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Marshall Nicholas
Mrs.Feilding
WRTC 103
February 21 2016
The Consequences of Failing to Recycle
Since the industrial revolution creation of new innovative packaging that has ultimately
lead to wide use of plastic. Plastics are cheap and simple to make , so it makes it easy for large
corporations to keep producing plastic packaging that produces unintended ending outcomes.
Because the well being and conservation of this Earth is such a big concern there have been
countless articles, news documentaries, and public services announcements about the current
practices of these companies. Using Conrad MacKerron article and the public service
announcement created by Marshall Nicholas to see the ways Ethos, Logos, and Pathos are used
to persuade people to conform to the author's view on that given topic.
In MacKerrons article he explains how it would be beneficial both beneficial financially
and environmentally if Extended producer responsibility laws were pushed for. These laws
would essentially take all the work of recycling off the consumer and help redistribute to the
producer. This scholarly article uses Ethos to begin to begin to build credibility with the reader
by stating in the intro Conrad MacKerron is senior director at the environmental nonprofit
group As You Sow and an experienced shareholder advocacy engagement leader for social and
environmental policies at publicly traded companies. This helps the reader understand that he is
a respected figure in his field and can be trusted. The author provides various less obvious forms
of ethos throughout the article to build credibility such as using information from credible
sources to back up his information. In the quote More than 40 billion aluminum cans, the

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most valuable beverage container material, are still dumped annually into landfills in the U.S.
According to Alcoa, the author cites the source Alcoa which is a leader in lightweight metals
technology. Citing a source such as this provides credibility since they are a respected company
in their industry.
The author does a great job in using Logos to persuade the reader. He does this by using a
lot of statistics that would strike the reader in a shocking way. Such as in the line A new
estimate completed by As You Sow concludes that the market value of these materials that are
not recycled in the U.S. was $11.4 billion in 2010 , He uses this statistic to back up the point
that we would benefit financially from new EPR laws and focusing more on clean recycling.
MacKerron also does a good job in using statistics to put the problem at hnd into proportion for
the viewer to understand. This is seen when Mackerron states U.S. According to Alcoa, this
wasted material could provide enough aluminum to build 25,000 jetliners!. Using a comparison
such as this allows the reader to produce a visual example of the point he is attempting to
convey.
With talking about the environment it is very easy to get at someone's emotions due to the
consequences that some of our practices today have on environment and organisms living on it.
This is why MacKerron used forms of ethos to provoke emotional drive in his readers to support
his claim. For example a quote like , There is a growing link between ineffective waste
management and plastic debris, which is piling up in the Earth's ocean gyres where it injures and
kills marine life, is used by Conrad Mackerron to get at the emotional side of the reader. Using
humans likelihood to be compassionate toward animals to create a effect in which the reader
feels bad for those animals and then feels the need to contribute. In this article the author ends
with As You Sow believes it is time to shift financial responsibility for managing packaging to

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producers through effective and tested EPR policies. which is a call to action to the people as
well as a reiteration of the thesis.

The PSA above was created by Marshall Nicholas to bring awareness to the recycling
problem in the U.S both financially and environmentally. The Author is conveying this message
through strong images and statistics. Theses images are used strategically to provoke interest and
appeal to the reader. Examining this image one can see how the author used the appeals Ethos,
Logos, and Pathos to persuade the reader toward supporting their claim.
To start, when looking at the images top left corner you can see the author's clear use of
ethos. The National Recycling Coalition is a well know organization in the recycling field that
the author puts in clear view for the reader to see. This is so that the reader can begin to form a
sense of trust for the ad since it's backed by a reputable organization. The author also used its
statistics based off Conrad MacKerrons Extended Producer Responsibility Mandates Benefit
the Environment and Businesses. Being the senior director of the environmental agency As You
Sow gives his statistics more credibility because it came from a credible source. These two uses

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of ethos help the author be seen as credible and allows the reader to put more trust in the author's
opinions.
Next the author uses a great deal of pathos throughout the image starting with the
opening question How would you feel if this was your waterway. The image of the man
canoeing through a lake of trash combined with the question are intended to appeal to the readers
emotions and give them something they can relate to. The picture of the turtles deformed shell
resulting from dumbed plastic material uses the statistic , 60-80% of marine debris is composed
of plastic material ( MacKerron) creates a strong emotion appeal. He uses the humans sympathy
and passion toward animals to get the reader to understand how the environment and organism
living in it are being effected from the world's inability to recycle efficiently. The authors choice
to appeal to the emotions of the reader was efficient because it increases the urge to want to help
or contribute toward the cause.
Lastly the author does a great job in incorporating statistical data that will benefit the
overall effectiveness of the article by providing real facts. The statistic only 12.1 % of plastic
packaging, the dominant packaging of the future, is recycled (MacKerron), was used to show
thee reader that the image of the lake completely filled with trash is happening because so little
of our dominant packaging material is recycled. This quote is followed by the image of the turtle
and the statistic 60-80% of marine debris is composed of plastic material ( MacKerron), shows
a consequence fromm so little plastic packaging material getting dumped not recycled. Nicholas
also chose statistics that relate to the picture they are in, this allows the reader to be reinsured of
the likelihood of the image with statistical data.
The issue of recycling is an ongoing global issue that has raised many different types of
campaigning to get the public to back their opinions on how to go about the issue. Both

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MacKerrons and Nicholas work display excellent uses of the appeals ethos, logos, and pathos in
different ways. The two pieces represent different styles of presenting an argument to an
audience. The PSA generated a solid understanding for the cause and also does a great job in
grabbing the viewer's attention through pathos but lacks an in depth support of the issue that the
article Mackerron wrote has. With that being said, the article dominant source of appeal was
logos due to the amount of statistic and how the author depended on them to prove his point.
Both the PSA and article are great demonstrations of the appeals providing good examples that
help support their claims allowing the reader to get a quick simple grasp of the problem through
the PSA and get more supported facts about the same issue in MacKerrons article.

Work Cited
"Lies You've Been Told About the Pacific Garbage Patch." Io9. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.
MacKerron, Conrad. "Extended Producer Responsibility Mandates Benefit the Environment and
Businesses." The Environment. Ed. Lynn M. Zott. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven
Press, 2014. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Unfinished Business: The Case for

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Extended Producer Responsibility for Post-Consumer Packaging." 2012. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 21 Feb. 2016. (Mackerron)
"Turtle Cut Free From 6-Pack Rings Is Unstoppable 20 Years Later." The Dodo. N.p., n.d. Web.
21 Feb. 2016.