The truth about recycling

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The truth about recycling
Roughly 1 million tons of plastic bottles were recycled in 2006

According to The Economist the amount of municipal waste being collected in different countries has increased over the last years.
According to the European Union statistics presented on The Economist stated that the amount of municipal waste produced in Western Europe has been raised by 23% between 1995 and 2003, meaning 577 kg per person.
A trend has been observed where the recycling rate has been shown to be increasing in European countries and in America.  
The only problem regarding recycling was observed when the kerbside recycling program was introduced,researchers wondered whether the program produced more energy than it saved because of the transportation and collection of these materials.1

The efficiency debate on recycling can be separated into two parts: economic and environmental. The importance of recycling on our environment is not a matter that needs to be debated by lawmakers ,but the cost of it still has a lot of them confused compared to different waste disposals methods. It is clear that recycling is more expensive. Recycling rates are local prizes, differing form different states in the US and in European countries because of fees payed to the trucking options and facilities. It cost more to discharge the waste on the landfill than processing it. It was believed that a curbside program would be inexpensive but most generally cost money. 2
Environmentally wise, recycling is positive way to reduce the increasing amount of waste created by our consuming society. Recycling preserves natural resources for future generations and reduces pollution. Extracting and processing raw materials to make usable materials (paper, plastic,metal) require a lot of energy, but the energy produced depends on the materials being processed. The largest energy saving that we achieve is towards metals because they need a large amount of energy to be processed. Energy saving from Beryllium recycling is of 805, lead 75% , iron and steel 72% and cadmium 50%. The amount of energy saved from the different material processed in the US was over 322,000 GWH of enrgy, this is enough to provide electricity to 30 million homes.3



1. “The Truth about Recycling.” The Economist, The Economist Newspaper, 7 June 2007, www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2007/06/07/the-truth-about-recycling.
2. Hutchinson, Alex. “Is Recycling Worth It? PM Investigates Its Economic and Environmental Impact.” Popular Mechanics, Popular Mechanics, 14 Nov. 2017, www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a3752/4291566/.
3.“How Does Recycling Save Energy?” American Geosciences Institute, 27 July 2018, www.americangeosciences.org/critical-issues/faq/how-does-recycling-save-energy.

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