Does Recycling Actually Damage The Planet?

Question

Using so much energy to recycle actually creates more damaging Co2 gasses than it is worth in product?

Answer 1

Of course it damages the planet, but no one really cares because they are 'recycling' - idiots!!!

Answer 2

Boy, you make the statement like it’s fact. It's not. Some things, like aluminum, save energy by being recycled. Some things, like plastic grocery sacks, don't, but we could just solve that problem by using reusable bags. Here’s a few facts that should be considered:
The planet and its resources are finite. They just aren’t making more aluminum, oil, etc.
The idea that supply and demand will solve all issues is not sound economics, its religion. It is possible that when the supply of something goes to zero there will be no replacement. Something will happen from an ecomomics perspective, but that something may not be good from a human perspective.
Recycling per se is a myth spread by the garbage makers. They want us to continue on this unsustainable trend toward consumption, with the mistaken notion that all garbage can be reused. It can’t. The real goal should be to reduce the production of trash while maintaining our quality of life. To that end, reusability is a better goal than recycling, and where reusability is not feasible, focusing on renewable resources.
Reduce, reuse, recycle.

Answer 3

no. it would still take co2 to create a new unrecycled product and the old unrecycled product would remain in our land fills. By recycling, we cut down on the amount of items that are dumped in our landfills so recycling in this manner does not damage the planet more.

Answer 4

Your right that it takes energy and resources to recycle. However, there is only so much easily extractable aluminum in the world, so what do you suggest we do when that resource runs out? Make airplanes out of balsa wood?

Same with paper. After you cut down all the trees for 3-ply toilet paper, what will you wipe your a_ss with then? A corn cob?

Recycling some materials makes sense.

Answer 5

I'm not an environmentalist by any stretch of the imagination, so I don't really have any statistics. However, I would imagine that the combination of pollution caused by mining operations and smelting/refining operations combined would still cause much more environmental damage than simply refining it for a second time to reuse it.

Answer 6

Any human activity leaves the planet in a different condition than it was in before that activity. That includes breathing.

Whether you consider it 'damage' depends upon your philosophical view of human beings and the world upon which they live.

Answer 7

Recycling libs does!~!

Answer 8

this is also true for corn based ethanol.

Answer 9

evidence??