Recycling Benefits the Environment

Introduction

Recycling is the process of taking materials that are no longer needed and turning them into new products that can be used. The benefits of recycling include reduced environmental degradation and greenhouse gas emissions, economic savings, and job creation. A variety of products can be recycled; the complexity of the process depends on the materials being recycled and those being generated. It is important to keep in mind that recycling is the last step in waste reduction: the first step is reducing consumption of products, the second step is reusing the products that are consumed, and the third step, as a last resort, is recycling products that can no longer be reused.

In the most basic terms, recycling is taking a product that is no longer useful or wanted and remanufacturing it into another product that can be used instead of sending it to the landfill. Recycling can even be as simple as reusing an item for a purpose different from its original intention, such as making old cereal boxes into magazine holders. Although numerous items can be recycled, some of the most common products include aluminum, glass, paper, steel, and plastic bottles (Zimring, pp. 31-43).

Pro

Recycling is an accepted and commonly applied form of environmentally responsible behavior.

Background Information

The recycling process is connected to production and consumption; as production and consumption changed over time, so did recycling. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, waste was not a major social problem. Individual households managed the waste they generated in a variety of ways. Some material was saved to put to other uses. What was not saved was burned or thrown into nearby rivers. The rise of industrialization increased household consumption as well as the amount of waste resulting from production processes. At the same time, the demand for raw materials for manufacturing increased. A market for scavenged materials to utilize in manufacturing developed, and waste became a commodity. The increased amounts of waste and the commoditization of waste led to the initiation of organized garbage disposal programs and the growth of the waste recovery and resale trade. This trade was largely perceived as dirty work engaged in by immigrants, but it provided many people lucrative business opportunities (Pellow, pp. 34-51).

With the rise of the environmental movement during the 1960s and 1970s, private community recycling centers where people could bring newspapers and cans were established. Some municipal recycling programs were also established during this time. Governments also began to establish cash deposit programs for beverage containers as a financial incentive for recycling. By the 1980s, incineration was seen as problematic, many landfills were designated as Superfund sites, and there was a popular perception that landfills were running out of capacity, all of which provoked a renewed emphasis on recycling. Recycling also came to be understood as a practice that was beneficial for environmental reasons instead of economic reasons (Michael, pp. 12-19).

Arguments and Evidence for Claim

Recycling is the process of taking materials that are no longer needed and turning them into new products that ...