To Recycle or Not

by Janinah Jimmin M. Molina

What is recycling?

"Recycling is the conversion of waste products into new materials, such as waste paper which can be converted into new paper goods.We can only say a product has been recycled when it has been purchased and used again." as stated by Andrew Roper in his article from the site www.webschool.org.uk.

It sounds worth doing, right? It seems like it is a very good alternative to just throwing materials after use.

It is beneficial in the sense that it slows the consumption of natural resources. In addition, it saves energy. It promotes scientific advancements in recyclable and biodegradable materials.It also helps to limit the amount of glass, paper and plastic that must be produced. Waste disposal costs are reduced as well as the raw material costs. How cool is that? Brilliant! Isn't it?

We are constantly bombarded with advocacies on recyling materials and the like. In turn, it makes us environmentally aware.

Yet, do you know that recycling has also certain disadvantages? Have we ever thought about that?

Here are some of the downsides of recycling:

1.) A significant percentage of items marked as recyclable end up trashed or burned anyway due to poor quality, contaminants, lack of resources able to handle that item in a specific region or recycling installation,etc.

2.)Establishment of low-quality jobs that include sifting through garbage to separate it, dealing with the toxins from the breakdown process, and other manual-intensive labor tasks;

3.)The recycling process itself produces pollutants consist of chemical stews when breaking down different products;

4.)Twice as many trucks on the road : those collecting garbage and recycled goods piled just cause more pollution.

So,what now? Should we recycle or not? Well,it's up to us to decide on the good and bad of recycling.

What do you think?