Recycling_Is_Good_for_the_Economy

RECYCLING IS GOOD FOR THE ECONOMY It is very common sight at my work place to see my colleagues dispose their waste into any kind of waste bin without any hesitation. Whether it is food waste, paper material, scrap metal or a plastic bottle, they choose a closest bin to dispose their waste. This happens despite the presence of specific bins with bold letters that are purposely placed adjacent to each other for specific wastes. How often many of us see this kind of behavior all most everywhere, especially in public places' Why anyone indeed need to worry too much about this' Obviously there are no regulations or serious consequences barring anyone from doing so! But the fact forgotten is that tons of reusable solid waste as often thrown as mixed garbage, which could end up creating more and more landfills in our country. According to Natural Resources Canada website, of the thirty Metric ton waste that Canadians produce annually, only six metric ton has been recycled and the rest twenty four metric ton (78%) has been discarded. How much longer can we wait to act before landfill and garbage disposal cost goes through the roof' Therefore Recycling should be made mandatory in Canada to benefit our economy in many important ways such as to reduce pollution, to conserve natural resources and improve economic development. Recycling is the process of taking some of our garbage and re-use it repeatedly, that would otherwise pollute our eco-system. In the absence of mandatory recycling people have “nice to do” option which require more and more landfills to be opened in order to handle the recyclable garbage. This will in turn increases the greenhouse gases and pollute our environment. “Estimates have shown that over 25 Mega tons (Mt) of CO2 (methane) equivalent is being generated annually from Canadian landfills. This is the equivalent to approximately 5.5 million cars on the road.”(Environment Canada). Moreover, when products are made using recovered rather than virgin materials, less energy is used during manufacturing and consequently fewer pollutants are emitted. For example, land filling one ton of aluminum means that one ton will be produced from virgin material. This process consumes more energy than one ton of aluminum produced from recycled material.(“Waste Management”). This theory can be applied to glass, plastic, newspaper, tires etc. Landfills are also a source of continuous contamination of underground water and soil, because their hazardous materials eventually pass through. Further, recycling in public (parks, playgrounds, sidewalks) and private (industrial, commercial, condominiums) places have been less enforced. The municipal authorities should weigh the cost against the consequences of pollution and implement a must do policy. “Waste creation will continue in the same trend as the economic and population growth unless recycling is made as a national priority.”(Natural Resources). Therefore to overcome this poor trend of recycling, it is paramount that provincial and local governments should make recycling mandatory to make people more serious about this issue and help create pollution free environment. Secondly, mandatory recycling will further help to conserve natural resources and maintain natural balance of the planet. It is widely known that recovered materials such as scrap metal, paper materials, electronics, minerals and timber plays a vital role in today’s manufacturing process. Some of them are derived from scarce resources such as forestry and minerals. The more we recycle these wastes, the lesser that we need to use newer raw materials and hence preserve limited resources. For example, high energy savings from recycling steel, aluminum and paper are 74, 95, and 100 percent respectively. (“Recycling”). Moreover, as stated in the Natural Resources Canada website, enhanced recovery also offers an opportunity to benefit the Canadian economy, as manifested by the fact that global demand for secondary materials is increasing. Therefore, today more than half of the total global metal feedstock is recycled material. To implement recycling very effectively, everyone must do this hundred percent in our daily routine. This means we must reuse materials and packaging, wherever possible. However, many of us fail to pay attention to this concept without realizing the long term consequences. Therefore, mandatory recycling will greatly benefit our economy and the future generation to conserve natural resources. Finally, effective recycling can pave the way to improve economic development as it represents a significant portion of Canada’s GDP and labour market. According to Canadian Association of Recycling industries data, in the year 2007, scrap metal exports contributed approximately three billion dollars and employed over 120000 people. Additionally, varieties of recycle materials have enormous potential to generate income at various stages. (Recycling). So, it is important that the more we encourage the recycling efforts, the better that we can improve these figures. However, in the absence of any regulations people can only be encouraged but not required to recycle. For example, only after the government introduced laws to prohibit smoking in public places and banning using mobile devices while driving, many of us started to pay serious attention towards the consequences, knowing very well the dangers that these can pose to the society. Further, mandatory recycling can reduce a huge amount of money, which the local municipalities spend on landfills and disposals (“where Greater”) and this savings can be diverted to improve transportation, community activities and parks as such things can collectively boost economic development. Even though critics may argue that it would cost more to setup an effective recycling network structure than send the waste to landfills. However, if the authorities can overcome this initial setup cost then the advantages outweigh far more than the disadvantages. Mandatory recycling does not require people to adopt or change anything drastically except that it will force them to change their trash habits. Therefore, from the above stated reasons, we may safely conclude that although the existing recycling initiatives had been producing very effective results for decades, it is time to move on to the next phase of this very important issue and intensify this process in order to further reduce pollution, conserve natural resources and improve economic development in the country. Works Cited Canadian Association of Recycling. 14 Nov 2009. Environment Canada. “Landfill Gas.” 21 Mar 03. 17 Nov 09. Natural Resources Canada “Enhanced Recycling.”30 Sep 2009. 16 Nov 2009. “Recycling.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. 2009 http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm'PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0006714 15 Nov 2009. “Waste Management and Climate Change.” Environment Canada. 20 Feb 2003. 14 Nov 2009. “Where Greater Toronto's trash goes.” Toronto Star (Canada) 15 Feb 2006: B05. Canadian points of view reference centre. Web. 16 Nov 2009.