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Loading...5 Reasons Why People Don’t Recycle and 5 Reasons They Should
- Ronnie Citron-Fink
- August 4, 2011
- 9:07 am
- 268 comments
My last post, “I Don’t Recycle” seems to have struck a chord with many. Leave it to the Care2 community to enlighten, elevate and express their opinions on why people do and do not recycle.
Most of us believe that recycling is ethically the right thing to do. From the comments on the post, it was evident that sadly, we all seem to have friends, family and acquaintances that do not recycle. Below are some of the reasons why people do not recycle and why they should:
5 Reasons Why People Do Not Recycle
1. “Recycling is inconvenient.”
This seems to be the number one reason why people don’t recycle – they don’t want to put in the extra effort. Some places have no pick-up. Some people say that they just can’t be bothered. Is that a good enough reason?
2. “I do not have enough space in my home to recycle.”
The lack of space is an issue for many. People don’t want to see garbage and with little storage space for recycling bins, the trash is an eyesore. Is that a good enough reason?
3. “If they paid me, I’d recycle.”
Some countries fine people for not recycling. Some regions pay for just bottle recycling (we know that works). Some areas have no penalties or incentives for recycling. Is that a good enough reason?
4. “Recycling doesn’t make a difference. So why do it?”
Misinformation about overflowing landfills, depleted resources and climate change has convinced some people that recycling doesn’t make a difference. They believe there is no problem. Is that a good enough reason?
5. “It is just to hard to do.”
Since there are so many facets to recycling – bottle, plastic and paper, it’s hard to decipher which kinds go where. Is that a good enough reason?
5 Reasons Why People Should Recycle
1. “Recycling saves energy.”
Recycling saves energy because the manufacturer doesn’t have to produce something new from raw natural resources. By using recycled materials we save on energy consumption, which keeps production costs down.
2. “Recycling reduces landfills.”
Recycling reduces the need for more landfills. No one wants to live next to a landfill.
3. “Recycling preserves our resources and protects wildlife.”
By recycling, we reduce the need to destroy habitats for animals. Paper recycling alone saves millions of trees.
4. “Recycling is good for the economy.”
Recycling and purchasing recycled products creates a greater demand for more recycled goods. Goods made from recycled materials use less water, creates less pollution and uses less energy.
5. “Recycling helps our climate problems.”
Recycling produces considerably less carbon, which reduces the amount of unhealthy greenhouse gas omissions.
Add some more reasons why you do or do not recycle.
Read more: Conservation, EcoNesting, Green, Home, animal habitats, economics, energy, landfills, nature, recycle, reduce, reuse, trees, wildlife
Ronnie Citron-Fink
Ronnie Citron-Fink is a writer, editor and educator. She has written hundreds of articles about sustainable living, the environment, design, and family life for websites, books and magazines. Ronnie is the creator of Econesting, and the managing editor of Moms Clean Air Force. Ronnie was named one of the Top Ten Living Green Experts by Yahoo. Ronnie lives in New York with her family.
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
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268 comments
+ add your owni think the individual can’t make much difference to climate change unless governments and companies make changes first. On example is with items put into recycling bins in the uk are not always recycled this is because the is not enough recycling plant this the waste in recycling bins goes to landfill
Recycling is a good idea BUT it needs to come after 1--Reduce use and 2-Reuse. Recycling should only be the 3rd option after these two. Thanks for good reasons to do it, though.
What a stupid messageboard. At least tell me that there is a word limit before I spend half an hour refuting all of your poorly researched points.Well, suffice to say, everything she wrote in the original post is wrong, and short internet searches should prove this to you at least to a basic degree.
Oh what a thoughtful, well considered article! None of this has been written, ad-nauseam, before. Unfortunately, every. single. item. you posted is categorically wrong. Against your best intentions, recycling is far away from something that we should be doing.
1. “Recycling saves energy.”
Recycling saves energy because the manufacturer doesn’t have to produce something new from raw natural resources. By using recycled materials we save on energy consumption, which keeps production costs down
Nope, completely incorrect. The energy expended to recycle resources is, in most cases, far greater than the energy it takes to produce new materials from raw resources. Just imagining the process of picking up recyclables, hauling to a recycling center, sorting, processing, shipping to specialized recycling centers, processing, re-packaging, shipping to manufacturer should, intuitively seem like it would consume more energy. Because it does.
2. “Recycling reduces landfills.”
Recycling reduces the need for more landfills. No one wants to live next to a landfill.
There is some truth to this, but it really obfuscates the reality. A landfill only 10 miles square would be able to hold the entirety of the trash this country produces for the next century. There is hardly a need to worry about people "living near landfills" when they take up such a small relative space and are incredibly safe and discrete when properly planned, as all modern landfills are.
Our town is very small. There is no recycling area at all. There are redemption centers in the next town for bottles and cans and we do use that....when we HAVE bottles and cans. We try to get several uses out of paper/plastic bags before we recycle those, too. For us, its often better
not to buy some things in the first place, like bottled or canned beverages when we can make up a pitcher at home.
We're also big believers in Bring Your Own Drink in a reusable travel mug.
We're trying to reduce the amount of trash we throw out, too, although that's slow-going.
#1 reason why people don't recycle: "I'm a lazy ass".
I was always taught the three letters R’s, reduce, reuse, recycle and that it was a good thing to do because it helps the environment. However just like the article mentioned the effort of actually separating your trash seems boring and unattractive. However after reading this article it made me realize that recycling is not only about trash but how it can save a vast amount of energy. Almost any business can successfully divert food discards from landfills. Businesses with record-setting food diversion programs are recovering 50% to 100% of their food discards and reducing their overall solid waste by 33% to 85%.
No recycling program should be mandatory. We do not need to invite more government control and regulation into our lives. If materials are clearly unhealthy to ourselves or the environment, than manufacturers ought not be producing such products merely because they provide convenience to people. The degree of harm to both people and the environment from many such product is highly skeptical, often based upon biased, unconfirmed research--junk science.
Much of the "green" posture in business represents nothing more than a marketing ploy to manipulate individual buying habits [more of a money-transfer scheme from one industry segment to another. Example: wind and solar energy production [especially for consumers]. The old adage of "follow the money trail" is quite appropriately applied when it comes to "green" products.
The cost of "recycling" any material ought to be included in the price of the product when it is sold. If recycled, that cost should be placed into the hands of the individual that recycles the item in question. Our existing process [by design and collusion with politicians who enact special-interest legislation] only enables consumers to receive a stipend [unacceptable] as compared to the materials dealers who receive the bulk of the value of the recycled material.
Allow the free market to work. We should not tolerate the manipulation and profiting by special interest groups that collude with politicians to benefit from unnecessary legislat
To dismiss non-recyclers as lazy and selfish only shows that YOUR energy and concern do not extend to other people. Martina and Elke pointed out a few of the real reasons people don't recycle. To ignore their posts and just attribute it to not caring means you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. I don't care how faithfully you recycle, you can multiply your effect by bringing in other people - but you'll never do that by simply dismissing their difficulties; you'll only alienate them.
The main reasons some people don't recycle? Pure idleness and selfishness!
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