The History of Modern Recycling Waste: Ann Byer’s Book Review

The recycling of waste plays a pivotal role in my life so in this essay I will give a review on one of the latest book I have read called 'Reuse It: The History of Modern Recycling'. Ann Byer’s book talks about how recycling hasn't always been a norm of society and how it has become a recent development of life throughout science and ecnomy, and also the technological challenges it faces.

Every living creature produces waste, it is part of nature and is completely unavoidable. Plants and animals take and use what they need and get rid of what they don’t use. One creature's waste is another's nourishment. For example when you inhale you bring oxygen into your lungs and when you exhale you release carbon monoxide into the air. Plants use that carbon monoxide to live and grow and that cycle between plants and animals continues.

Challenges of Waste Reduction and Environmental Awareness

People have not been as successful as nature as reducing and reusing waste as much as nature has. In 1970 pollution caught the eyes of many people. Americans were producing 3 pounds of waste per person each day. 93% of that waste was being buried in landfills, most of the rest was ending up on city streets or in lakes or rivers.

Trash of all kinds was filling up the cities and so city workers started to compact and to bury the garbage and at first it seemed to rid of the flies, the smell, and the sight of the waste but the problems just became less obvious and more serious at that moment. All of the garbage that was rotting under the soil was releasing gases, these gases would sometimes erupt out of the soil and cause fies and other times the gas would pollute the groundwater, which made its way to rivers and streams and eventually to drinking water .These events didn't come to attention to everyone until the environmental movement of the 60’s and 70’s

In January of 1969, today what is known as the 3rd largest oil spill ever, happened off the coast of Santa Barbara California, when 200,000 gallons of crude oil was spilled into the pacific ocean. At least 35 miles of california coast was covered in black tar. This occurrence ignited the movement of saving the environment of america. On April 22nd 1970, the international holiday Earth Day was created. Over 500,000 people signed a petition to stop the drilling for oil in the pacific ocean.

In 1991, Germany was running out of places to put its trash, the most common trash items were throwaway bottles, boxes, and other wrapping items were at least half of all household trash. Germany’s incinerators couldn't keep up with 15 million tons of trash every year so they passed the Packaging Ordinance which forced companies to take back their packaging materials free of charge and to recycle or dispose of it.

Germany has become the most successful country in recycling waste. They have been so successful by putting 7 different color coded recycling bins just about everywhere. There are bins for paper, packaging, food waste, and other general garbage. Germany recycles 65% of their waste, the other 35% is all incinerated and then used to make electricity. There are no landfills in Germany, so that means that there is no ground pollution. Germany has done such a good job at reducing waste that it imports waste from Italy, Switzerland, and other countries so that its incinerators can produce more electricity.

In America, it is calculated that about 75% of all of our waste is recyclable, but we only recycle 30%. Since the first Earth Day in 1970, enthusiasm for protecting and preserving the environment has grown. With each new phase in the recycling industry, consumers get a little better at recycling and manufacturers get a little better at reduction.

Manufacturers' Profit and Recycling Incentives

One of the challenges to recycling is a lack of awareness, people do not understand the importance of recycling, what can be recycled, and how to do it. The recycling council of Ontario, canada. Has been chipping away at this issue. Their mission is to inform and educate all members of society. Their plan is to educate people so that they will minimize their impact on the environment.

Manufacturers try to use the least amount of materials that they can because when the companies are being forced to recycle the materials that they once used, it gives them more profit if they have to buy less materials for packaging and it is less expensive to recycle less materials. This is why Germany was so successful at recycling and incinerating everything.

Innovation is still continuing as society has risen to the challenge of making recycling, reuse, and recovery increasingly more efficient. For example “scientists are experimenting with a technology called pyrolysis. At high temperatures and without oxygen, tires and other discarded plastics can be converted to gas fuel”.

Companies have slo started to come up with ideas for reusing and repurposing a variety of items. “The Crayon Initiative recycles crayons from restaurants, schools, and individuals. The wax in crayons is not biodegradable, so crayons cannot be placed in home recycling bins. However the pieces can be combined and remade into like-new crayons'.

Waste to energy appears to be a win-win. Getting rid of non-recyclable waste and getting energy out of it. It also doesn't take up very much space when making an incinerator compared to the area of landfills that it is avoiding. The biggest criticism of waste to energy is that it discourages the activities that are higher on the waste management ladder. For the facilities to run correctly, they need high volumes of waste. People that receive electricity from these incinerators may be tempted to but recyclable materials into the incinerators.

Incinerators are not an alternative to landfilling, it's just an alternative to Reducing, reusing, and Recycling. When you incinerate something, there is still a byproduct. This by product is bagged up and buried inside of specialized landfills. Questions have sparked on whether the gases and the waste eventually seeps into the earth but no one really knows. The final goal of waste management is to eliminate waste that we can not use, recycle recyclable materials, and to sustain development of a beautiful world.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this book is a good read for anyone interested in saving the environment and a very easy way to realize the impact that you have on the environment whenever you don't recycle or when you pollute the water or the ground.

References

1. Rathje, W. L., & Murphy, C. (1992). Rubbish! The Archaeology of Garbage. Harper Perennial.
2. Peeples, L. (2019). 50 Years Ago, Americans Made Recycling a Thing. They’ve Been Confused Ever Since. Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/50-years-ago-americans-made-recycling-thing-theyve-been-confused-ever-since-180972089/
3. American Environmental History Project. (n.d.). Recycling Timeline. University of California, Santa Barbara. Retrieved from https://www.environmentalhistory.org/revcomm/resources/recycling-timeline/
4. Thompson, S. (2019). A Brief History of Recycling. Earth911. Retrieved from https://earth911.com/eco-tech/history-of-recycling/
5. Recycling History. (n.d.). Bureau of International Recycling. Retrieved from https://www.bir.org/about-us/history/recycling-history.html
6. Pellow, D. N. (2010). The Slums of Aspen: Immigrants vs. the Environment in America’s Eden. New York University Press.
7. Porter, T. (2001). The Rise of Big Business, 1860-1920. Harlan Davidson.
8. Humes, E. (2013). Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash. Avery.
9. Cushman, G. T. (1995). Greenbacks and Copperheads: The Civil War and Environmental Degradation. University of Nebraska Press.