http://blog.epa.gov/students/2012/09/how-are-we-doing-in-recycling/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-are-we-doing-in-recycling An Environmental Blog for Students Thu, 13 Jun 2013 16:08:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://blog.epa.gov/students/2012/09/how-are-we-doing-in-recycling/#comment-1294 Carson Chauvin Mon, 20 May 2013 05:39:04 +0000 http://blog.epa.gov/students/?p=706#comment-1294 While it is true that it would be ideal to recycle everything that we produce and use locally, this task is certainly not feasible at this moment in time. The amount of unrecycled materials entering the municipal waste stream often overloads many areas and it is necessary to transport the materials to larger sites where they can be better managed. If you focus solely on the recycling aspect of the problem then you would be required to construct hundreds if not thousands of recycling centers and plants worldwide costing millions if not billions of dollars. An easier way to save on not only the space but our wallets would be to reduce first. When you reduce the inputs to the entire system you’ll be spending less money on recycling, there will be less trash to recycle and there will be more money to manage the materials that need to be recycled at that moment. Te problem not only lies in the infrastructure of our cities but our industries as well. In our capitalist societies we outsource our labor and factories to poorer countries who also receive the blunt of our waste. In America it is important for big business to keep things out of sight and out of mind. All of the particularly toxic materials and heavy metals that are contained in our electronics are sent to Japan every time we buy a new iPhone or laptop. They can’t deal with all of this waste so they end up not disposing of it correctly. If recycling is to be reformed we can’t just start in our cities, we need to start in poorer countries where the problem begins.

]]> http://blog.epa.gov/students/2012/09/how-are-we-doing-in-recycling/#comment-681 Anonymous Mon, 29 Oct 2012 21:47:16 +0000 http://blog.epa.gov/students/?p=706#comment-681 We need to take care of our mother eath. recycking is one important step we could protoct our planet earth from abuse. Your blog helps to understand the importance of it.

]]> http://blog.epa.gov/students/2012/09/how-are-we-doing-in-recycling/#comment-678 Anonymous Thu, 25 Oct 2012 18:55:40 +0000 http://blog.epa.gov/students/?p=706#comment-678 Great blog….I totally agree with you, we should be processing our own recyclables right here locally and not ship it overseas.

]]>