Recycling is important because it allows waste to be reused in other products instead of ending up in landfills. The environment is protected, quality of life is improved, and it preserves our resources for everyone and future generations. Recycling is necessary because consumers and businesses create a huge amount of waste. Packaged food, disposable diapers, beverages, and just about everything used in daily life activities create garbage. Without recycling, all garbage would end up compacted and buried in landfills and incineration plants for destruction. Garbage is a waste stream that continues to grow. The purpose of the essay is to demonstrate the necessity of recycling and the possible outcomes of not recycling with an emphasis on paper and glass recycling.
“The average American discards seven and a half pounds of garbage every day; the nation’s composting and recycling rate rose from 7.7% of the waste stream in 1960 to 30% in 2011” (Stanford University). Reusing paper, glass, plastic, aluminum, and other materials can save “production and energy costs, and reduce the negative impacts that the extraction and processing of virgin materials has on the environment” (Stanford University). Recycling is common sense, has economic and environmental benefits, and lets resources be used more efficiently. Economic and environmental benefits are job creation, decreased energy use, less air and water pollution, lower greenhouse gases, and conservation of natural resources. Energy is saved by weighing the cost of manufacturing a “product from scratch getting raw materials, transporting them, processing them, and producing them versus making goods from recycled materials” (Stanford University). Recycling creates approximately “10 jobs or 75 materials reuse jobs for every 10,000 tons of solid waste” (EPA).
In 2011, paper represented twenty-eight percent or seventy million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW), more than any other material Americans discard (EPA). “Americans recycled nearly sixty-six percent or forty-six million tons of the paper used in 2011 and paper mills are designed to use paper from recycling programs to make new paper” (EPA). According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), recycling one ton of paper would save seven thousand gallons of water, 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space, power an American home for six months, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by one metric ton of carbon equivalent (2011). Greenhouse gas emissions impact climate changes. Paper manufacturers are reducing package and container weights by utilizing “source reduction or lightweighting” to reduce waste toxicity and package volume” (EPA). Reducing the margins in documents produced in word processing programs, books, and any variety of print is another form of source reduction we can all control, as well as avoiding wasteful printing. The paper industry is committed to recovering more paper through recycling instead of letting it end up in landfills. The current recovery goal is sixty percent with “approximately 140 mills nationwide using recovered paper exclusively” in their manufacturing processes (EPA). Paper is produced from many types of materials such as “hemp, wood, flax, cotton, sugar cane waste, linen rags, bamboo, and wheat straw. Fiber is developed from wood and recycled paper products” (EPA). Types of mills include pulp mills, mills which used virgin fiber and recycled fiber, and recycled paper processing mills. Pulp mills produce pulp, which is the foundation of paper and paper products. Pulp combines water and cellulose fibers. Recycled paper processing mills use recovered paper to manufacture new paper products. Other mills use recycled paper and virgin fiber for paper production. Recycling awards are given out annually to businesses, communities, and schools for their recycling efforts. In 2013, book manufacturer Edwards Brothers Malloy located in Ann Arbor, Michigan received the award for business leadership by recycling 12,500 tons of paper and packaging (Paper Recycles). Bishop Watterson High School in Columbus, Ohio won the school award by collecting 18.36 tons or 33.8 pounds of paper and paper-based packaging per student in 2013 (Paper Recycles).
Glass accounted for 11.5 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) in 2011 (EPA). Glass bottles take millions of years to break down in landfills, but as little as thirty days to be recycled (L. West). “The rise of curbside recycling programs has created more glass for recycling” (Jiang and Vo). Glass is a universal packaging container which can be recycled unlimitedly and still retain its strength, which is reflected in more than three million tons being recycled in 2011 (EPA). Food and beverage glass containers represent ninety percent of recycled glass used to make new containers, tiles, counter tops, and wall insulation (EPA). Crushed glass called cullet is mixed with limestone, sand, and soda ash to make new glass products. Since cullet is a recycled raw material, energy is saved due to it melting at a lower temperature and emissions of nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide, which are both greenhouse gases are reduced (EPA). Recycled glass products manufactured with cullet “consumes 40 percent less energy than when made from raw materials” (L. West). Clear glass has the highest value for glass recycling (Jiang and Vo). Sorted color glass has an economic value as well and can produce fiberglass, abrasives, beads, match tips, and other products, which keeps the demand high (EPA). Glass manufacturers compete with aluminum and plastic manufacturers for customers, so reducing glass container production keeps them competitive for products such as wine which typically requires a glass container. Manufacturers constantly evaluate ways to reduce container weight. One ton of recycled glass “saves more than a ton of the raw materials needed to create new glass, including 1,300 pounds of sand, 410 pounds of soda ash, and 380 pounds of limestone” (L. West).
Recycling has many benefits. It saves money and energy, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, conserves natural resources, creates jobs, and protects the environment. Recycling is simple to do. Everyone can participate. Paper and glass are two of the simplest products to begin or continue to recycle.
- “Frequently Asked Questions: Benefits of Recycling.” Stanford: Buildings & Grounds Maintenance. Stanford University, 25 February 2011. Web. 09 December 2013. http://bgm.stanford.edu/pssi_faq_benefits
- “Glass.” Wastes – Resource Conservation – Common Wastes & Materials. United States Environmental Protection Agency, 17 June 2013. Web. 09 December 2013. http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/glass.htm
- “Paper Recycling.” Wastes – Resource Conservation – Common Wastes & Materials – Paper Recycling. United States Environmental Protection Agency, 17 June 2013. Web. 09 December 2013. http://www.epa.gov/solidwaste/conserve/materials/paper/index.htm
- “Recycling Awards.” Paperrecycles.org. Paper Recycles, 2013. Web. 09 December 2013. http://www.paperrecycles.org/recycling-awards
- West , Larry. “Benefits of Glass Recycling: Why Recycle Glass?.” About.com: Environmental Issues. About.com, 2013. Web. 09 December 2013. http://environment.about.com/od/recycling/a/benefits_of_glass_recycling.htm
