Rachel’s blog post caught my attention because recycling is
a program that should be utilized by everyone. There are no downsides to putting
something that is recyclable in your recycling bin instead of the garbage can. Unfortunately,
after all these years and effort, we continue to waste recyclable items and
fill up landfills when we could do so much more. It is crazy to think how much
space in landfills could be saved and how much of our pollution could be cut
down by changing our habits of simply throwing everything away. In the attached
article from ABC News, the author takes a deeper dive into the recycling
industry and what actually happens to items that we contribute to be recycled. Recycling
is market-driven, and the industry must have somewhere to take the items and if
there is nowhere to go, the materials become trash and sent to the landfill. Additionally,
if there is a contaminant that cannot be recycled such as batteries or food
items, the entire load is often considered contaminated and the process stops
there. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, our recyclable items are not actually
recycled sometimes due to factors out of our control and sometimes due to
reasons that we don’t even think about. Still, it is important to be educated
about recycling programs and recycle as much as we can because that is something
we can control. This is one of our best ways to ensure that pollution is cut down
and our resources are maximized.
No comments:
Post a Comment