Can you help me by answering a short questionnaire on recycling?

Question

If you could answer this I could be very appreciative :)

What age group do you fall in? 10- 20 21-30 31-40 41-50 50+

Do you understand why recycling is important?

Do your family recycle? - Why?

If you recycle, how long have you been doing so for?

How do you think we can influence people to recycle?

What are the recycling procedures in your local area?

Do you think people should be making more of an effort to recycle?

Any additional comments?

Thanks :)

Answer 1

10-20, yes, yes because we know its good for the environment, for as long as we could do it, intiatives provided by the local government, I'm a college student so I don't know the local stuff where I go to schoo, yes.

Answer 2

-21-30

-yes, we need to save the earth, she's taxed to the max

-yes, we recycle to help save precious resources and to limit our carbon footprint

-1 year so far, my new year's resolution last year was to become green!  so far so good!

-awareness, peole don't realize that they impact the earth one water bottle at a time!

-very good, they take everything; magazines, newspapers, cans, plastics, cardboard but we need to start composting and reusing more though!

-i think that now is a really good time in recycling because it's everywhere now.  Living with Ed and other shows have helped us to realize the impact that we make.   i think people turned a blind eye to it because it wasn't in their face all the time.  But global warming and weird weather make the news nightly now, you can't ignore it anymore!

-start small, my goal last year was to learn about a different recycling product that they took in our area a week.  learn everything about it and find where i was using it and how to recycle it properly.  now it's like second nature to me.  now i am moving on to bigger goals, like eco-proofing my house!  it does seem like there are so many other things that i could be doing but by taking it one task at a time i am slowly getting in the groove of things and informing and educating others.  baby steps, always remember baby steps!!  good luck!!

Answer 3

I am in the 21-30 yrs age group

I know recycling is important because it minimizes the amount of new material we need to make from our natural resources.

I recycle religiously, My family tries as much as they can.. Why? It cuts down on garbage and saves money on garbage tags.

We could influence people to recylce by bringing our overflowing landfills to their attention.

In my area, a recycling truck comes at 6am once a week, we also have a recycling depot so we can drop off our own recycling.

I agree that people should make more of an effort to recycle, even though some people think recycling is a waste of time and creates MORE pollution than it saves (recycling trucks, the cleaning and melting down procedures)

Thanks for the awesome quesitonaire!

Answer 4

-i'm 10-20

-yes

-yes. becuase it's good for the environment, and it costs less money to reuse something than to build somethign from scratch, hence lower prices

-my family has been for years

-telling them how it effects the environment and the economy

-i'm not sure, my parents take care of the recycling for our family

-yes

-nope

Answer 5

I am in age 21-30 group and I am former student of High School for Environmental Studies and I attend Recycling Club.

Reason recycling is very important issue are:

1. Reduce the garbage.

2. Helping the environmental and endangered species.

In my former school, Recycling Club do visit to each classroom and do presentation why Recycling is important. We also make poster or sign. Custodian had s***w the lid on paper recycle bin (usually white or green), and so only paper can be fit (but not that garbage).

3. When I was in school, after school, Recycling Club team

will collect lots of paper or bottles/cans without lid and take out to street where Sanitation Department takes it to recycle.

4. Yes, people really need to stop being lazy and care about environmental because Recycling is most important project.

Answer 6

21-30

yes!!

Yes, I want to have children some day and I want them to live as we do. Not to have to stay inside on certain days because of the sum or smog, acid rain things like that. The earth has given so much to us we need to give back.

I think the truth is always bets but you have to get the message to peolpe in a way they can understad. Like TV, every one watches so start showing comercials that show what is happening. Real images of over full land fills and what these land fills are doing to peoples health.

The give you a bucket you can use it if you like. pick it up on trash day.

YES!! I like out side of dallas tx. I know if FT Worth (TX) that if you throw glass bottles in your trash can you get a fine of about $200.00. That would definatly get some peoples attention!!

Thanks for asking. What are you doing with this survey??

Answer 7

41- 50 yes  recycleing is important  to conserve our resources. Yes  we recycle, for the above reasons. I have been recycleing since I was in my  20's. Information is the best incluence. There are  bins placed  in my comunity and many services for the same. Yes on makeing more of a effort, again  information is the best  way to increase that.

Answer 8

1.31-40

2.Yes

3.Yes - responsible thing to do

4.At least 15 years, hardcore

5.Make it mandatory, social peer pressure, and stop giving tax breaks to corporations that make materials out of virgin sources. There is no manditory recycling in eastern Colorado.

6.We compost, I also turn mixed paper into mulch (because no one will take it) and then we pay for 1 and 2 plastic, metal and glass to be recycled.

7.Yes

8.People are generally lazy or just don't give a d**n unless they think it is going to cost them or "whats in it for me" mentality needs to change or the future is going to be in a world of hurt. Refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle in that order.

Answer 9

---- 31 to 40

---- Yes in some respects it is, however it can cost more and be more harmful to the environment to recycle some materials as transport and electricity cost cause more problems with pollution.

---- Yes, only items which don't have an impact on the environment.

---- It should start with manufacturing.

---- Green bin for food, paper, cardboard, and anything else than can degrade quickly and be used to make compost.

Black bin for everything else.

----- Not particularly

Answer 10

I am 40.  Recycling is of utmost importance to the environment and future generations.  Yes, we recycle because I feel strongly that our society is far too disposable and selfish in regards to the stuff we consume.  I've been recycling since 1990.  Pick up your friends stuff for them if they aren't inclined.  Educate the elementary kids, jr. high and especially high schoolers who will soon be in charge of their own households.  My town of Hot Springs, AR recycles only aluminum cans, corrugated cardboard, and newspaper.  Garland County also recycles steel cans, 1 and 2 plastic and white office paper.  The City just stopped recycling clear glass last week.  Yes, the community at large are lazy, litterbugs with apparently no conscious in regards to trash.  I think cities should follow the models in San Francisco that imposes fines on those consumers NOT recycling.  Unfortunately, the way to Americans minds, by and large, is through their pocketbooks.

Answer 11

I am in my late 50s and have been recycling for years.  My grown up children have also been re-cycling for ages to such an extent that my daughter sometimes wishes she could have something new for a change.  Many people are still happy to keep buying new and trashing their old stuff and rubbish mountains still carry on growing.  I am working for a renewables company and their ethics strongly influence all staff.  

I believe you can influence people by pointing out that the things that you pushing into your bin will end up as backfill and ultimately in someone else's back garden with all the gases etc that they emit not to mention all the animals, fish and birds who are killed by the rubbish.

Re-cyling in this part of central Scotland is good and getting better all the time but we could all still make the effort to find of way of re-cycling different types of plastic like the tops of milk containers.  However, because I live in the countryside I have to drive to the re-cycling centre as there is no collection, not very ecological!

Answer 12

Good luck on your project--here are my answers :)

1)  21-30

2) Yes. Recycling is important because it conserves our natural resources. Not only the resources which actually make-up the material (i.e., the oil in the plastic container), but it also reduces the environmental impacts which indirectly result from resource extraction (i.e. drilling for oil, refining the oil, etc.). Reducing and reusing things are always better than recycling them, but recycling them is definitely better than just throwing them in a big heap (read: landfill) and covering it up for the next 100 years.

3) Yes, we do...see reasons above.

4) We've been recycling for years--my husband grew up recycling, as did I; we both recycled throughout college, and after we got married. If you need a number, I'd guestimate ~15 years

5) For a college paper/project, I surveyed students at Arizona State about the on-campus recycling program. The most clear result was that people will do it if it is *convenient*. Recycling bins must be prominently positioned and frequent in number (i.e. paired alongside every trash can). Although they understand in general that recycling is "good", they will not go out of their way (typically) to recycle stuff.

6) In Houston, it's not set up very well (and gee, they have low participation rates, I wonder why)...if you live in a neighborhood, you have to get your neighborhood on a list before the city will initiate recycling service in your area. Otherwise, you have to drop recyclables off at community centers, which are not always conveniently located. On the plus side, they did recently help initiate a partnership between our local grocery store (HEB), Keep Houston Beautiful, and a disposal company to place bins in the grocery store parking lots--this seems to be very popular so far. (note: they made it MORE CONVENIENT!) As far as what you can recycle, Houston takes most everything, depending on which community drop-off point you have (i.e. some take e-waste, others don't), but a notable exception is chipboard (i.e. cereal boxes). See: http://www.houstontx.gov/solidwaste/recy...

As for us, we have to go to a community drop-off because the city of Houston will not serve apartment complexes.

7) Absolutely--the amount of waste in our country is disgusting to me. My husband and I joke that with all the household goods we've seen thrown into the dumpsters around our complex, we could've furnished our entire apartment with it. We've personally saved books, tables, (fake) floral arrangements, and a pet carrier from the trash, among other items.

8) Additional comments...although I'm not confident that this would translate into higher recycling rates, I think it's extremely important that the general level of awareness is raised about what exactly recycling benefits (and what it doesn't)...as noted above, recycling isn't only about conserving glass, aluminum, trees, etc. It's benefits ripple way, way beyond it through the product's "life cycle" (the chain of events that leads from a product's extraction, manufacture, transport, use, and disposal). For example, let's say I recycle an aluminum can. Most people will get the idea that they have saved X amount of aluminum from being dumped in a landfill, and instead it is being redirected to say, another aluminum can. But what does that really mean? It means the following:

a) X amount of aluminum ore does not have to be mined, therefore leading to reduced mining impacts (reduction to health risks for miners, reduction in acid mine drainage, reduction in land clearing (which conserves habitat, improves water quality, reduces greenhouse gases, etc.), reduction in air pollution from mining equipment)

b) X amount of aluminum ore that does not have to be (raw) processed (reduction in energy consumption (which leads to reduction in air pollution, water usage, etc.), reduction in air pollution from mine processing facilities, reduction in solid waste ore, etc.)

c) a likely reduction in transport (air pollution, fuel usage) to the product manufacturer because it is likely the recycling facility will be closer to the manufacturer than the mine will.

d) a reduction in landfill usage, which translates to reduced water pollution and soil contamination, and preservation of land for other types of uses.

On the other hand, most people also don't realize that recycling is not in and of itself an "environmentally friendly" process either...recycling also consumes energy, produces air pollution, consumes water resources, etc. That's why reducing and reusing products is better than recycling them. Still, on the whole, recycling is better than just throwing products away.

I think if people were more cognizant of the complexities and interrelatedness of resource management and usage (i.e. how a product is made, how a resource is extracted--the whole life cycle), and how recycling helps make this "greener", then perhaps there would be a greater sense of urgency on the part of the public to do so more often and more effectively. That's my hope, anyway, for what it's worth :)

Christine

Answer 13

I am 33, and graduated with an Ecology degree.

I do understand why recycling is important.

Yes, I  recycle - It is mandatory in our area.

Have recycled since about 2001.

To influence people, it must be made easy.  The more difficult it is and the more "rules" that go along with it, the less people will want to do it.

In my area, all plastic, glass, and paper gets recycled.  We just put everything in one blue bin and the trash men pick it up on Fridays.

I do think people should make more of an effort, but like I said above... it must be made easy for people to do so.  Most people dont like any sort of change and they really oppose being told what to do.

It would be much easier to make a good public sale for recycling if it was more profitable and/or efficient.