Importance of Recycling

Recycling is essential in minimizing the waste sent to the environmental settings and the landfill,
accompanied with the benefits that are not limited to the environment. These include the social and
economic advantage of recycling. Regardless of the world changing to a consumer-driven world, people
continue to grow appetite for the new products, which results from the waste created through the
consumption. However, the waste products that causes the persistent environmental problems can be
turned to an opportunity. Recycling is the process of collecting, separating, and converting or
remanufacturing of already waste or used products into new materials. Therefore, recycling assist in
extending the usefulness and life of usefulness of something that had been previously used or served its
intended purpose by returning it to the raw material and turning these materials to a useable product. It
forms part of the three golden rule of world’s sustainability; reduce, reuse, and recycle. Thus, recycling
has benefit to the environment and to humans. This paper explores how the planet is impacted through
recycling.

Importance of Recycling

Recycling involves a series of events that include the collection of different recyclable devices
and materials that could otherwise be regarded as waste and needs to be sorted and processed in new
raw materials. It protects future generation and saves our environment by minimizing air and water
pollution, soil contamination, greenhouse-gas emissions, increase job opportunities and economic value,
and conserving natural resources and energy.

Environmental Benefits

Recycling reduces the amount of energy used by industries. It achieves that by minimizing global
climate change and reducing the greenhouse-gas emission. According to Asmatulu and Asmatulu (2016),
larger percentage of energy used in the different industrial procession and locomotion sector is
produced through fossil fuel burning like coal, diesel, gasoline, and other carbon associated sources. An
increase in temperature by 10C by carbon dioxide and various greenhouse gasses like methane, causes
millions of respiratory illness and deaths in the United States (Asmatulu & Asmatulu, 2016). Therefore,
slowing the global warming rate and minimizing the unwanted emissions require an increased recycling
rate worldwide.

Another recycling benefit is the ability to reduce in the emission from landfills and incinerators
and minimization of tree harvesting. Soils are often contaminated through leaching of mercury, lead,
and unwanted metals like cadmium, chromium, cobalt, tin, and zinc, which poses significant health risks
to a greater population worldwide. The contaminated soil contaminates most agricultural feedstock and
products that eventually poison animal and human in the long term. However, the current less time
consuming and expensive method forlarge-scale is recycling (Asmatulu & Asmatulu, 2016). Most regions
have embarked on recycling of materials before channeling them to landfills and various collection sites.

Economic Benefits
 Recycling also results into vital economic importance in the region. Unlike a new production,
recycling focus on the materials thus reducing consumption of raw materials and unwanted
contamination and emissions. According to Asmatulu and Asmatulu (2016), recycling create a secondary
materials that expends lesser energy compared to production depending on the primary raw materials.
For example, production of copper from scrap results to 85 percent less energy while 95 percent for the
production of aluminum, hence creating a less environmental consideration (Asmatulu & Asmatulu,
2016). In addition, different government agencies in the United States are providing funds and technical
assistance to recycle devices, equipments, and facilities aiming at a long-term economic growth.

Social Benefits

Worldwide recycling activities enhance social interaction and community development. It also
benefits the world by increasing a lifespan made possible through cleaner environment, improved
socientific, cultural, and different activities internationally and nationally, and safer working conditions
for all employees.

Reasons for not Recycling

Regardless of the positive aspects of recycling like assisting to mitigate global warming, creating
new job avenues, minimizing pollution, saving energy, and preserving the environment. Some people
fails to recycle because of the negative aspects like the limited application of recycled products,
transportation, diffusion of dangerous wastes in the recycled products, and costs (Knussen, 2018). Most
recycling plants often fail to control the process properly and might become unhygienic for the local
community and workers. Some residents fails to recycle because of lack of space. Recycling for some
days implies that they will take up more room or dealing with an eyesore. Some of the people also do
not take the recycling initiatives seriously because they feel it does not make much difference. They
believe that recycling will not change anything because currently the climate change is irreversible and
landfills are overfilled. In addition, some believe that the recycling process is a hard task especially after
failing to get the right bin at the right time.

Consequences

The consequence of not recycling affect the environment and human in three ways: pollution,
overflowing landfills, and natural habitat destruction. Failure to recycle will lead to environmental
pollution through the depositions of waste like Styrofoam and the harmful chemicals seep that are
deposited into the soil. Overflowing landfills are affected when the great population continues to
neglect recycling by landfills continuing to pile up. Natural habitat destruction are also affected as
environment continue to pile up until the point that tit cannot keep up with the hazardous waste, thus
leading to destruction of the natural habitats.