Yesterday morning my friend and I were hanging out before class, and like always she was drinking a can of soda. When we got up to go to class she got up to throw away her candy bar wrapper and soda can. On her way to the trash can I reminded her to recycle her soda can (the recycle bin was a grand total of three steps away from the trash can). She then replied that she didn’t feel like walking over to recycle it. I then told her that her aluminium will be sitting in a landfill for years until it decomposed. She then stated that she didn’t care and threw away her can.
So here’s some information for all of you who don’t care enough about the environment to take the time to recycle:
Tin cans can take over 300 to break down (but may never)
Aluminium cans take over 300 years to break down (but may never)
Plastic bottles take 50-100years to break down
Glass bottles take over 300 years to break down (but may never)
Plastic milk bottles take 50-100years to break down
Oil from cars takes 10 years to break down
Magazines take 50-100 years to break down
Newspapers take 50-100years to break down
Aerosol cans take over 100 years to break down (but may never)
Milk bottles take over 500 years to break down (but may never)
All of these items can be recycled and used to make new products. When we throw them away we not only stick them in a landfill for hundreds of years, but we also waste resources when we make new products.
So as they say, recycle, it’s good for the bottle, it’s good for the can, it’s good for the environment, it’s good for you.
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Recycling is one of the few ways that our world may remain viable for life in the long run (more than a hundred years from now) and we unfortnately, are 'trashing' our planet, with our trash.
~CallieV
I would definately recycle, but in my town there isn't a place to put the recylcables...but I do hate the things that we're doing to this earth...
That is why I recycle. I made $5 last month, and perhaps more this month. It's not about the money, but a little bit helps. Maybe you should have asked her if you could put it in the recycle trash can.
Recycling is worse for the environment than landfills are (with respect to glass, plastic, paper, and various metals). When you recycle something, you have to use way more energy (that is fuel) to convert it into a usable form. In the process you waste fuel, emit gasses into the air from both the fuel and whatever may be emitted as a result of converting the product to a usable form, and you spend much more money in public works.
The only things worth recycling are metals because they make money (as well as anything with toxic chemicals in it).
The only reason recycling has stayed around this long is because people like to believe that they're doing something good without actually doing anything. If you want to help the environment and save resources or whatever, reuse the things that you might throw away.
--Mike