Recycling: Working for a Better World

With this we save a lot of energy and water that can be used in other ways, we don't pollute our air and we save our forests. Diaz 1Katy DiazMethodsMrs. BethMay 12, 1998 Recycling: working for a better world Recycling saves trees, raw materials, energy, water and earth space. If we get all these benefits, why shouldn't we recycle? Yes, we are really lazy but think on the long run. If we continue destroying our world, tomorrow there won't be green trees or even us. We should try to recycle today for a better tomorrow. One form is to recycle all the products that we use at home.

Recycling means "material salvage also called recycling, recovery and reuse of materials from spent products. The principal motives for recycling have been the increasing scarcity and cost of natural resources" (Material salvage ). There's a famous saying: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. In order to understand, this we should know what each term means. Reduce means to prevent everything that generates unnecessary waste. Reuse means to give the maximum utility to the things without having to throw them away, if they are still good.

Recycle means to use the products over and over again. Diaz 2 If we want to live in a clean world, we should think of how we can improve the damage that has already been done to it. We should use less unnecessary products and produce the minimum amount of trash. When we go and buy things, we should ask ourselves: How can I reduce my amount of waste? Could I reuse, refill, recycle or return the products I'm buying? If we think about this, our shopping would have a change not only what we use but what is being manufactured.

"The alternative which is the most trustful in order to prevent the destruction of our planet is a change in our consuming habits" ( Buenrostro and Padilla 1 ). There are four main groups of products that can be recycled. The first and the most is paper, since 17 trees are needed to produce one ton of paper ( Environment 1 ). Then is the glass, metals and plastics. If we recycle these products our world would make a radical change. All we need is each one's effort to recycle so we can save our world. We can recycle glass. When we throw glass bottles, we are destroying something that used raw materials for its fabrication.

" If we recycle the glass, we save 32% of the energy which is required to make new glass " ( Buenrostro and Padilla n.p.). Also we reduce 20% of the pollution ( Buenrostro Diaz 3and Padilla n.p. ). We should clean them up and refill them over and over again. When we do this we are saving a lot of energy. " For every ton of recycled glass we save one ton of resources" ( Buenrostro and Padilla n.p.). Recycling glass cuts water pollutants by 50% ( Environment 1 )." If you recycle one single glass, you save enough energy to run a 100 watt bulb for four hours " (Environment 1). "Many papers are thrown away each year. Fifty million tons of paper is thrown away each year in the USA " (Environment 1).

If we recycle, we will save 33% of the energy that needed to make it, also every ton that's recycled saves twenty-eight thousand liters of water ( Buenrostro and Padilla n.p. ). Trees are the essential elements in the ecological equilibrium of our planet. They are the ones that produce our oxygen and absorb the CO. If we use trees to produce paper that wasn't necessary, in the long run, our oxygen will disappear. The use of metal is widely recommended because metals are very easily recycled. If we collect all the metals that we have trashed, we could create millions of pipes and cables to Diaz 4transport electricity ( Buenrostro and Padilla n.p. ). If we recycle one pound of steel, we save power for running a 60 Watt bulb for many hours.

"Aluminum cans are 100% recyclable- there are no lids, caps or labels left after the product is consumed from the can" ( Fact 1). " When an aluminum can is recycled, sufficient energy is saved in order to make a television function for three hours" ( Environment 1). If we recycle cans it saves 95% of the energy that's required to make new cans( Fact 1). Recycled cans reduces the air pollution in a 94% and we avoid high emanations of SO that causes acid rain.( Buenrostro and Padilla n.p.). "

Aluminum cans are about 20% cheaper to recycle than to make " ( Recycling 102).If we reuse, reduce and recycle we save natural resources, energy, water, raw materials, effort, time and money. There are many recycling programs in the world that exist long time ago and still exist. In the USA they exist since 1988 ( Recycling 103 ). I ask myself, why in Mexico the Mexican government doesn't make any recycling programs?People who recycle have many benefits. One is that they are saving the world. Second is that in special places like Seattle, USA the ones who recycle the best, have the privilege to pay less for the removal of their garbage( Recycling 102 ).

" In order to recycle, laundry detergents were more concentrated to fit into smaller boxes, toothpaste was sold without boxes and the wrapping with plastic was reduce " (Recycling 104). Recycling brings many important aspects to our lives. We should try and bring the act of recycling to our daily lives because in the long run it will benefit us. We would still have trees, clean air and water. If we don't start to work for our future, our future will be really dramatic. Let's recycle today so tomorrow we will have all the things we need to survive.