How Big of an Impact Does Recycling Make on the Environment?
By Bobbi Peterson
Everyone knows recycling is good for the environment.
However, it’s debatable how good it can actually be.
Changing situations have caused the cost of recycling to change
and increased the volume of resources that are put into it.
On average, Americans produce about 254
million tons of trash. That’s a lot to find room for. There’s simply nowhere to put it all.
However, of that, about 87
million tons are recycled. This cuts down significantly on the trash headed
straight for landfill and helps cut down on carbon emissions. The EPA
determined that recycling accomplished a goal similar to taking 39 million cars
off the roads in 2013. That’s a pretty amazing impact!
Each of the recyclable
materials is processed in a different way, and some new developments are
starting to slow the process down.
Aluminum
Aluminum cans are easily
the most recycled material. It makes sense since they’re one of the first
things that were accepted for recycling. They’re easy to recycle, are accepted
everywhere, and they have one of the highest values as recycling material. They
also provide the highest profit margin to the company that’s doing the
recycling. Since costs are continuing to increase, that profit margin is
important.
Glass
Glass has been used for centuries, but is one of the
more difficult options to recycle. Glass is heavy, needs to be rinsed, and it’s
fairly difficult to reprocess. If you don’t throw away an abundance of glass,
and most people don’t, this is one item that you can send to the landfill. It’s
not ideal, but in this case, it is the better option.
Wood
Wood is less accepted for
recycling. Each township and borough have their own rules on where and how to
recycle, so it’s important to educate yourself before you jump in, no holds
barred.
If you live in an area where wood recycling either isn’t done or
is very inconvenient, it’s great for compost as well. Otherwise, most untreated
wood is likely to be recyclable.
Just don’t hold out too much hope for treated wood, as that’s more difficult to
reuse. Companies can’t risk people burning treated wood, so they often just
don’t accept it.
Paper
Paper is, again, one of
the easier recycling options. Junk mail can almost always be tossed, as can
important papers, once they’re scanned into your computer and shredded. Just
don’t depend solely on the computer – back it up!
One of the reasons paper is such a useful recycling option is
that it just gets turned right back into more paper. It gets sorted, processed,
cleaned and reformed. It does take some work, but it’s significantly less than
chopping down entire trees.
However, that process does
do some damage. Paper can’t be recycled indefinitely.
Ever wonder why newspapers and printer paper feel so different? It’s partly
because newspaper has been recycled multiple times.
After about six or seven times of being reused, the old paper
needs some help. At that point, some new paper pulp will be added to strengthen
it.
Plastic
Plastic is recycled almost
as much as aluminum. However, a lot of people seem to think plastic means any
kind of plastic, including those plastic bags you get at the grocery store.
This actually isn’t the case, and adding too many plastic bags
to a recycling container can force the company to trash the whole thing. Keep
those bags separate and drop them off at the grocery store instead.
As far as other plastics
go, you’ll have to check and see which ones are accepted in your community –
or, just skip it. Plastic is one of the least effective recyclable materials.
That’s too bad since it sticks around forever,
but you might be increasing your carbon footprint by rinsing it out. Instead,
just try to avoid buying plastic items in the first place.
Problems with
Recycling
Recycling is not as
lucrative as it used to be. Part of the problem is the increase in recyclables,
and communities trying to encourage it.
It sounds counterintuitive, but by providing residents with
larger recycling bins, they’re increasing the amount of nonrecyclable trash
people are tossing.
Now that everything can fit into one bin, people aren’t
separating anything. In some places that might not matter so much, depending on
the method of collection, but the trash definitely does.
For some items, recycling
simply costs more than the landfill or incinerator. It’s a challenge, and the
profits have been steadily falling.
So if you can’t recycle everything, it really is OK. Just start
being a little choosier about what you put out for it and you’ll help more than
you hurt. Recycling is worth it, so long as we pay attention to what we’re
doing.
Bobbi Peterson loves writing
and regularly posts on her blog Living Life Green.
She’s also a freelance writer, green living advocate, and environmentalist. You
can find more from Bobbi on Twitter.