How is recycling bad?

Question

How is recycling bad?

Answer 1

I don't think that recycling is bad at all, but we don't do it enough to actualy help the enviorment.

Answer 2

Recycling is not a bad thing, its just that not many people are aware of its benefits and how easy it is to get started.

Answer 3

its not, if you be smart about how you do it.

Answer 4

i think it is good becouse you can recycle and make new bottles

Answer 5

Like all things, recycling has its bad points. However, I think that the vast majority--if not all--of its issues are in the short term, while long-term there is simply no comparison.

It takes a lot of resources, energy, time, and money to set up a recycling programme. Basically, it's much simpler just to throw stuff out. When the nearest recycling facility is a long way away, resources can be used up getting the materials there (like a long drive), meaning it can be counter-productive. Equally, there is a lot of waste that goes on in the recycling business, and a lot of it isn't done properly. And of course the finished product isn't of as high quality.

Nonetheless, I don't think any of these arguments are reasonable enough to stop recycling--it's a stage all schemes must go through before the advantages become clear.

Answer 6

I wonder about this question sometimes, when I'm washing my frozen food containers in a lot of potable water and drying them with paper towels before recycling.  I also wonder about it when I'm driving long distances to recycle small amounts of materials. It's complicated.

Answer 7

Recycling itself is not bad, it has huge benefits.

We're just not very efficient about doing it yet.

What we'll have to do eventually, is reclamation from dumps.

Industries are starting to do that in India with plastics.

The soft drink industry is one of the worst contributors.

Glass bottles were easier to recycle than plastic.

Answer 8

It depends what you're recycling. As these three examples of recycled materials show.

Recycling metals is a very old practice and very good.  

Recycling plastic bottles is rather recent, and in terms of oil usage, it's good because we don't need to process as much new plastic, but it's bad because it consumes a lot of energy, and the products made from recycled plastics are "second use", and generally inferior to what can be made from new plastic.  Plastic bottles are not turned into plastic bottles, they're turned into artificial soil or plastic timbers.

Recycling paper takes about as much energy as needed to make new paper.  The resulting recycled paper products are generally of low quality, if turned back into paper.  However, things like insulation and flower pots can be made from shredded paper.

Answer 9

even if we recycle, the recycled product still has to be prosessed some way to make a new product...and it still harms the environment even if you saved a tree...or plastic can...etc

Answer 10

Recycling merits/demerits have to be weighed in light of the specific operation being undertaken i.e whether it is helping reduce GH Emissions,whether any toxic waste is being generated & ofcourse the economics of the operation.

However statistically recycling is mostly beneficial.

Answer 11

I don't know that recycling is bad...it is just not the BEST option for the environment.  The best option is to REDUCE, in that not using anything at all creates no waste, be it from production, or packaging, or throwing the actual item away.  The second best option is to REUSE items, as it only creates waste one time, or at the very least, fewer times.  For example, canvas bags vs. plastic grocery sacks.  Obviously the canvas bag gets many more uses than a single-use sack.  Even if it took the same or even more energy to create, in the long run, it takes less energy when you can use the same thing 100 times, or even two or three times more.  For items which can not be reused, RECYCLING is the best opiton.  Obviously recycling keeps us from having to use virgin materials, and therefore we don't have to do nasty things to Mother Nature...of course, recycling does produce some waste as well, but in most cases it does not create as much, and often keeps toxic materials from winding up in landfills, our water, and other wonderful places.  A biology teacher once pointed out to our class that there is a reason the three conservation "R's" are in that order.  It didn't occur to me until she said it, but now I try to use that as a rule when I think about how to approach my use of any particular item.