Can recycling really reduce pressure on our mother earth?

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   ACKEDY MADORposted 13 years ago

   Can  recycling really  reduce pressure on our mother earth?

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2. 82

   Carole Anzollettiposted 13 years ago

   I would like to think so, as we recycle and reuse, we wouldn't add more we would just use what has been put here already.  The commercial about the empty water bottles that made it around the earth eight times and the Britta water filter stands out in my mind.  I like the fact that using the fabric bags at the grocery store cuts back on the pesty accumulation of them as well as some stores, like Stop and Shop, reimbursing you .5 for every bag you bring with you.  Whole Foods offers .10.  I think that every little thing counts, and it is a diligent effort but very worth it.  There is already enough "trash" on our planet, and not just in terms of material waste.

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3. 0

   Indigitalposted 13 years ago

   I don't see how it'll reduce pressure, unless you're talking metaphorically. Personally, I cannot see environments shaping up without real recycling promotion. Giving the world better understanding of what is recyclable; making sure even if it's not recyclable, it doesn't go to landfill or incineration but they find a way to dispose of the waste more beneficently; making recycling and redevelopment of recycled products more local, instead of shipping tons of waste to China, which costs both the tax payer and the environment a big sum.
   
   In brief, we need better resources; better public promotion and easier understanding.

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4. 80

   Attikosposted 13 years ago

   It hasn't so far. The way we measure economic inputs of all sorts, from materials to labor, is by the cost. In order to be feasible at all, recycling requires subsidies from numerous sources, including the unpaid time to sort and carry out materials in the household to their disposal by the collectors to, frequently, their reprocessing into usable manufacturing feedstocks. Were it viable, no subsidies would be necessary. It would pay for itself.
   
   Should critical raw materials shortages ever arise (despite a century of dire predictions they have yet to) then the landfills could be mined to recover usable categories of trash. Until then, we all would be better off not going out of our way to pour more money down the rathole of recycling.

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