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  • Essay / Recycling harms the environment

    Recycling is presented as one of the ways to conserve the environment and reduce waste. Humans are diminishing Earth's resources faster than they are produced. Furthermore, we can expect that the supply of these resources will run out at some point and recycling can be used to reverse these effects. The reuse of resources is vital for the preservation of future generations. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Recycling has many environmental benefits in terms of conserving scarce resources, but the main cause for concern is how recycling is carried out. Recycling tends to focus on the benefits of reprocessing materials while ignoring that this can increase waste, limiting damage to the natural environment. Recycling is essential in cities around the world. Critics argue that the use of recycling reduces the amount of pollution caused to the environment by waste that is not sent to landfill. People view recyclable products as a way to reduce future problems that may be caused by disposing of waste. In “Why is recycling important?” », publisher Veolia affirms that the reprocessing of waste or raw materials now has a significant impact on the quantity of goods required for landfill. “When we recycle, recyclable materials are reprocessed into new products, and as a result, the amount of waste sent to landfills decreases. In other words, he says recycling is beneficial because it decreases the amount of soil contamination in landfills, which leaves more space for other projects. It mentions a concept of material reprocessing which reduces any further environmental impact on others. For this reason, opponents argue that recycling is beneficial to society because it can provide a better future for new generations. While it is true that reused materials can be a benefit, it depends on how the person decides to recycle. products in the correct bins. People have the opportunity to find out which products can actually be recycled and which products can affect the environment even if they decide to recycle them. People have the choice to recycle for useful circumstances that will benefit the whole world or use it only for their own need to get rid of waste. To improve reused materials, municipal governments across states are placing millions of recycling facilities along curbs and providing offices along with millions more to ensure the availability of waste collection facilities (aadland 2004 ). The idea that providing people with enough recycling facilities is the best solution, however, has drawbacks that are often overlooked. It is assumed that people will be intuitively inclined to recycle when more options are available to them rather than when recycling resources are minimal or impractical. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. It is plausible that the availability of recycling options contributes positively to an increase in the consumption of the resources that recycling is intended to conserve. therefore, making recycling facilities convenient and widely available leads to unintended negative outcomes. adverse effects were verified from the results of a study carried out to verify the correlation between the availability ofrecycling and consumption (catlin and wang 2012). These results supported the research as it was observed that the test subjects had increased consumption of free or free products. the cost of which they have not directly attacked, such as paper napkins, office paper. These materials, among others used in the study, constitute a considerable percentage of goods that consumers use in offices and elsewhere and for which the consumer does not pay directly. According to Morgan (2006), the average office worker uses 10,000 pieces of paper per year. The Disadvantages of RecyclingMost consumers are opposed to the idea of ​​wasting and most would happily embrace recycling and other forms of environmentally friendly behavior jesson and stone 2009 most, if not all, individuals have a Innate desire to avoid waste and the guilt associated with waste plays an important role in determining how much of a product a consumer will use. Thus, a person who throws away a product unnecessarily or in an undesignated area may experience guilt since he or she is aware that this material will lead to environmental contamination. Naturally, a person will have fewer negative emotions and guilt if recycling facilities are provided. everywhere and this would be interpreted as a green light to indulge in unnecessary consumption and disposal of a product. Therefore, the availability of such facilities only leads to increased usage levels. The expected increase in consumption is consistent with the rebound effect whereby a decline in costs caused by improved technological improvements may inadvertently lead to an increase in consumer demand for a product. Consider a situation in which technological advances have led to a decrease in cost per mile. Naturally, the driver will increase the number of kilometers traveled to compensate for the cost. The same effect applies to household energy use, such as heating, air conditioning, among others. The research should shed light on the procedure and methods used in implementing recycling to avoid unintentional increase in consumption that further depletes resources intended for future generations. recycling has often been carried out based on the idea that it is good for the environment, but neglecting the surgical analysis of the disadvantages could lead to serious consequences such as increased costs and promotion by manufacturers of 'disposable articles of overconsumption as an ecologist morgan 2006, the latter being similar to a negative overflow. Environmentally friendly behavior can have negative or positive impacts. Positive spillovers occur when an action aimed at conserving the environment leads to unintended but positive reactions in a different area. A negative spillover occurs when environmentally friendly behavior attracts a less desirable choice. For example, the policy of providing recycling bins grants consumers a license of free products to consume more of them. Consider the scenario of a person who has finished washing their hands. The person is likely to use more towels if there is a trash can nearby and fewer if there is not. The absence of a basket would prevent the person from misusing the towels due to the guilt factor. Negative fallout could also affect a person who undertakes neighborhood initiatives to preserve the environment by recycling. Such a person would see nothing wrong with using large capacity heavy pollutants to transportwaste. The tendency to focus on the benefits of recycling has often overshadowed real concerns such as the overconsumption of free products or products for which consumers do not pay directly. silverman 2008 Businesses can also stimulate overconsumption in the name of environmentalism. It is true that the availability of recycling bins promotes environmentally friendly behavior and reduces the consumption of certain products. However, research findings indicate that consumers are unaware of the hidden costs associated with recycling, such as sorting transportation energy and water consumption, since they only focus on the positive aspects. Thus, the availability of recycling bins reinforces the belief that nothing is acceptable to the consumer as long as the product used is recycled. As part of an experiment to assess the effect of the presence of recycling bins on consumption, participants were given scissors and pieces of paper. They had to evaluate the scissors in the presence and absence of recycling bins. It was noted that a greater amount of paper was used when recycling bins were present than when there were no recycling bins or when the number of recycling bins was low. Another point that was noted was the lack of ecological concern among the participants. Another experiment, which mirrors the previous one, was conducted in a more realistic setting and the results were the same. Participants used more paper towels when a wastebasket was introduced. The researchers made sure the paper dispensers were full every day. The participants in the second experiment did not know the quantity of product because the distributors were not transparent. The experiment revealed an increase of 0.5 paper towels per person. Annual paper towel usage per person in this restroom would increase by 12,500 for 250 days per year, given that the bathroom averages 100 users per day. Catlin and Wang 2012 take the entire United States and you will see why it is important to use the evidence-based approach rather than the sentiment-based approach to implementing recycling. Laboratory and field experiments conducted by Catlin and Wang 2012 reveal beyond reasonable doubt that an increase in recycling options and convenience is based on a false assumption that consumers have used a fixed amount of products . whether the recycling option is available or not. In contrast, the availability of recycling bins was found to boost consumption of more products for which consumers paid nothing, for example toilet paper towels and office paper. thus, recycling can increase disposable waste that will end up in landfills once its useful life is over. therefore, additional materials to be recycled will lead the municipality or relevant parties to acquire more vehicles to transport the materials, which could contribute to air pollution. An increase in waste inevitably leads to the need to create more landfills, which contributes to a reduction in waste. value of goods and environmental pollution. This study is based on non-cost factors and is a contribution to studies that involve costs such as rebound effect and spillovers. Environmental costs of recycling Recycling certain products can be beneficial. These products include aluminum and tin cans which are difficult to manufacture from virgin materials. Products that do not deserveto be recycled include plastic and glass because they are easy to manufacture. Unfortunately, these make up the majority of materials recycled every day. Proponents rarely take into account the cost associated with transporting products to recycling stations that may be further away than a landfill. the recycling process is associated with a life cycle distinct from the life cycle of the disposal or landfill process. Recycling takes place in stages, starting with the collection of materials, through the sorting process, through transportation to recycling and reproduction centers. Some materials are worth undergoing such a process because their benefit would outweigh the need to use raw materials, but this is not always the case for others. Materials like aluminum have significant environmental costs because bauxite and alumina must be used to produce a unit of aluminum Schmitz et al. Since 2006, it would be prudent to recycle these materials when possible to avoid damaging the environment. Materials that result in increased environmental benefits are said to have a positive life cycle. Bimetallic cans and papers are some examples, as producing them from scratch is arduous. Recycling plastic and glass is characterized by a negative life cycle that is harmful to the environment. Making glass and plastic from scratch is much simpler. Additionally, raw materials are easier to transport than their recycled products. Plastics consume a lot of space and their transportation requires high-capacity vehicles. The transportation of these materials takes place in urban areas where populations are concentrated and pollution caused by vehicles transporting these materials could have adverse health effects. recycling of disposable items like This incentivizes the companies involved to conduct a counterproductive business relationship because they often encourage overconsumption in the name of environmentalism. Overconsumption leads to increased waste as consumers throw massive amounts of these products into curbside and recycling bins every week. According to statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency EPA, the plastics industry in EPA is represented by the Society of Plastic Industries SPI and the American Plastics Council APC. The plastics industry supports recycling and ensures that the infrastructure is available to recycle plastics. Walker 2007 also ensures a constant supply of materials to optimize the infrastructure. To achieve this, it is stepping up efforts to force consumers to get involved in the recycling process through aggressive marketing techniques. The unintended result is that individuals come to consume more than they would due to marketing campaigns and the availability of recycling facilities. Consumers have the misconception that it is okay to use more packaged items and disposable plastic products since there are enough facilities to recycle these items. Additionally, plastic companies use profits from recycling to promote overconsumption by using guilt-dispelling advertisements, as advertisements rarely use justification. The consumer culture coupled with the business aspect of managing the recycling process is a major contributor to the increase in waste and pollution-related activities westward from 2012 in years past when recycling was carried out with the aim of protecting the environment and reducing damage resulting from these