- Papers, Glasses, Metals, and Plastics are daily used materials that can be recycled.
- Recyclings make the environment cleaner, moderate global warming, reduce energy consumption, minimize pollution and raise awareness of nature degradation.
- An expensive and often unhygienic organized recycling center might not be the ultimate game changer as the method reduces the quality of goods and might excrete harmful pollutants.
As you’re reading this line, tons of waste is being dumped at the landfill site. This year already, we have created almost 300 million tons of waste, and the worst part is it’s growing every second, and we have no control.
Recycling is one of the Three R’s of the Waste Hierarchy – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Recycling is a process of hope that we can better manage our waste. Technically, recycling involves converting used materials and solid wastes into usable products.
Today, waste management is an alarming issue. If not dealt with shortly, this issue can worsen significantly over time, causing severe global problems. Now let’s discuss if recycling is a good initiative or just a gentle pat on the back for false hope.
Table of Contents
Recyclable Materials
Paper: Paper waste, such as newspapers, books, magazines, notebooks, and cardboard boxes, are recyclable.
Glass: Glass products like broken glasses, glass cutlery, wine bottles, and beer bottles are recyclable. Recycled glass can be used again to make new glass containers and cups.
Metals: Metal products that can be recycled are aluminum cans such as spray cans, paint cans, soda cans, and fruit cans.
Plastic: Plastic is not very recyclable. The only types of easily recyclable plastics are PETE (Polyethylene Terephthalate) and HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene). PETE is in bottles, food packaging, textiles, and clothes, while HDPE is in plastic stationery, benches, roadside curbs, toiletry packaging containers, and tables.
Recycling has become a global trend and a necessary practice for a sustainable and waste-free world. Although it seems like a good deed that might compensate for the damage we’ve done to our planet, recycling also comes with a heavy load of cons. So, are we making our environment cleaner or more polluted than ever to save the world?
Pros of Recycling
Pro 1. Environmental Benefits
Recycling, in simple words, means reusing waste in different ways. As a result, there is less demand for the manufacturing of new products, and thus, there is less use of resources and less waste.
Recycling paper products also encourages afforestation and discourages deforestation. For example, the Amazon forest is demolished in huge magnitudes to manufacture paper products. So, there’s a severe threat to the environment right now.
Preserving the forest reduces the risk of natural disasters like landslides and floods while improving air quality. Forests also provide shelter and nourishment to wild animals and birds.
Pro 2. Moderates Global Warming
The modern world is the age of global warming. The earth’s inclining temperature is melting the sea ice and glaciers, shifting the usual precipitation patterns, and changing the entire ecosystem of the world.
If the industries and manufacturing companies recycle non-biodegradable wastes, these actions reduce greenhouse gases generated by their factories and plants. Additionally, if we opt to use reusable energy sources like solar power or wind energy, it minimizes the use of fossil fuels. Minimal use of fossil fuels helps emit a high amount of carbon and other harmful gases.
Pro 3. Reduces Energy Consumption
If you choose to manufacture the raw materials into new and usable products, they must go through several processes like mining, extraction, transportation, and assembling. This process involves an enormous amount of resources, energy, and effort.
Instead, if you choose to recycle waste materials, it remarkably minimizes the use of energy consumption and increases efficiency. It preserves natural resources like wood, minerals, and water for future usage, ensuring sustainability. The energy saved is vital for saving money and creating further job opportunities.
Pro 4. Minimizes Waste Products and Reduces pollution
Another significant concern is the waste management of non-biodegradable products. Solid waste takes an extended amount of time to decompose. When these waste materials are left to rot in landfills or burned in incinerators, they leach harmful chemicals and contaminate the land, air, and water. Also, industrial waste pollutes the environment and creates litter.
However, if you recycle these waste materials, you can transform the trash into fresh products. Instead of manufacturing these products from scratch, recycling them helps to reduce the possibility of littering and overflow of rubbish. It also promotes proper and responsible waste management and stops traditional disposable methods.
Pro 5. Environmental Consciousness
The concept of recycling is simply revolutionary. It is a gateway to ecological activism to help preserve the planet’s resources for future generations. When people become familiar with the concept of recycling, they gain more eco-consciousness and thus, might participate in other eco-friendly activities.
Even small-scale movements like composting, solar energy consumption, and cut-short of single-use plastics will encourage people to adopt an environment-friendly approach and a green lifestyle to halt the consequences of environmental impacts caused by pollution.
Cons of Recycling
Con 1. Not So Cost-Effective
Recycling is not quite affordable. The initial cost of establishing a recycling protocol requires a significant investment. The price includes renting space, waste materials collection, recycling units, heavy machinery, and utility vehicles.
Most critics also argue that the cost of recycling actually outweighs its benefits. The majority of people can not afford to operate recycling initiatives. Generally, the space for landfills is far less costly, making landfill waste disposal much cheaper than recycling. The costs also depend on the materials, so many choose not to recycle plastics or glasses.
Con 2. Reduces Quality of the Products
While recycling has tons of environmental benefits, the products manufactured from recycled waste may not guarantee quality products. In addition to that, not every recycled item is safe to use. Recycling paper requires bleaching. Bleach contains toxic chemicals that are harmful to the environment and human health.
Recycled products also do not stand up in terms of quality and durability compared to new products. The materials used for recycling are often worn out and fragile and are most likely to get worse over time.
Con 3. Recycling Sites Are Unhygienic and Unhealthy
The process of recycling involves transforming solid waste into new goods, which means the recycling sites hold debris of unhealthy and unhygienic waste. These piles of trash are a source of infectious diseases and bacteria that are hazardous to humans.
The entire recycling process also poses significant health risks for those responsible for recycling these products. Also, if any of this waste comes into contact with water bodies, it contaminates these resources.
Con 4. Might Result in Harmful Pollutants
Most critics argue that the highly regarded environmental benefits of recycling are utterly overrated. While it gives people a sense of the eco-friendly approach, it can also lead to water pollution. Recycling mostly depends on heavy machinery and industrial plants that may leach harmful chemicals.
Additionally, when waste materials such as paint or spray cans are processed, impurities and toxins from original goods can be carried along to the recycled products. So, recycled products may not be safe to use.
Con 5. Not the Ultimate Game Changer
Recycling has plenty of environmental benefits, and it is only the initial step toward preserving it. However, it may give people a false sense that recycling waste alone is enough to eliminate pollution and slow down climate change.
Many critics worry that just because people practice recycling, they may overlook other issues, such as eating animal products and misusing resources to be carefree.
Although the advantages of recycling are not the solution to significant issues, this initiation acts as a stepping stone toward critical issues like climate change, waste management, and environmental pollution.
Recycling has empowered modern businesses and households and created a sense of environmental consciousness. Despite some disadvantages, recycling is a process that, in the long term, has a lot to offer to create a sustainable and eco-friendly world for future generations.
(Last Updated on October 11, 2022 by Sadrish Dabadi)
