recycling. We should certainly reduce the amount of goods we consume, look for alternative and cleaner energy sources, reduce our carbon emissions (take mass transit!), etc. But you are not doing the planet a favor when you bundle up those newspapers for recycling. Throw them in the trash.