The problem of waste has been a global problem for all humankind for many years. Moreover, its number is still proliferating all over the planet. Recently, the popularity of raising the problem of waste recycling has been growing and increasing. The generally accepted methods of getting rid of garbage and waste are burial and liquidation. However, such waste disposal can harm the environment and human health. In the article The Reign of Recycling author’s main purpose is to show how recycling can be damaging for the environment.
The problem of waste recycling has had its roots since ancient times. At first, before the spread of large settlements, people did not have such an amount of waste to pollute the environment. However, later, with the advent of permanent settlements, the amount of garbage increased significantly. In the Middle Ages, people dumped it near houses or even out of the window and often set it on fire to get rid of the unpleasant smell. Thus, not only the soil was polluted, but also water bodies. With the growth and development of technologies and the industrial industry, the sphere of waste and garbage processing began to develop. However, along with industrialization, the amount of garbage began to grow, which was no longer so easy to process on time. It is also worth noting that the volume of waste increased dramatically when cheap disposable products appeared.
The problem of recycling is discussed in the article The Reign of Recycling by John Tierney. The author argues that “despite decades of exhortations and mandates, it is still typically more expensive for municipalities to recycle household waste than to send it to a landfill” (Tierney, 2015, para. 4). Moreover, the financial side of refining, such as the price of materials, has undergone changes due to a significant decrease in the price of oil and a reduction in demand for materials from other countries.
Pollution is also one of the most severe problems in the waste recycling industry. If toxic components are present in the processed material, these components may remain after the processing process and end up in the newly created product. The most important thing is that the presence of toxins and harmful particles in the recycled material in some cases cannot be noticed immediately. Moreover, all people know that not only during the disposal of various wastes but a large amount of pollutants is also released. They are also released from the exhaust gases of cars that transport garbage to recycling stations or landfills. Due to the increase in the number of garbage, the number of transport that deals with its distribution also increases. By adding more trucks to this area, organizations increase air pollution.
Among the negative aspects of waste processing for the state are high financial costs at the initial stages of conducting production. Moreover, later, the land plots on which processing plants were organized became unsuitable for any activity and the residence of people and animals. Studies also note that most products made from recycled materials are short-lived, given that the production process of these products can become quite expensive. After all, the environment is also suffering due to the fact that the procedure for recycling garbage and waste has not yet become widespread in many, especially in economically underdeveloped countries.
On the other hand, recycling has several positive sides. Thus, the state provides material support for industrial enterprises that have expressed a desire to contribute to the purification of the planet from waste. Tierney (2015) emphasized that “the environmental benefits of recycling come chiefly from reducing the need to manufacture new products – less mining, drilling, and logging.” (para. 18). Moreover, significant funds are allocated to combat harmful emissions into the environment. Apart from reduced greenhouse gas emissions, recycling due to the fact that a large amount of raw materials is processed gives states the opportunity to stabilize and improve their production capacities. As another comic advantage, we can highlight the fact that large enterprises make large profits since there is practically no competition in the market.
To solve the problem of using a large amount of transport, thereby reducing exhaust gases, recycling all the garbage together was proposed. This is also due to the fact that the demand for processed products is multiplying, and enterprises cannot cope with it. That is why it is proposed to collect all the garbage together and sort it directly at the recycling plant. However, such a decision does not have positive consequences. Such additional work requires new equipment, and the pollution will be transferred to those factories that will produce such equipment. This problem also affects the ratio and predominance of the amount of processed material over the quality. At the moment, most organizations focus on achieving the highest speed of task completion. Thus, even more, significant problems are caused for the planet.
In conclusion, with the rapid development of society and the industrial industry, the problem of waste and garbage processing is particularly acute in modern society. This problem has become severe due to its harmful and irreversible impact on the environment. The evidence for such opinion can be found in the article The Reign of Recycling by John Tierney. Moreover, utilization of waste is still only a small part of refuse disposal. It is not fully used in most industries, even more so in countries with a weak economic situation.
Reference
Tierney, J. (2015). The Reign of recycling.The New York Times. Web.