Recycling is Not So Green

Every day we hear about the benefits of recycling. Maybe we have a little green canister to place our plastics in, or maybe we save scrap paper. Whatever kind of recycling we do it's become a common conception that it helps the environment and helps contribute to a better world. It would be a surprise to some to discover just what recycling is about and how the whole thing works. Although some methods of recycling are beneficial-like those roadside receptacles that process empty soda cans-the more common types of recycling have a single fundamental problem.

Across the country there's been many initiatives to promote recycling. In comparison to the consensus 30 years ago, these initiatives have largely been embraced by families It's estimated that since 1980 recycling in the U.S. has increased by more than 20%.

Whether or not the recycled material is picked up by a waste management company, or if you drop them off yourself, the material has to be processed by machinery along with the assistance of human intervention. During the process of recycling the dump trucks are spewing out carbon emissions in transport, and when the materials arrive to their destination they are separated, cleaned and processed by various apparati. All facets of technology and mechanics (like those found in a common recycling facility) require electricity, oil and manpower to operate. All of these things contribute to carbon emissions. Recycling may work to contradict it's intention by contributing more to oil consumption than it does to renewable resources.

In this way, it's important to differentiate what kind of recycling is good for the environment, and what is not so helpful. Tips like bringing your own bag to the super market or avoiding plastic plates and forks are good because they help keep waste to a minimum; but having old material processed into new products (as opposed to creating the products from scratch) still requires the consumption of energy like electricity and fossil fuels.

One non-profit group that works in Britain (WRAP) successfully lowered carbon emissions by recycling, but they do admit that recycling is not "self sustaining":

"The cost of collecting, transporting and sorting materials generally exceeds the revenues generated by selling the recyclables, and is also greater than the disposal costs."

Recycling of this kind can offer one thing and that is less trees being cut down and less raw materials being excavated from the earth. This helps the environment and contributes to a more sustainable future, but as subsequently mentioned, recycling is not a self-sustainable thing as far as manufacturing is concerned. Recycling plants would require continual donations, either public or private, to operate efficiently. This may be something people are more than willing to contribute to but with that contribution is still the promise of more carbon emissions, more energy and product consumption, and the same old business as usual.

In the future, recycling may prove to be a sustainable and useful solution to global warming and the environment, but right now there's no sign that recycling is helping the situation at hand. The problem isn't what we do with our trash, it's how much trash we decide to create. Consumption is the key issue here and the solution breaks down to the individual level. If we all dedicate ourselves to creating less trash, millions of emissions could disappear every year just by eating out less and cutting back on the paper napkins. Recycling seems to be a sidestep to production indulgence when the real problem remains unaddressed.