Recycling Should be Made Compulsory

The beauty of life is in the environment in which people live. The state of the environment affects virtually all aspects of human life, and anything that pollutes the environment takes away the joy and happiness associated with a clean environment. Imagine living in a pollution-free environment with fresh air, clean water, and the sweet sounds of wild animals spicing up life in the universe. Sadly, dumping waste in a pit is part of waste management. Technological advancements have introduced recycling as an effective waste management method that can restore the glory and beauty of human life by keeping the environment clean. Reusing the waste instead of dumping it in a dumping site can help reduce the amount of waste materials and serve as the best way of conserving natural resources (Lamma, 2021). However, despite the benefits associated with recycling, many people will still dump waste materials in a dumpsite instead of recycling them. The many benefits of recycling offer a firm basis for why recycling should be made compulsory.

First, waste management is an expensive practice that should be addressed before it escalates into a more significant challenge that will cost governments more money. People produce waste daily, including plastic, paper, organic, and domestic waste. Most of these wastes pose a significant environmental risk as they do not readily decompose. Plastic waste from polymer has been the main threat to the environment. "World practice indicates an increase in the production of polymer products from recycled materials, which completely replaces the raw materials in products whose production standards allow such a replacement" (Gubanova et al., 2019). Disposing of such wastes in a dump site causes harm to the environment, as much of this waste leads to water, land, and air contamination. The long-term effects of such contamination are global issues like climate change, global warming, and other adverse occurrences like hurricanes and earthquakes. Recycling can help minimize the amount of waste released to the environment, thus saving the government the cost of managing high quantities of waste.

Secondly, recycling conserves natural resources. The world today is experiencing a significant problem caused by the scarcity of natural resources. The actual cause of such a problem is the misuse of natural resources, which is closely linked with people's waste management strategies. Every essential aspect of the environment is staring at the threat of running out. The clean air, water, forests, animals, and all other ecosystem elements are now being depleted at a higher rate despite the awareness of the importance of conserving the environment. Research conducted by the Global Foundation in 2017 found that recycling can help conserve natural resources as it helps minimize the quantity of raw materials that could have been used in making new products (Lamma, 2021). As per the research, recycling one tonne of plastic materials can help save over sixteen barrels of oil. On such grounds, making recycling compulsory will help the world conserve natural resources.

Recycling helps minimize pollution. Dumping waste in a landfill and then burning it causes environmental pollution. Plastics, chemical wastes, and other forms of waste in landfills cause pollution by contaminating air, water, and soil. When people embrace recycling, the amount of waste reaching landfills drops, which, in turn, causes a significant reduction in the rate of pollution posed by the waste. The production of new products also creates a considerable amount of pollution. For instance, producing new products requires raw materials and energy use extraction. The resultant effect of making new products is a residue that may come as smoke and water, especially in the industrial production of goods. Statistics indicate that a seventy-five percent increase in recycling rates has the same effect as taking 55 million cars off U.S. roads annually (Recycle Across America, 2010). Such statistics add to the evidence of why the government should make recycling compulsory.

Recycling helps save energy. Various forms of energy drive today's world, and every human activity needs some energy to fuel it. The cars people drive, the machines used in production, and the many operations happening on the farms all need energy. It is in the world's best interests that all people should adopt practices that save energy and give the maximum value to human life. Recycling differs from the production of a new product in terms of the demand for energy and the tasks involved. Producing a new product is costly regarding energy consumption, so recycling is the best way to save energy. According to Lamma (2021), in the paper industry, recycling causes a 62% reduction in energy consumption; in the aluminum industry, recycling causes a 94% decrease in energy consumption, while in glass and plastic recycling, a reduction of 37% in energy consumption is attained. Such levels of energy reduction add to the many reasons why recycling should be made compulsory for everyone, as recycling will ensure that the world saves a considerable amount of energy. Through recycling, the cost of production will be reduced, and industries will produce more goods at a lower price.

Recycling prevents/reduces the loss of biodiversity. Biodiversity refers to all components that make up the environment. Animals, plants, and even microorganisms like bacteria are all components of biodiversity. Each of these components has a role in the environment; the components work together and coexist in the ecosystem. For instance, plants and animals benefit from each other in that plants take in carbon dioxide and give out oxygen that animals use for respiration. The animals take in oxygen and give out carbon dioxide that the plants need. This implies that the ecosystem must balance to ensure that all these components coexist in the environment (Lamma, 2021). When the environment is polluted, the ecological balance is affected, and many living organisms find themselves struggling to survive in a polluted environment. Recycling helps prevent biodiversity loss by ensuring the environment is free from pollution. Making recycling compulsory ensures that the ecological balance is maintained and all components of biodiversity can coexist and benefit from the environment.

Lastly, recycling is suitable for a country's economy. With the increasing population and the decreasing trend in natural resources, the world is experiencing a significant problem with job creation. The unemployment rate is relatively high, and many people struggle to survive. Statistics indicate that disposing of waste in a landfill needs less workforce than recycling the same amount (Lamma & Swamy, 2015). The country's current state in terms of employment should not have been the case had the country made recycling a compulsory practice in the United States. Recycling is quite a long process that needs various people to work on, with each person engaging in different tasks in the recycling process. "Recycling involves dismantling, i.e., removal of different parts of e-waste containing dangerous substances like PCB, Hg, separation of plastic, removal of CRT, segregation of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, and printed circuit boards" (Lamma & Swamy, 2015). At a time when countries are struggling with unemployment, recycling can be a helpful practice that creates employment, and the sale of recycled products may bring in more income. Disposing of waste in a landfill presents no income to the government, so recycling should be compulsory.

In conclusion, the state of the environment in the current world calls for a serious commitment to waste management. An analysis of the current practices in waste management presents the need to adopt recycling as the only way to manage waste and save the environment from the various forms of pollution caused by waste materials disposal in landfills. Recycling and reusing are two practices that can make the environment safer and more conducive for humans and other living organisms. The noble act of making recycling a compulsory practice can save the country extensively. Recycling minimizes pollution, saves energy, conserves natural resources, creates employment, prevents biodiversity loss, and saves the government from losing money in managing waste materials. Though the public is aware of the benefits of recycling, only a small group is willing to engage in recycling. A massive chunk of the population is used to dump waste material in landfills, a practice that causes pollution and many other problems in human life. Making recycling compulsory is the only way to make people adopt such a strategy for effectively managing waste materials.