Kevin Draeger Argument 2 Section HB McGough November 28, 2013 Negative Impact of Complicated Recycling Policies Oh no!

! Here comes another lecture about why we need to recycle! I know this may be what you are thinking, but relax. This article is not another recycling lecture. While recycling is important and does have a lot of positive environmental effects, thats not the focus of this essay. Im here to tell you why you should promote a simpler recycling system. Complicated recycling policies result in lower participation in recycling, and thus, negatively impact the environment. Some people in the older generation think they need to lecture the younger population about why we should care about the environment. However, I know this is not necessary. The majority of us dont have any desire to destroy the earth. For this reason, Im not going to lecture you about why you should care about the environment. Instead, Im just going to give you some facts about the positive environmental effects of recycling. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control released the following facts in their article, Environmental Benefits of Recycling. Recycling reduces pollution by preventing the need to put items into a landfill or incinerator, because raw materials dont need to be extracted, moved, or processed. Recycling also saves energy. It takes less energy to manufacture products out of recycled materials than raw materials. The use of recycled materials, of course, also saves natural resources, because resources can be reused. Recycling also helps to reduce green house gas emissions by reducing the amount of energy needed to make products out of virgin materials, reducing emissions from landfills and incinerators, and reducing the number of trees harvested. This is important, because green house gas emissions are the number one contributor to global warming If recycling has so many positive environmental effects, why would anyone not recycle? The answer is laziness. People like to choose the easiest way to do things. So what makes recycling sometimes more difficult than throwing things away? The answer is the task of separating materials. More people are willing to recycle when it is easier to recycle. Having to separate recyclables by material is too much hassle for many people. Thus a commingled recycling or single stream policy, in which the depositors can deposit all of the recyclable material into one container, promotes more recycling than a separated system in which depositors must separate their materials. In a study, by Dr. Stuart Oskamp, published in Environment and Behavior, researchers observed household curbside recycling behavior in two similar, adjacent cities with different recycling policies. One of the cities had a commingled

Draeger 2 system in which all recyclables were mixed together. The other city had a system in which four types of materials were separated. The study found that both average household participation and gallons of recycled material per household were higher in the commingled system. In addition, the number of households that participated in the recycling program and the consistency of participation over a two-year period were higher in the commingled system. Ninety percent of households participated in the commingled system, while only seventy-seven percent participated in the separated system. In my own life, I have also seen the effects of having a commingled system versus having a separated system. In my home county in Minnesota, we have a commingled recycling system. While living at home, I often find myself recycling more materials than I throw away. In my dormitory at Iowa State, we have a separated system, in which plastics, paper, cans, cardboard, and glass must all be separated. While at college, I have found myself recycling much less. What has changed? I still believe that recycling is important. The change is really in the recycling systems. While having to sort recyclables sounds like an easy task, especially for someone pursuing a college education, it is enough to turn someone off from recycling. Ill admit that it is mostly laziness that prevents me from doing this sorting. In order to recycle in a separated system in college, it is extra effort, because its not realistic to have many different bins in a dorm room. Therefore, all of the sorting must be done later, requiring the depositor to dig through all of the trash they have created. This is not an intriguing task and can even be unsanitary and messy. The other option requires the depositor to leave his or her dorm room and walk to the other side of the building every time they want to recycle an item. Both methods of recycling in this separated system are not user friendly and actually discourage recycling. Another problem with the separated recycling system is it can often be more confusing for depositors. For example, the separated system used in my dormitory requires that plastics be separated into two different bins. I still do not clearly understand the difference between the two categories of plastics. One of the issues is that the sign for the two bins does not clearly explain the difference between the two. While throwing away plastics, other residents have started to give me instructions as to which bin a plastic item should be placed into, but what we found is that none of us clearly understand the difference between the two bins. All we know is there are two different bins for plastics, and the two bins are not for the same type of plastic. As a result, I have recycled fewer plastics. I am afraid to put it into the wrong bin and therefore just throw it away. I am aware that just choosing a bin may be a better solution than just throwing the plastic away, but I hate to think about causing a problem for whoever has to handle the material next. People by nature try to find the easiest way to do things. If throwing something into the trash is easier than recycling it, people will throw it away. Figure 1, on the next page, illustrates the confusion resulting from separated systems and how people often respond to the confusion, by throwing more items away.

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Figure 1: Separated recycling systems can be very confusing for depositors. Source: Toronto Recycling Headaches. Cartoon. Primetorontoneighborhoods.com.

Now some people may argue that a commingled recycling system is more difficult for manufacturers. This, however, is not really true. Workers do not separate the recycled materials during manufacturing. There is a machine that separates all of the materials. The downside, according to the Sustainable Cities Institute, is that this machinery is expensive, but the cost can be regained with having fewer laborers. Additionally, the collection process is less expensive in a commingled system, because it requires fewer workers and simpler trucks with fewer compartments. So what can you do to promote recycling and thus help our environment? You can advocate that more places use a commingled recycling system that will bring more participation, because it is easier for depositors to use. I know I will be advocating a change in policy at my school. You can do the same in your own community or wherever you go.

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Works Cited Oskamp, Stuart, Lynnte Zelezny, P. Wesley Schultz, Sharrilyn Hurin, Rachel Burkhardt. Commingled Versus Separated Curbside Recycling: Does Sorting Matter? Environment and Behavior 28.1 (1996): 73-91. Print. Sustainable Cities Institute. Separating vs. Commingling of Recyclable Materials. Sustainablecitiesinstitute.org. The National League of Cities, 2012. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. South Carolina Department of Health & Environment Control. Environmental Benefits of Recycling. SCDHEC. SCDHEC, n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. Toronto Recycling Headaches. Cartoon. Primetorontoneighborhoods.com. TownCrier Newspaper, n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2013.

http://eab.sagepub.com/content/28/1/73.short http://www.scdhec.gov/environment/lwm/recycle/pubs/env_benefits_recycling.p df