Politicians don’t dare address it; it goes against everything we have been taught since kindergarten, and I’m sure you will be surprised to learn that recycling actually harms our sacred earth.
Editor of Machine Design Magazine, Leland Teschler, asserts in a July 13, 2006 issue, “Some people buy hybrid cars to save energy. As for me, I do my part by not recycling paper, glass, or plastic.” Like oh-so-many things that we are told, recycling sounds vaguely plausible. Save the environment, right? Wrong.
We rarely question the act of recycling, but perhaps we should question this ‘golden rule.’ While this may seem like a foreign concept and a huge paradigm shift, we must forget popular slogans such as “Reduce, reuse and recycle,” which have been drilled into the heads of Americans.
To make things clear, I am an environmentalist, or, as I like to call myself: a select recycler. Therefore, it is imperative to stop recycling paper, glass and plastic.
We are a wicked throwaway society, but let us first start by debunking our kindergarten recycling knowledge. Ask any American and they will tell you we are running out of landfill space. This statement is not true. Economist Roy Cordato explains that all the solid waste for the next thousand years would fit into 0.1 percent of U.S. landspace, (44 miles long, 44 miles wide and 120 feet deep ).
Not only should we not worry about landfill space, but we need to stop sweating about cutting down trees for paper. Save the rainforest! Recycle paper! Not quite…nearly all of the trees cut down for paper come from tree farms, which are specifically grown for paper production. Contrary to what television broadcasts report, Yosemite is not being cut down to print the Sunday funnies.
America has more trees now than it did one hundred years ago. Temperate forests in North America, Europe and Russia have actually been expanding over the past 40 years. And those who think fast food is wasteful will be surprised to learn that a typical McDonalds discards less than two ounces of garbage for each customer served, which is less than what’s generated by a typical meal at home.
In general, recycling is more expensive than sending garbage to a landfill, with the exception of aluminum. As the former Environmental Protection Agency official J. Winston Porter admitted, “Trash management is becoming much more costly due to the generally high cost of recycling.” Handling recyclables through curbside pickup costs 55 percent more than simple disposal, because it consumes huge amounts of capital and labor per pound of recycled material.
Children are told in school that recycling will reduce pollution, but actually, the entire recycling process generates a great deal of pollution—not to mention the pollution caused by trash incinerators or compactors.
In an effort to save paper, we are encouraged to pollute the atmosphere and waste gas and other fossil fuels to take the paper to a farther recycling center than the local city dump. Cordato explains that recycling paper and newspapers requires old ink to be bleached from the pages. This is a chemically intensive process that generates large amounts of toxic waste as in contrast to simply throwing the paper away.
Also, curbside recycling programs require more trash pickups per week, which means that there are more trucks on the road to generate more air pollution. Cordato goes on to explain that due to mandatory recycling, New York City had to add two additional pickups per week and Los Angeles has had to double its fleet of trash trucks.
Recycling will become a reality only when it becomes cost effective. Until then, it is a “feel good” activity that actually has no environmental or economic benefit and may actually harm the environment.
Recycling is garbage, but the phrase ‘anti-recycling’ can be misleading. Paper and plastic are two items which should not be recycled. Aluminum and tin, on the other hand, can be easily reproduced and put back on the shelf in 60 days, reports the Machine News. You should still collect and organize aluminum and tin to be recycled. Local grocery stores normally have bins inside or outside recycling bins, so when you head to the grocery stores, take the recyclables with you to save gas.
As Americans, if we continue to simply throw away our trash, scientists will be pressured to continually discover alternative ways to rid our earth of trash. Although we are choosing to forget about the third “r,” recycle, it is imperative to keep in mind the first two: reduce and reuse. The best way of dealing with waste is to reduce it or don’t make it in the first place. Use Nalgenes for water instead of producing endless plastic bottles, and use coffee mugs instead of paper or Styrofoam cups. Reusing is also an important concept to keep in mind: methods include reusing items such as cars, clothes and reusable grocery tote bags. It is important to recycle your electronics for chemical and environmental reasons. In order to find an electronic recycling plant near you, refer to electronicsrecycling.com.
Now that we have become informed about the harms and significant effects of recycling, you yourself can become a select recycler. Recyclers are not better citizens; they are ill-informed.