What Is Recycling - Research Paper Example

Recycling Recycling Introduction What is Recycling? The term recycling is commonly associated with resource recovery by most waste managers. However, according to Robinson (1986, p. 216) other people ascribe a number of other definitions to this term. While to other recycling simply refers to the separation of bottles and cans from the trash and the stacking of newspapers, to others, the term refers to the program established so as to collect those materials. The availability of numerous definitions for this terms can be seen to indicated the rather recent origins of this term. This lack of unanimity is seen to also indicate the rather difficulty of attempting to try and identify exactly what recycling should be compared to. An all inclusive definition of the term recycling is that recycling essentially refers to a closed-loop stem designed with the sole purpose of attempting to try and optimize the utilization of various resources while greatly minimizing the production of waste for the benefit of humankind. This definition of recycling casts it as being a systematic alternative to the usual syndrome of Produce-Consume-Dispose that is seen to greatly govern the flow of various materials in the modern day society. Aquino (1995 p.1-10) equates the practice of recycling whereby materials are processed for reuse to the Middle Ages practice where alchemists used to try and turn various base metals into gold. Recycling is not a new concept and evidence of its practice can be traced back to the Romans who by pulling down stones form their Coliseum so as to reuse these stones in the paving of roads, are seen to be pioneers in the field of construction and demolition recycling. Throughout history, black smiths have constantly been engaged in recycling as they have always smelted down broken items such as hoes and swords an reforged new ones from the molten metal. Industrialization is seen to have greatly spurred the demand for cheaper goods and scrap metals were used in the production of numerous products as they were generally cheaper as compared to products produced from virgin ore. Traditional industries such as the American steel industry and the rail road bought large quantities of scrap metal to be used in the creation of steel products and the building the railway respectively. Recycling efforts in the country were seen to increase during the World War II as due to widespread material shortages and crippling financial constraints nearly all recyclable items were collected for recycling and subsequent use in the war effort. In the twenty first century, the only major difference in recycling is the fervor with which it has been adopted especially in the United States. Recycling in the United States With a population of nearly 250 million people spread out across 50 nearly autonomous states, it is rather quite difficult to effectively describe recycling in the United States under one single heading. Although the country’s federal government has largely not made any sweeping changes affecting recycling over the last few years, many individual states have promulgated a number of rules or passed a series of laws that have served to either ban certain non degradable items from landfills, promote waste reduction and recycling. According to Bilitewski et al. (1997 p. 91), of the 39 states that have passed laws affecting recycling, a total of 20 states have passed laws that are designed to cause the local government to deal with waste reduction of recycling in some manner. Twelve states require that their citizens be provided with an opportunity to recycle through the provision of mechanical processing of mixed waste and the creation of drop-off centers. Most states have now identified various recycling goals seen to range from a high of 70% in Rhode Island to a low of 20% in Maryland. Thirteen states in the United States now require that newspapers be produced with a certain percentage of recyclable content with another fifteen states now having in place voluntary agreements for the inclusion of recycled newsprint in newspapers. Six of the country’s states now require that glass and plastic have a certain amount of recycled content while thirty-one states including California and Oregon are now using various tax incentives so as to encourage their citizens to recycle. Four states have now gone ahead to create offices where businesses are now able to receive advice on waste reduction and recycling. American across the country are noted as having joined the recycling bandwagon in large numbers and now have the positive feeling that they are actively doing something very positive for the environment. However, there has been a recent increase in convenience items purchasing and the use of nonrecycleable packaging a factor that has lead to the development of the idea of Advance Disposal Fees (ADFs). ADFs generally entails the inclusion of disposal fees in a product purchase price to help in ensuring that it is eventually properly disposed once it is no longer required. While Hawaii and Florida have currently passed laws on the implementation of ADFs as applied to packaging, tires are noted to currently be the most widespread users of ADFs. Cost Benefit Analysis for Recycling The cost benefit analysis of recycling can at times be quite tricky. Generally speaking the cost of recycling tends to become minimal once people become accustomed to the new process. Governments and organizations promoting recycling often incur additional costs when implementing recycling programs such as recycling educational awareness, the hiring of manpower as well as the purchase of additional recycle bins for use by people living within their jurisdictions. Within an organization, the management can incur recycling costs such as the addition of extra recycle bins unless the local sanitation department endeavors to supply these bins. According to Hart (2009 p. 222) statistics drawn from the National Recycling Coalition indicate that each year, Americans across the country on average throw away enough office paper to be able to build a wall of paper approximately 12 foot high spanning from Seattle to New York. The statistics also indicate that recycling a 3 ft stack of newspapers is enough to save one tree; in this respect every foot of this wall that is successfully recycled will manage to save about four trees and the entire wall is estimated as being able to spare slightly over 50 million trees from being harvested for paper if it is fully recycled. In addition to preventing this staggering number of trees from being cut down, there are a number of other substantial costs involving water and energy that will be cut down. The recycling of plastic, paper and glass has been noted to only involve a fraction of the cost involved in producing these materials. Benefits of Recycling Recycling has been noted to have numerous benefits, however, most of its benefits are found to be of an environmental nature and variously include: Garbage Reduction: One of the key benefits of recycling is that it greatly helps to reduce the amount of garbage that is regularly sent to landfills across the country. The use of landfills in the United States was seen to peak during the 1980s when Americans were seen to sent an estimated 150 million tons of garbage to various landfills each year. Nowadays, statics indicate that this number has reduced to about 100 million tons annually despite the increase in population. Although most of the modern landfills are actually quite safe, less of a nuisance and sanitary as compared to the open dumps of the past, landfills are generally not the best option. Recycling efforts across the United States nowadays divert and approximated 32 percent of waste away from landfills in an effort that is estimated as preventing more than 60 million tons of garbage from ending up in landfills every year (EPA, 2014). Reduce the Use of Limited Resources: The production of brand-new products purely from virgin material is seen to greatly deplete the rather limited natural resources available. The production of paper requires the harvesting of wood pulp from trees while the manufacture of plastics is seen to require the use the fossil fuels such as natural gas and oil. By opting to use recycled material in the creation of products, fewer natural resources will be depleted. Economic Impact: Recycling has been credited with having a variety of economic impacts. A number of companies are able to make profits by buying used goods, recycling them and then eventually reselling them as new products and in the process creating increased job opportunities. Cities located in the more densely populated areas that normally incur huge expenses as they are required to pay by the ton for the use of landfills can be able to save million of shillings in their various municipal budgets by engaging in recycling. A number of economic analyses have indicated that recycling can be able to generate an approximated three times as much revenue per on as landfill disposal while at the same time creating about six times as many jobs. Reduced Pollution from Landfill Leachate: In addition to generally taking up too much space, the use of landfill has been associated with a major pollution problem as the large assortment of chemicals that are normally thrown into landfills, as well as the resultant chemicals produced from the breaking down of garbage can create a very toxic soup that is commonly referred to as leachate. This leachate has the potential to cause huge amounts of pollution. Leachate has been known to drain out of landfills and critically contaminate the various underground water supplies. Limitations of Recycling While recycling evidently does have a large number of benefits, it has also been noted as having a number limitations that variously include: Recycled products don’t always last as long: One of the greatest drawbacks of recycling is that recycled products are generally not as durable, or of as good a quality as original products. Recycled products are sometimes made for fragile and overused material which greatly reduces their quality. Unhygienic and unsafe recycling sites: Recycling sites can sometimes not only be unhygienic but also unsafe depending on the machinery that is being used in the recycling process. The large number of debris that is dumped in recycling sites can spread both diseases and other dangers caused by harmful waste and chemicals. Initial High Cost: the cost of setting up recycling units can at times involve very high costs. This costs can be brought about by the need to acquire a number of utility vehicles to help in ferrying the waste to the recycling plant, education the residents by organizing a series of seminars to sensitive them on the value of recycling, as well as the development of the recycling plant. Recycling is not always cost effective: Recycling is not always cost effective as at times, the cost involved in recycling the material can be more expensive as compared to manufacturing new products. It may also create more pollution in respect to storage, cleaning and transportation. Rarely suitable on a large Scale basis: While recycling is a very important step towards the minimization of pollution, it is rather unfortunate that the recycling process rarely occurs on a large scale and is mostly practiced in schools and small scale homes. Recycling has so far failed to useful on a large scale such as on the industrial or global scale. Conclusion The importance of recycling has reached a critical moment in that there is widespread public concern and state action that are rapidly mounting to confront the material burdens of industrial production that have gradually been accumulating over the years. The rather unintended consequences of our overuse of the limited resources that nature has availed us have started to greatly impact the manner in which we now live our lives. Although recycling has been noted to have a number of disadvantages such as high initial set up costs, unhygienic and unsafe recycling sites, and the production of poor quality product the benefits that we are able to derive from recycling generally tend to offset these disadvantages and as such, recycling should be greatly encouraged. References Aquino, T. J. (1995). Waste Age and Recycling Times: Recycling Handbook. CRC Press. Bilitewski, B. et al. (1997). Waste management. New York : Springer. epa. 2014. Municipal Solid Waste. Available online at http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/index.htm Hart, T. et al. (2009). Nonprofit Guide to Going Green, Epub Edition. John Wiley & Sons Inc. Robinson, D. W. (1986). The Solid waste handbook: a practical guide.New York: Wiley. Read More