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Why Should I Even Recycle?

Decent Essays

“Why should I even recycle?”, is far too common of a statement is the 21st century. As a culture we have industrialized our lives, and with this industrialization we have created a lot of waste. During the 20th century, people were too excited about the innovation of paper plates and plastic utensils that they did not stop to think, “I wonder if this is okay for our environment?” Well, after years of society promoting convenience instead of sustainability, we have produced a mass amount of waste. The amount of trash produced in the world yearly has been tripled since 1960. I think some people forget that matter can not be created nor destroyed, and a styrofoam cup can take millions of years to decompose. Humans of our modern society throw their garbage away as if it disappears once it hits the can. Yet, that is not the case at all. Trash is merely relocated to be rejoined with more trash. These massive piles of waste sit at dumps for years hardly beginning to decompose because of the environment they are immersed in. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is an ocean gyre containing vast amounts of debris, and it is estimated to be the size of the continental U.S.. Americans produce trash at about 4.6 pounds a day per person. Some recycling is picked out from landfills, but most is left to be dealt with by other processes. Trash that is not recycled, composted, or burned is buried in landfills. The process of decomposition of trash in landfills takes hundreds of years to complete.

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