Reduce, reuse, recycle. That is the motto we learned in our younger days. What was drilled in us in elementary school, what we sub-consciously act on on an everyday basis. But has anybody questioned it?
The idea of reduce is, in fact, key for bettering the environment as it leads to a decrease in the manufacturing of material goods. By limiting our consumption, we are reducing the greenhouse gas emissions used for the shipping and making of these products, as well as keeping more items from entering the ever-so-humongous stream of waste that, one way or another, will end up in landfill.
Reusing is also a fairly decent way of limiting the harm we cause Earth. When we reuse, we buy less stuff and, as stated before, will slightly prevent the growth of the waste stream.
Recycling, on the other hand, is not as amazing as we thought.That begins with the transportation of our recyclables. In a single community there will be several trucks visiting different locations each day. The constant use of these big automobiles result in a continuous emission of greenhouse gases. Furthermore, the system itself does a poor job of ensuring that the recyclables do not fly away from trucks and bins. A large portion of the litter on the streets and in our waters is recyclable—they may have originally been in a bin, truck, or recycling center, but managed to fly away due to lack of care. This results in the most classic sort of pollution of all: littering.
The final issue with recycling is the most prominent of them all. When things are recycled, they are re-manufactured in order to be sold again. Many of the new items that are made are much more fragile and typically non-recyclable. Due to their weak new forms, these items are tossed into the trash, meeting their unavoidable fates as members of the forever-increasing waste stream. Even the few products that are recycled to become sturdy and useful items will eventually find themselves in the same landfill. They will fall into a cycle of being constantly remade until it is eventually in the form of a weak, disposable item.
In summation, the three R’s may not be the best way to live one’s life. Reusing is good, reducing is great, but recycling is not quite as beneficial as most people think. Unfortunately, it seems as though we have settled for recycling and convinced society that it is enough to sustain our needs. We need to start thinking of new, creative ways to reduce our environmental impact. We should not be settling for a Band-Aid solution—we need a permanent one.
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