Waste Reduction, Or Waste Prevention

Group Thesis Statement: The alarming effects of consumer waste that pollutes the land, water and air will continue to rise and negatively impact numerous ecosystems on Earth if every human being doesn’t utilize the reduce, recycle, and recycle concept.

The EPA has a ‘Waste Management Hierarchy’ and it begins with reducing and reusing what we consume in order to reduce waste.

Background: Trash continues to increase, as the world continues to last. Easy disposable products such as water bottles and soda cans has led to increasing amount of pollution around the world.

Today’s day in age, we look around and see waste everywhere we go. Garbage trucks picking up waste, landfills over flowing, Green House gas Emissions entering our atmosphere. So much intelligence in the world, yet we still contribute to a large portion of waste that is destroying our planet. How can we decrease potential waste? As a planet we are ruining our ecosystem which keeps us able to live in a sustainable manner. We will be analyzing two articles one from The Washington Post and the other from NPR. In both articles we will discuss the issues having to do with food waste such as over production, environmental issues, and the waste of useable products.

The use of single-use products in our world today has created a problem with disposal. Everyday we use products, toss them aside, and forget about them. So

Plastic bottles are one of the most common litter issues. Plastic bottles litter the land and waters of Earth. More than half a billion bottles of water are purchased in the U.S. every week, this is enough to circle the globe five times. Oil is used to make plastic bottles and ship them across the world. Enough oil is used making plastic bottles each year to fuel one million cars. Then, eighty percent of the bottles end up in landfills where they sit for thousands of years. Some of the bottles we think are being recycled are actually just being shipped to other countries and thrown in their backyards (“The Story”). By reducing the amount of plastic bottles used, this would clean up our environment and preserve our Earth.

The author gives a historical analysis on the management of waste in the United States shifting from a historical description to an analysis of the general influence of political and economic forces that shape the way we manage waste today. Throughout most of history, recycling has primarily occurred as a result of a scarcity of material. This becomes clear in the first chapter where the author talks about how the availability of pulpwood and rags was extremely low due to war outcome, therefore the government called upon the citizens to supply old rags in exchange of other goods. These are the first steps of recycling in the United States. The author explains that first the word “recirculate” was used to describe the recirculation of water

Ever since elementary school, we’re taught to recycle. They usually do not tell us why it’s so important to recycle or what it does for the world, but they just say to recycle. So some adhere to what we’re told and others just pass it by as if it were nothing. Maybe if we were told why we should do it, more people would actually take the time out of their day and recycle. When we here the word “recycle,” we think of soda cans, water bottles, and plastic material, but what many don’t know is that there is much more than that we can recycle. Once people start to recycle, they realize it’s completely easy and becomes more of a habit. “In 1973, not a single curbside recycling program existed in the United States.

As people we often do not realize how much material that we use in our daily day basis can affect our environment especially plastic water bottle. Plastic water bottles have become a problem in our environment because according to my research “American discards about 33.6 million tons of plastic each year, but only 6.5% it is recycled and 7.7% is burned in waste to energy facilities, which create electricity or heat from the garbage (Cho, 2012)”. These plastic water bottles that Americans throw away each year are made with PET plastic which is 100% recyclable. The problem with these Plastic water bottles is that if people don 't recycle the majority end up in landfills. When these bottles are in landfills the average time that it takes for water bottles to break down is about 1000 years (O’Connor, 2011). The issues with these water bottles is that it takes a lot of time for them to decomposed and if these water bottles are continuing being dumped down in landfills, these water bottles are going to break into smaller fragments over time and they are going to absorb toxins that is going to pollute waterways and can contaminate our soil and make our animals sick as well (Schriever, 2013).

Today, many of us might know what recycling is and how good it is for the environment. It helps to protect our world and has a positive impact in our way of leaving. Pollution is one of the most concerning problems in our society because of the huge amount of waste produced every day. Recycling is a simple and cheap solution with an enormous impact in the reduction of pollution, using as an example the incineration of materials such as aluminum that releases toxic gases into to the atmosphere. “The recycling of aluminum saves over 95% of the energy needed to produce aluminum from bauxite ore and results in substantially less pollution of air and water” (Hill, 1977). Not incinerating every single

As industry has evolved, the creation and disposal of waste has become a significant issue. People generate waste simply by going through their everyday activities, and almost anything from food, clothes, and textbooks can eventually become waste. With the world rapidly moving towards urbanization and the population growing at an exponential rate, it is understandable that the amount of waste being generated daily is on the rise (Hoornweg, 2012). The shear amount of waste being generated makes it difficult to dispose of without any severe environmental consequences. Last year an estimated 1.4 billion tons of municipal solid waste was generated, an amount that

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When taught of recycling, the biggest positive of the matter is that it saves energy. Energy is the resources it takes to create a new product. In the article "Wastes - Frequent Questions," the EPA, the United States Environmental Protection Agency,

We, humans, are producing waste every day, polluting and destroying our planet. To save the world, many people believe recycling is the obvious solution. It is the process of converting certain waste into a reusable material. Therefore, the recycle motto is “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle”. However, have you ever wondered why the word recycle is placed at the end? Well, it’s because it is not the only way to reduce waste and save the world from global warming. Recycling may have many advantages, but its disadvantages’ list is not a short one either. Recycling may look very simple and easy method, but when there is a need for a new unit of waste recycling, it takes up a lot of space. Not to mention the amount of money the building costs along with paying the staffs, buying new utility vehicles, upgrading the recycling unit and different types of chemical disposals. It is not only expensive but also, unhygienic, unsafe and unsightly with piles of waste materials on every location. These wastes spread infectious diseases putting human health at risk. Aside from recycling

Recycle containers: In almost all households, plastic, tin, and cardboard make up a significant amount of waste. These items can easily be separated and repurposed without much effort. In fact, plastic cups can be reused in the home for pouring water, holding spices and detergent, growing plants and for other general activities in the garden.