Recycling, Yes or No?

Throughout our lives we were constantly told about how we should recycle. How it will

save our planet one empty water bottle at a time. But not everyone thinks that recycling should

be as great of an importance as it's put out to be. Should we recycle like we’ve been taught

through our whole lives, or simply not?

First, let’s discuss why we should recycle. We’ve always heard the phrase, “Reduce,

Reuse, Recycle” which if you recycle that's just what you're doing. An article written by the

Student Conservation Association explains, “Energy is saved during the manufacturing process.

There’s less waste going to landfills. Not to mention, it helps keep wildlife safe.” This is a

simplified explanation of what recycling does. I was able to watch a video on the actual process

of recycling, seeing how they sort through everything they receive and how it works. In the video

​ as to use less of small plastic straws as they tend to

they talked about a simple way to ​reduce w

fall through the cracks and not be recycled efficiently.

While looking up more information on why recycling was so important I wanted to see

what the recycling in Utah looked like. Maybe I was recycling something incorrectly or there was

something I could add. Luckily, I was recycling all the correct items. But something surprising

stood out to me. Plastic bags. We hear about these the most, whether it be about how they're

killing the turtles or how we should ask for paper instead, but it turns out you should ​not ​recycle

them. Plastic bags tend to get stuck in the machinery if it’s not built specifically for them. The

video I watched gave an example of ‘wish-cycling’, which is the process of throwing something

not recyclable into the recycling bin. Plastic bags, plastic film, and extra bits of food were all a

part of that list. But what are we supposed to do then? We’ve always been told that paper and

plastic are what you should recycle. It turns out that grocery stores have plastic drop off bins

where you can take your bags, such as Whole Foods. It’s important to know about your options
and I never would have known about how to properly take care of my recyclables without

looking up this information. But recycling doesn’t help the world in every way.

When we’re taught about recycling we’re taught on how it helps the world in a positive

way, not touching on the negative effects it could have on our world. The cost of transport,

sorting and cleaning is not discussed. As explained by established economist Michael Munger,

“Most fail to take into consideration the commodity a piece of trash has, for instance is the value

of a plastic cup or glass bottle still there when one throws it away and is its base material

valuable enough to salvage? Most times not quite. Most recycling and scrap yards go through a

system of manual sorting and transportation. This transportation, be it by train, truck, or boat,

requires energy gained by either gasoline or diesel, both of which produce carbon monoxide

that leaks into the atmosphere. In that same vein oil fracking, drilling, and refinement also lead

into more environmental harm.” Therefore the economics of recycling really fall on how strong

the infrastructure of the system really is. A batch of recycled plastic can be ruined by

contaminating the batch, making the many hours required to properly sort out the imperfections

lead to large numbers of energy. That said several stipulations are placed across the board as

far as glass and metal recycling goes as well. However metal remains the least hindered among

the three in terms of ease of breakdown, as most imperfections float to the surface or sink to the

bottom during the recycling process.

To delve further into the infrastructure of recycling the main goal that most put in mind is

that the trash is not carted away to landfills and such to go to waste. This is an important

thought as we don’t want everything to be rotting in landfills. However, in some cases the

recycled goods can and do go to a landfill either because the company can not afford to send it

through the rest of the process or, there is simply too much cross contamination in the lot to

properly handle it. This is a perfect example of my plastic bags I talked about above. But other
examples include the major buyer proprietor of the world's recycling power China during the

1980’s. China had such a supply and so little demand that they had to implement a 99.5%

contamination free level which is far beyond the standards of any globally recognized recycling

industry. As stated in Does Your Recycling Actually Get Recycled? article, “Contamination error

percentage is usually around 20-15% depending on the country.” Essentially meaning that

China pushed their recycling plants out of business to avoid the overburden of working a slowly

declining product value. Economically the results of recycling neutered the values of paper and

plastic by the ton nearly halving its original value on the market. Since then the value of most

recycled items sees fluctuations dependent on the market value and cost of manufacturing the

specific goods.

So when you think of whether or not to recycle it’s anyone’s guess. On one hand you are

recycling materials for companies to reuse them but on the other you are burning tons of energy

just to sort the recycled material. It’s important to think of both sides when you are questioning

whether or not to recycle and to understand the process. But, what do you choose?
“Salt Lake County Recycling Guidelines.” ​Salt Lake County​,

slco.org/recycle/recycling-guidelines. Accessed 7 May 2020.

“What Happens to Your Recycling After It’s Collected? | NowThis.” ​YouTube​, uploaded by

NowThis News, 24 Nov. 2017, youtu.be/s4LZwCDaoQM.

“How to Recycle and Why You Should Do It.” ​The Student Conservation Association​, 21 Feb.

2019, www.thesca.org/connect/blog/how-recycle-and-why-you-should-do-it.

Fenston, Jacob. “Is Recycling Worth It? Why Many Things You Toss End Up In A Landfill.”

WAMU​, WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio, 5 Dec. 2019,

wamu.org/story/19/02/12/does-your-recycling-actually-get-recycled-yes-maybe-it-depends/.

Munger, Michael. “For Most Things, Recycling Harms the Environment.” ​AIER​, 29 Oct. 2019,

www.aier.org/article/for-most-things-recycling-harms-the-environment/.