Arizona Recycling Benefits

Recycling has been the environmental crusade to reducing the human footprint, with it’s spotlight shining down on in recent years. It was the noblest of causes, recycling being a great idea for the environment and society; but it is being handled poorly. Its modern descendant has turned into a corporate scheme with recycling becoming a business, instead of being about the environment because marketers are using environmentalism as a excuse for overconsumption, recycling products are only being recycled for profit, and cities & big business use inflated numbers to attain media attention. Let’s now take a look at the bread and butter of

Overall, recycling plastic benefits the environment, the economy and the future of America. Although there are flaws to recycling plastic such as the sorting step overlooking additives and the washing step leaving some impurities, technological advances and more labor will be needed to fix those drawbacks in order to conserve the environment. Therefore, the U. S government should mandate recycling so that the recycling rate increase. Through this action, America will gain the benefits of recycling plastic. In addition, Americans should recycle specific types of plastic such as PET and HDPE as those two are the most commonly accepted by recycling programs. This will be strenuous upon Americans because they will have to do more work however,

Recycling is the process of making new products from a product that has originally served its purpose. The process of recycling starts when used products are disposed in an appropriate, environmentally friendly way. Items made from materials such as paper, tin cans, aluminum cans, plastic water bottles, and glass, which people use in everyday life, can be separated from regular trash and put in an appropriate recycling bin. The United States now realizes the importance of recycling. However, many ignorant people still think separating recyclables requires too much work. Requiring mandatory recycling would prod these individuals into action. Lack of recycling leads to dramatic consequences such as polluting the environment and raising the number of landfills. Delay is critical; time plays a significant role in waste management. The sooner American communities recycle properly the better it will be for the environment and our surroundings. People need to become conscious and take responsibility as a society to protect the earth, keep it clean and beautiful, and preserve the natural resources. The United States can achieve this goal by implementing mandatory recycling.

Recycling and composing initiatives should be adopted and put into practice in communities throughout the United States. Recycling helps improve the enviorment we live in.By recycling we can make the enviorment a much neater place. In fact recycling can help save money.

Imagine walking through the streets of the city that you love and grew up in. It is filled with beautiful scenery, buildings, and has a rich history with many memories attached. The only problem is, there are plastic bottles lining the streets. Since plastic is not biodegradable, this could potentially be everyone's future if changes are not made now. Many states in America have implemented bottle bills, but there are also many states that have decided to not be a part of the bottle bill trend. Every state in America should implement a bottle bill to improve the economy and the environment.

(Ban the Bottle, 2014) In the previous year, the average American used approximately 167 disposable water bottles but only recycled 38. (Ban the Bottle, 2014) Statistics collected by the Health Research Funding organization illustrate that only 1 in 5 water bottles are recycled while the other four contribute to the 3 billion pounds of waste from plastic water bottles. (HRF, 2014) Depending on the size and volume, the cost of bottled water usually covers packaging, advertising, shipping and administrative processes. (HRF, 2014) If an individual purchases water bottles often, the cost accumulates and mass waste is produced but if one were to purchase a reusable bottle, hundreds of dollars can be saved in a year while also keeping the landfills and waste bins clear of plastic bottles and caps. (Ban the Bottle,

The facility would contain an office area for the Sustainability Supervisor, a paid employee of Mercer University who would be responsible for the recycling and sustainability efforts at Mercer University. They would oversee interns responsible for maintaining and updating the website as well as student workers who would sort recyclable materials. It would be outfitted with three computers, office furniture, and a solar compactor. Collected recyclables would be taken to that facility to be sorted, compacted and housed. With the creation of a sustainability office, we would be able to increase the amount of recyclable waste that could be stored on campus and simply take the material to Atlanta, directly, after it was capable of filling the truck. This would decrease the amount of trips taken downtown to the Macon recycling center and increase Mercer’s independence in the sustainability movement.

You can’t walk across a college campus, past an office building, or through a park without seeing one, two, or ten empty bottles. Many are plastic water bottles. Trash bins overflow them. Those water bottles are a problem. Why? Because only one out of five bottles actually makes it to a recycling bin. Plastic bottles take centuries to decompose and if they are incinerated, toxic byproducts, such as chlorine gas and ash containing heavy metals, are releasing into the atmosphere. The rest are littered on our streets or over filing our landfills. They degrade our landscape and damage our environment. In addition the plastic water bottles are not biodegradable that is, they don’t decay. They remain as trash a hundreds of years.

A reason that recycling should not be apart of everyday american society is that over the years it has been costly and it has been causing more pollution by sending trucks to collect the recycling then the recycling process itself. Data shows

Each Friday, my family takes out their trash to be picked up and hauled off to who knows where, and every other week the same goes for our recyclables. But how much is truly recycled, and how do we fare against other countries? We, as Americans, should learn from across the pond and recycle more of our waste instead of throwing it away to a landfill.

Many states such as Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa and New York have established incentives for those who recycle. For those people who choose to recycle they are awarded a deposit or a refund on any type of plastic or aluminum bottles. This is law is known as a Bottle bill or container deposit law. Most states refund five cents per can or bottle, but some can refund up to10 cents. The amount of the refund depends on the recycle price on the container. On some soda cans you can receive between 5 and 10 cents for every can the

The water bottle industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the United States. This being said, our landfills are filled with more than eighty five percent of plastic bottles. Their long lifetime and thoughtless consumers are not only filing our dumps with these plastic bottles, but hurting our oceans too. Since water bottles do not biodegrade, they can float aimlessly on the ocean surface for years. They also may cause a passing predator to be fooled into thinking it is a resting prey. Little did that predator know, they were going to have a serious stomach ache trying to digest a plastic bottle. It also pollutes the soil and waterways as well. Besides the space water bottles physically fill, their production waste is just as dire. In America alone, we use about seventeen

Refillable water bottles may seem expensive, but in the long run it will be much cheaper. “On average, Americans spend about $5 a week on bottled water, this means you can save $260 per year by switching to a reusable water bottle” (Speer par. 5). This statistic shows just how much the average American (the world wide statistic was not available) can save yearly, let alone in a lifetime. This statistic also does not include the average money a year a person spends on soda pop, tea, coffee, or other drinks that could be put into the refillable bottle if they are bought in bulk. Many people say they do not have money to buy a nice refillable water bottle, but most people do have the money it would take to buy an eight dollar Contigo refillable bottle from Walmart that would do the job. Up to one fifth of Americans have tap water that is not drinkable (Karp par. 1). However, there are refillable water bottles with filters. Refillable water bottles with filters may be more expensive, but it is easy to find a cheap one at Walmart. For example someone could buy a ten dollar Brita filter water bottle. Investing in a refillable bottle will already save someone money after one month of use.

I work as a recycling attendant at a recycling center in Northridge, California and have been working there for the past nine months. We recycle plastic bottles (e.g. Juice bottles, milk jugs, orange juice jugs, etc.), aluminum cans (e.g. soda cans, beer cans, etc.) and glass bottles (beer bottles, soda bottles, wine bottles, alcohol bottles, etc.). In the state of California, consumer are required to pay a 5 cents or a 10 cent tax for some of these products, depending on the size of the bottle (< 24 oz. is 5 cents; >24 oz. is 10 cents). This tax is known as the California Refund Value (CRV), which is also referred to as California redemption Value or California Cash Refund. For each bottle that carries a CRV, one of these phrases will be printed on the label so consumers know that it requires them to pay the CRV. This tax is called California Refund Value because when they buy the product in the stores and pay the

A worker at a paper factory in Illinois states, “Then the issue was saving a tree. But trees are replaced. We plant them, we cut them, we plant them again” (Pendleton). The worker also said, “The problem now is the landfill situation, I think this one is going to stick” (Pendleton). By 1991 thirty-nine states and hundreds of local governments have passed laws or solutions requiring the purchase of recycled paper. According to Henry Miller, vice president of a paper mill said, “By volume, thirty-eight percent of solid waste in a landfill is paper and cardboard” (Pendleton). That paper and cardboard, if recycled could have produced that much paper or other products and it would have cleared up thirty-eight percent of many landfills across America. One major way to get people involved with recycling is the environment perspective. Not only would the landfills be cut down the environment gains a lot by having people recycle. So what do the states do to keep the environment clean? They enact laws against litter and waste. One way is the state requiring the deposit on beer and soft-drink bottles and cans (Prichard 8A). In those states, millions of bottles and cans that once were left on beaches, tossed in rivers and parks or thrown along the highways are being taken back to stores instead for a refund. A twenty-year old student from Michigan said, “Throwing away cans is like throwing away money to me” (Prichard 8A). These state laws must be working if people have this