Some may say that there is no point to recycling ,as the processes used to recycle have serious drawbacks?

Question

IE It costs more to recycle and may even damage the environment more-- OK peaple ,i am on the side of recycling and i really need some good counter points to this question

-links would be a good bonus -cheers

Answer 1

Sorry you are onto a loser there.

The issue is that the time, effort and money involved means that the result is paltry and not worth it.

It all very well saying recycle - but for every one can that is recycled here in the UK hundreds will be dumped world wide.

The people who should be targeted is the people that churn out the stuff in the first place not us poor gits who don't have a choice at the bottom end of the scale.

Answer 2

recycling means to re-use

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Answer 3

Recycling is the end point of the three R's chain.  Reduce (e.g. what you use, buy, the packaging it comes in, the distance it has been transported etc.) Reuse (before you thow someting out can it be reused at home/by someone else - see freecycle) and finally recycle!

Answer 4

I think people are making too much of a fuss over the recycling issue. Recycling starts with the simplest of things - writing your shopping list on an old envelope, birthday cards from cornflake boxes,, even giving the kids at school old packaging for them to do junk modelling with (which they love). I grew up with parents who lived through wartime, where everything was used and nothing was wasted. Too many people are wasteful - I mean, does anyone really need to buy a whole new wardrobe every season? (which was probably made by some poor exploited kid in Thailand).

Being green should be more about not overusing stuff, and being a little more thoughtful about the things you do use.

Answer 5

You're looking for the drawbacks of recycling? Wikipedia is a REALLY great site, I left the link in my source and it has a few really interesting points they make about the non-beneficial points of recycling. I think it's unnecessary in some parts of the world, but the USA could really use it with the pollution we've grown accustom to because it's rather unhealthy. I'd like to see how people respond to this question as well.

Answer 6

I would have thought there was a plenty-big point to recycling, even if only from the individuals point of view. As has already been mentioned, the generations who lived through the World Wars can testify to this. We are aware,at last, that many of our rescources are finite, therefore it should be seen as important to maximise the use we make of every last bit of what we take, make or modify.

Exhaust what we already have before we use up our last.

Answer 7

i think many people who are saying that are only looking at one component. In many cases the amount of material saved from the landfill, the overall  monitary savings, and the savings of energy are very large. I suspect that many people do not take all of these into account or do not realize how big they are. For instance recyling aluminum doens't just save aluminum, it saves all those things that are used in getting it in the first place. some times it can be 4-5 tons of *other* material saved for every 1 ton recycled.

that being said, our system does need improvement. some recycling methods could potentially cause problems in other areas. BUT, we should push for better methods rather than just not recycling. whenever we say something like "alternative methods don't work, we should not used them" what we are really saying is, "we *want* to stick with what we were doing"

Answer 8

As you say recycling can have drawbacks, however recycling can have many good sides ie, people think about the goods that they buy and the packaging that the good come in, I currently work for a large retail company (not my choise of jobs but it is necessary at this time).  This company is actively trying to reduce what packaging are on the goods and many customers are aware that they can leave the excess packaging at the store.  

Recycling can make people aware of what they are buying and passing on goods that are surplus to requirements.  Many colleges now have "exchange days" where surplus goods are taken in and no money is used, and you take what you need.

There are many schemes that are in place now that advercate recycling and not just with paper and cans etc.

Answer 9

I think it is fair that to recycle because if we don't, we will have to go out of Earth.

Answer 10

i have a serious point before i answer....we wash out our recyclables but at what cost to us?why can we not just put unclean stuff into bin?..there must be plenty of unclean stuff that they deal with so why use valuable water we do not need to use?

using our own "hot" water to clean out our recycle stuff must cost more than theirs right?

even running the tap costs me and maybe more than it saves

Answer 11

I use to be all about it! My aunt did it so I always kept scrap pieces of paper from school. Even to the point where I stopped my friends from throwing some of it away & if there wasn't anything wrong with it I'd stuff it in a pocket in my binder & bring this bag full to my aunt by the end of the week!!

But now I don't worry about it. A few organizations have said pretty much don't worry about it. Because I'm sure it does cost more & other things. I think it would be a pain, sometimes people don't sort it right. I'm sure people throw stuff in the wrong container (paper, plastic, cans, etc.) all the time, that to me would seem like a pain in the butt.

This isn't really answering your question but it's my point of view; I agree with what other people think.