Is recycling really worth the effort?
Answer:
The myth of the recycled product taking longer to breakdown is untrue. It takes longer for two items to break down than for one item that has been used twice to break down. Recycling helps cut back on the virgin materials we are using, which means less cutting of the rainforest and less mining for metals/etc. It also means less wasting of oil since plastics are made from petroleum (oil) and the recycling reclaims and reuses that oil. It is cheaper for a city to sell it's recyclables to companies willing to reclaim the materials than it is for the city to burn it or landfill it.
I think recycling is worthless.. at least to me.. i say jus throw it all in a bag and then the trash man come get it lol. its outta your way so it shouldnt matter. BUT i do recylce pop cans lol you can make money back from that! lol.. jus my opinion
Yes it is worth the effort, but you don't have to go hippie over night when you recycle. Taking old newspapers to be recycled is one of the best things your can do for the environment and it doesn't mess up landfills like you are worried about. Glass and most plastics are the same way but take a little more effort on your part because you should rinse them out first.
Recycling doesn't mean taking everything to a recycling center either. Some times it just a simple thing of using something more than once. You know those plastic grocery bags make great lunch bags and garbage bags.
Good luck
you bet its worth it. I feel great knowing that i am helping by getting my children involved and teaching them how to recycle and what products are biodegradable so they have the knowledge for there generation. We recycle are pop cans and take that directly to the scrap yard. the money we earn is used for a special treat. i have 5 recycling cans and they are full every week. I cut my trash to 1 can for a family of 8. If everyone did their part it really would make a difference
I have never heard what you are saying about recycled products being harder to biodegrade. Never the less, they have been recycled in the first place and that counts if that is true, right?
I would say continue to recycle because what you don't ends up at the dump taking up space.
I think you should because if you dont want the earth to flood because of global warming . and if you do start recycling start with cans and paper and turn off lights when you dont need them or aren't in the room. use compact fluorescent light bulbs to save you energy on your energy bill use your car less often and ride a bike or walk to save pollution and when you save cans and take them to a recycling facility you can make cash
It is worth it! I asked my mother to start recycling 2 weeks ago and we have already cut down on how much garbage we have! Instead of 5 bags we only have 3! That's less that ends up in a landfill! You can always use glass products over again and even use them as vases it would make for something interesting!
YES, I believe that re-cycling is worth it. We must do everything we possibly can to save the earth.. at the rate that we are destroying mother earth, like I said, we must do all we can do to save it, and I feel so helpless in the matter but what can I do?? Re-cycling is all I know how to do help in the matter. Please we have to all pitch in to help...Please!!
Don't recycle. But you're not going to like the rest of my answer.
The obvious solution is to quit consuming stuff that needs to be recycled. There is no law saying we have to buy all that junk--soda in aluminum cans, silly gewgaws swaddled inside tons of packaging, etc. Drink sodas at the fountain, and water from the tap at home. Buy things you think you 'need' at secondhand stores and yard sales. Weigh your throwaways--your garbage--every week, and resolve to lighten the load on a monthly average basis.
Learn how to reduce your consumption footprint so that you don't buy unnecessary packaging and waste limited resources, and you won't need to recycle at all. Which, as you said, not necessarily the best thing.
I think it is generally worth the effort although I am sure that there are many situations where it is more costly to use recycled material than start with virgin material. Increased cost may be something we have to accept for sustainable living.
Yes, yes, and yes! I get so disappointed with folks who think it is too much trouble to recycle. It only takes a few seconds to rinse out a can or glass jar or soda can and throw it in your recycle box. Your city does have recycle boxes don't they? Of not, why don't you get them to start this worthy project. You truly have to think about the future of this world. If you think about it with a truthful heart, you will enjoy recycling.
This is the first time I read anything negative about recycling (other than some people being too busy to wash out the bottles, etc.). It never occurred to me that they would make something out of recycled products that would be less biodegradable than the originals.
I, personally, buy recycled notebooks, paper products, and anything else that isn't too expensive because of the labor it took to recycle it. I give things I don't need to people who could use them or thrift stores. I buy at yard sales and thrift stores when possible. My computer was made for me by my son, out of pieces he found out with the trash (and some from friends who were getting rid of old computers). I always passed down my children's clothing to other children--and accepted others passed-down clothing.
As for the bottles, cans, newspapers, etc. if we don't recycle we will run out of space in the dumpsites. It is bad to use styrofoam products and disposable diapers--as they are not biodegradable. We are polluting the earth with all of our trash--that's reason enough for me.
if people want to make a real difference they would reduce their waste and recycling would be a last resort...living simply, using reusable items these should be first...buying less packaged items, composting, makeing things from scratch.
Well think about it, something gets melted and used over and over. Popcans for instance can be recycled just about indefinitely.
Ever get beer from a beer store and take the empties back? Those get reused something like up to 18 times, then get recycled.
There's no reason not to. Even if it did take longer to biodegrade than the original, if you put 100 times more of the original in the garbage instead of recycling, it's still 100 times worse than if you stick it in the recycling and it gets recycled 100 times.
Besides recycling is simple. You can use one or 2 bins, I prefer 2. Put paper in one, plastics and metallics in the other. Couldn't be simpler.
I think it is.
Every time we make the effort it reminds of us of the problem...maybe that thought will stay in our minds as we make other choices during the day - like turn off the water and lights, etc.
Yes, recycling is worth the effort. Rest assured that "the good really does outweigh the bad." Recycling is one of the best things you can do to reduce your impact on the environment.
Firstly, garbage doesn't take longer to biodegrade when you recycle it than just throw it away. Most garbage ends up in landfills, where it takes a LONG time to biodegrade. It can take up to 100 years for an aluminum can to decompose.
Also, it takes much less energy to recycle something than to produce it in the first place. For an aluminum can, you can recycle 20 aluminum cans for the same amount of energy it takes to produce 1 from scratch.
I can give you facts like this all day long, but the point is: it's easy to recycle. Educate yourself on what can and cannot be recycled, and do it. Simple.
I have been recycling since I was ten years old. Aside from the ecological benefits to the planet, I used the money I received for my recyclables to buy my first 2 bicycles, 2 motorcycles, 2 snowmobiles, and 2 cars. Now that I am in a better financial position, I give (not sell) my scrap metals to a junk man who is struggling to make a living. I benefit from this because it makes me feel good to help someone else. So yes, for me the good definitely outweighs the bad.
Recycling does two things it protects the environment by reducing the need for new materials and it provides jobs. When you look at the benefits it far outweighs any small effort on your part to participate. The more we recycle the better off we will all be!
In urban areas, the more you recycle the less garbate you have to transport for miles and miles to the landfills. Plus, if you recycle metals or glass that means you are using less of the materials that have to be mined and you save energy there too as well as recycling the materials.
This is poorly worded, but the savings from recycling go beyond just the recycling itself.
I just read an old article in National Geographic on Recycling.
In 1970 Julie Lewis had a dream about recycling and today her dream is living. She founded a company called DejaShoe. Her shoes are selling from her Portland, Oregon firm for $40-$70 a pair and she ships 100,000 pairs annually. These shoes are made of cotton-canvas fabric rewoven from texitile scraps. The foam padding was designed to cushion chairs, Factory-reject coffee filters and file folders go into the insoles and recycled grocery bags, tire rubber, and plastic trimmings left over from the manufacture of disposable diapers is what goes into her shoes. When the shoes wear out send them back to Deja to be recycled again. This is one of the examples in this article that shows it pays to recycle. More companies are buying recycled materials for their products. The article was dated July 1994 Vol 186, No.1. If you want more info on this article maybe the library still can acess the National Geographic magazine for you. All things do not have to go into the ground after being recycled only once. They can be recycled many times over. This was the best article on Recycling I ever read and it gave the pros and cons, facts and figures. It does pay to recycle.
Yes
of course! if there is a flood and a shortage o something,it is a need
Definitely.
Did you know that fleece jackets include recycled plastic pop bottles in them?
I personally don't think that recycling is bad for you. To me, I know that I am doing something good for this planet. You have to make up your own mind about what is good about recycling and what is not. For me, I know that the majority of the products that I buy are made from recycled plastic and cans and paper. I know that at the hospital that I work at, some of the plastic instruments are made out of recycled plastic. I mean, you have to make up your mind yourself. Is it worth recycling? Yes, to me it is. If it means that you are able to be a part of saving this planet and the lives that are on it, then yes, it is worth it.
Oh yes, everyone should join their local freecycle group and recycle all they can!
http://freecycle.org/display.php?region=...
Freecycle - Changing the world one gift at a time!
Best answer = yes. This shouldn't take a lot of convincing. Do you need reasons why people shouldn't smoke too?
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