Recycling Should Be Required Essay Example

How often do you think your Pepsi bottle ends up inside a dolphin's stomach? More than the number you're thinking right now. Next time you use a plastic spoon or plate, remember the polar bears in Antarctica whose homes are being destroyed or the fish and sharks who every time they try and go to the surface, are blanketed with shampoo bottles and plastic wrap. Recycling should be required in cities and towns because it is absolutely crucial to the environment and oceans to be able to save them, and it will tremendously bring down landfill sizes causing global warming to decrease   therefore saving the earth.

Recycling should be required in towns and cities because it is good for the exact purpose of the environment. It will help with the environment by reducing landfill sizes and helping the climate.The National Waste and Recycling Association reported that there were once 8,000 active landfills in the United States(www.dumpsters.com). The number is now down to around 2,000. That might sound good, but it's worse than it seems. For full landfills, they put some liner at the bottom and then layers of compacted clay and synthetic material cover the whole site (dumpsters.com). Imagine how much plastic would be saved if that trash would have ended up in recycling. By recycling it will reduce landfills which will lead to keeping less and less trash out of oceans, streets and land. Roughly 80% of the items buried in landfills could be recycled, and although 75% of America's waste is recyclable, the general population only recycles around 30% of it (rubicon.com). Imagine the possibilities if cities required recycling. It could possibly reverse all damage done to the earth. It will keep the oceans clean and partially help with saving cold climates such as the Arctic and their animals. Recycling is the first big step to saving the earth.

Another reason that recycling should be required is so that the oceans and oceans habitats will tremendously become cleaner and safer for the fish. It is estimated that 10-20 million tons of plastic end up in the world’s oceans each year (worldoceanfest.org). By requiring recycling, the plastic that usually ends up in the ocean will now end up as other bottles or jugs, etc. Each year, an estimated eight million metric tons of plastic flows into the ocean (oceanconservany.org).  That’s an entire dump truck of plastic emptying into the ocean every single minute of every single day, 365 days a year (oceanconservancy.org). That amount of plastic is unsustainable every day. Eventually there will be more plastic than fish in 2050 if  action isn’t taken now (onegreenplanet.org) More than three-quarters of all the plastic ever produced is now estimated to be in landfills or littering the environment (weform.org) . If this issue isn't looked at sooner, plastic will be a blanket covering the ocean in the form of bottles, single-use packaging, fishing,  and aquaculture gear, and some is finding its way to the Arctic (weform.org). By recycling this can prevent worse things from happening and even reverse the effects on the world going on right now.

On the other side of this argument, people say recycling is ineffective and is a waste of time. People say recycling is a waste of time because people should not be recycling but instead people should carry around reusable beverages and takeout containers. Avoiding bottled water or sodas at all costs is ideal. Instead, they are more often turned into non-recyclable carpets and synthetic clothes than more bottles (scientificamerican.com). Many say that it is too late to recycle and we should just put it in a landfill because it's cheaper. For example, consider the effects of rinsing out the bottle before putting it in the bin. Use hot water, and your recycling habit might actually be adding to total emissions. It runs New Yorkers $300 more to recycle a ton of trash than it would to put it in a landfill (nationalreveiw.com). People believe that by forcing recycling on people all the town is doing is wasting time, money and, resources. 

In order to save the environment and ocean, needing to start the process of requiring recycling in cities. It is absolutely necessary to keep Earth alive, along with keeping down landfill sizes. If this isn’t acted now, then the earth and ocean will only get worse.  Mountain ice will decline a large percentage of the water that is used for everyday uses and to drink every day will be gone. People will no longer be able to go for a nice swim or sit down at the park without having the view of plastic. As a society people need to recognize the danger of not recycling before it is too late. By 2050 the damage will be irreversible if action isn’t taken now.(sciencing.com)  People need to act now on this issue. It's never going to go away. Simple actions like having a recycling bin next to your trash can could reduce excessive trash. Another good step is use less and less plastic cutlery and plates. These actions can make a huge change in the problems that surround recycling.