Photo by Rachel Edwards
Recycling helps protect the environment by reducing the need for extracting, refining and processing raw materials, all of which create air and water pollution. As recycling saves energy it also reduces greenhouse gas emissions, which helps to control climate change. One can have a major impact on the environment if they simply recycle items they use on a daily basis, such as water bottles, which can be manufactured again and used for another purpose.
The Importance of Reducing, Reusing, Recycling
Why should we recycle?
Ever since the first Earth Day in 1970, there has been a worldwide movement in support of taking better care of the environment. The idea of recycling, the action or process of converting waste into reusable material, although not a new idea, became extremely popular during this time and has continued to be the most common method of preserving the environment. However, many people fail to see the importance of recycling and may not know the impact they can have by recycling just one piece of paper or one plastic bottle.
Loading ...Recycling in general reduces the need for extracting, refining, and processing raw materials, all of which create substantial air and water pollution. In addition, recycling also reduces the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, specifically those that are emitted from landfills, which is necessary in order to gain control over climate change.
In 2012, the American Meteorological Society released a statement declaring, “It is clear from extensive scientific evidence that the dominant cause of the rapid change in climate of the past half century is human-induced increases in the amount of atmospheric greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, methane, and nitrous oxide.”
This garbage, the solid waste stream, goes mostly to landfills, where it’s compacted and buried. As the waste continues to grow, so will the pressures on our landfills, our resources, and our environment.
— Standford University
Another important factor of recycling is the promotion of reusing materials, which will preserve natural resources, such as timber and minerals, that will no longer be available if we continue to use them in such large quantities. The National Institutes of Health Environmental Management System reports that “94% of the natural resources used by Americans are non-renewable.” When these nonrenewable resources are thrown into landfills instead of reused, they are lost to humanity forever.
Unfortunately, in spite of the widespread participation in recycling, there are many people who think that they could not make an impact on the environment by recycling, which is far from the truth. The average person uses 749 pounds of paper each year, which requires about eighteen trees per year as it takes approximately half a tree to produce twenty pounds of standard copier paper. If you were to recycle most of the paper you use over the course of a lifetime, you will be able to save a forest full of trees.
Another everyday item that greatly contributes to the increasing size of landfills are water bottles. Liz Swafford a Recycling & Education Program Coordinator for the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority in Georgia states, “365 plastic water bottles that are recycled can become the equivalent of 19 soft t-shirts, or fiberfill for twenty-six fluffy ski jackets.
Other products made from water bottles include sweaters, sneakers, sleeping bag filler, and even carpet.”
Student Phoebe Lawson agrees that “more people should take the time to recycle. In school, I see so many people who throw out their water bottles instead of recycling them. I think the lack of recycling is simply due to laziness.”
Recycling is important now more than ever due to the increase in population as well as the inventions of more non-biodegradable goods.
According to a recent study at Stanford University, “The world has changed a lot in the past century. From individually packaged food servings to disposable diapers, more garbage is generated now than ever before. The average American discards seven and a half pounds of garbage every day. This garbage, the solid waste stream, goes mostly to landfills, where it’s compacted and buried. As the waste stream continues to grow, so will the pressures on our landfills, our resources, and our environment.”
Although you may think that recycling one water bottle will not have a significant impact on the environment, you might be able to inspire others to recycle, resulting in an even greater change in our environment. There is no change that is too big or too small when it comes to preserving the planet we live on.