Recycling Isn’t Enough According to the article "Recycling" in opposing viewpoints, recycling is the process of recovering, reprocessing, and reusing waste materials that would otherwise be discarded (Gale 1). We recycle for many reasons, one being to conserve resources and money, another being to try and reduce our carbon footprint but is it enough. According to an article entitled “Numbers”, 1,643 Pounds of trash generated per person in the U.S. in 2005, the most recent year for which data are available (1). Some 32% of this waste was recycled, a rate that has doubled in the past 15 years (“Numbers” 1). Recycling alone can 't hope to ebb the continuing and ever-flowing stream of waste that is produced every day. This is because of four
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In the book “Earth Right” by Patricia H. Hynes, she states that some environmentalists contend that 70 to 90 percent of our waste can be reused and recycled (41). This seems like it is a high percentage, but when you think of the tons of garbage that represent the remaining percentage, it still leaves a lot of garbage that needs to be dealt with. According to the article “Recycling” in the Environmental Encyclopedia, the volume of solid waste generated in the United States has continued to increase, along with the cost of building landfills and incineration facilities (1). So this means every year the amount of recyclable garbage and the amount left over changes, still creating tons more to deal with either way. Furthermore, Themelis says, no recycling process is 100 percent. (Humes 261). Which can be said about most processes. There is always 10 to 15 percent residue left behind that can 't be recycled (Humes 261). This fact makes recycling a less attractive and efficient disposal …show more content…
According to the article “Is Recycling Worth It” by Alex Hutchinson, recycling economics are fundamentally local, since hauling and tipping fees — paid to trucking operations and processing facilities that handle waste — vary from about $24 per ton in the south central and west central regions of the U.S., to more than $70 in the Northeast, according to the most recent figures from the National Solid Wastes Management Association (NSWMA) (3). These figures are unassuming at first, but they start to accumulate over time. The higher price demonstrates the difficult economics of recycling, which is one big reason why there is such a big disparity between what could be recycled and what actually is recycled (Humes 2011). Price is a huge contributing factor when considering any endeavor and recycling is no
In the book “Earth Right” by Patricia H. Hynes, she states that some environmentalists contend that 70 to 90 percent of our waste can be reused and recycled (41). This seems like it is a high percentage, but when you think of the tons of garbage that represent the remaining percentage, it still leaves a lot of garbage that needs to be dealt with. According to the article “Recycling” in the Environmental Encyclopedia, the volume of solid waste generated in the United States has continued to increase, along with the cost of building landfills and incineration facilities (1). So this means every year the amount of recyclable garbage and the amount left over changes, still creating tons more to deal with either way. Furthermore, Themelis says, no recycling process is 100 percent. (Humes 261). Which can be said about most processes. There is always 10 to 15 percent residue left behind that can 't be recycled (Humes 261). This fact makes recycling a less attractive and efficient disposal …show more content…
According to the article “Is Recycling Worth It” by Alex Hutchinson, recycling economics are fundamentally local, since hauling and tipping fees — paid to trucking operations and processing facilities that handle waste — vary from about $24 per ton in the south central and west central regions of the U.S., to more than $70 in the Northeast, according to the most recent figures from the National Solid Wastes Management Association (NSWMA) (3). These figures are unassuming at first, but they start to accumulate over time. The higher price demonstrates the difficult economics of recycling, which is one big reason why there is such a big disparity between what could be recycled and what actually is recycled (Humes 2011). Price is a huge contributing factor when considering any endeavor and recycling is no