recycling Can we change the future of the environment through recycling efforts?
Are we really running out of resources?
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” - Mahatma Gandhi
The Problem: People not recycling is leaving us with less and less resources.
Why people do not recycle: Recycling is inconvenient. People feel like recycling is a waste of their time because of the hassle. They don’t want to bother with separating the materials and driving them to a location where you can drop them off. In reality, these people are lazy. We should be going the extra mile to recycle because we only get Earth. They don’t feel like they make a difference. People feel like their individual effort doesn’t help. What they fail to see is that every effort helps. It takes one to make a difference, and together it takes everyone to make a change. Each American wastes on average 1,600 pounds of unrecycled goods. One person’s effort to make a change would make an impact. They want to be compensated. Many people don’t recycle because they feel that they should be compensated. They think that their actions should be rewarded. What they are not seeing is that they are being rewarded. The reward is a clean, healthy Earth. They are being rewarded with air to breath and animals to balance the ecosystem.
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Did you know about recycling?
60 to 70 percent
Of waste found in dust bins can be recycled and resused Aluminum cans can be recycled and reused within
60 days Water
Is most abused and wasted natural resource The average time taken by plastic bottles to decompose in a landfill is close to
Seven hundred years 250,000 plastic bottles Are dumped almost every hour
50%
Of recyclable waste in dumps are due to plastic bottles
IS recycling a problem around the world? �You can tell how high a society is by how much of its -Dhyani Ywahoo garbage is recycled.�
Did you know about recycling?
Seven hundred
Paper grocery bags can be made from one tree, which can be consumed in less than one hour by a supermarket For every ton of paper that is recycled, the following are saved:
Pounds of sulfur 275
Pounds of limestone 350
Pounds of steam 9,000 Gallons of water 60,000
Cubic yards of landfill 3,3
Kilowatt hours 225
Trees seventeen
Recycling 14 trees worth of paper reduces air pollutants by
165,142 tons
Plastic not only adds to landfill space and takes forever to decompose. Used plastic dumped into the sea kills and destroys sea life at an estimated
One million sea creatures
1,609 pounds
A person in the Unites States produces each year
Recycling tin, glass, and plastic containers or bottles can conserve energy to power light bulbs for
Three to four hours 2
Is Greece making an effort to recycle?
History of Greece
In the early ages of Greece, the country was home to many civilizations including the Minoans, the Mycenaeans, and the Cycladics. Also during the Classical Period, Athens was created and the country developed culture, philosophy, music, drama, and democracy. Alexander the Great took power of the Persian Empire in the 4th century and took control of Greece. Then the Romans conquered Greece in 168 BC. After that, the Ottoman Turks conquered much of Greece, and the country suffered. Many people tried to rebel and the civil war broke out in 1821. Greece obtained freedom in 1829. In the 20th century the Ionian Islands, Macedonia, Crete, and the Eastern Aegean islands became a part of Greece. Today Greece is a parliamentary republic.
Did you know about recycling?
10 percent
Of Greece’s total waste is being recycled and the remaining 90% goes to landfills.
One billion
Water bottles are thrown away in Greece every year. Greece is behind the rest of the EU in almost all area of recycling by
Fifteen years One fifth
Of the entire waste produced by this country is plastic
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One percent
Of the plastic waste in Greece make is to the recycling centers
Country Information
Location: Southeast Europe, Balkan Peninsula Captial: Athens Population: 10,601,527 Size: 31,940 square kilometers Languages: Greek, Albanian, Romance, Slavic, and Turkic Child mortality rate: 3.4 out of 1,000 will die under age 5 Life expectancy: 80 years Religions: Orthodox, Muslim, Roman Catholic, Jewish Access to clean water: 100% of population Literacy rate: 97.1% Doctor to patient ratio: 230:1 population lving on less than two dollars a day: N/A (Not enough people live on less than two dollars a day to make up a percentage range)
Why can’t Greece clean up their act?
In the cramped offices of the Ecological Recycling Society in central Athens, Philip Kirkitsos hits me with some alarming statistics. Every year, he says, one billion plastic drinking water bottles are thrown away in Greece, along with one billion soft drinks bottles and yet another billion plastic containers for cleaning fluids. Almost one-fifth of the entire waste produced by this country is plastic, and yet just 1% of it is recycled. Greece, he admits, is at least 15 years behind the rest of the EU in almost all areas of recycling and is unlikely to meet EU targets for next year. In Athens the recycling bins so common in most European cities are a rare sight. Although recently the authorities have launched new schemes, the impact so far seems to be minimal. Recycling just is not high on the list of priorities for the average Athenian. Most bags of household waste contain large amounts of glass, metal, paper and plastic which end up being dumped at the city’s only landfill which - not surprisingly Is now almost full. As a result, the capital currently faces an acute waste management crisis because no alternative sites have been set up. Ironically the city does have what is believed to be Europe’s largest recycling plant, built next to the landfill four years ago. But the plant - estimated to have cost at least 75m euros (£50m) - has stood idle. The reason? It was badly damaged by a mountain of rubbish which collapsed on top of it. 10 – percentage of total recycling in Greece
The improvements have come with the widespread distribution of blue dumpster bins that have reached 4.3 million people across the country, in a population of ten million. Plans are in place to increase the number of bins. The blue dumpster bins are meant for recycling of domestic waste and packaging. But the recycling has gone beyond household waste. In cooperation with 337 municipalities, more than 25,000 bins have been placed on streets around the country. This is five times the number of bins available in 2004, and signals a drive forward in advertising a new environmental culture in a country which has been seen to lag behind its European
counterparts. Greece has met earlier EU targets such as the packaging waste directive under which 25 percent of all packaging waste by weight had be recycled by the end of 2005. In a further example of progress, according to data sent to the European Commission, the level of glass recycling has improved to 35 percent in 2004, although it is still unclear if Greece will meet the 2011 target. “Greece, like other countries will have to submit waste management reports and plans, and there will be continuous discourse with us on how to improve and where they are going wrong to meet the level of expectations,” Helffrich said.
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How can you live comfortably in this?
The Current Situation
Did you know that in the United States 70% of garbage is dumped in landfills? Which means approximately 126 million tons of waste is piled onto landfills annually. The United States is currently experiencing a major problem with the disposal of old-unwanted electronics. The toxic materials that the electronics contain are extremely hazardous for the consumption of living things, and must take action to prevent electronics from entering landfills. Mercury, cadmium and other toxic materials are poisoning the soil and could reach underground waters; which could contaminate the water source of human consumption.
A Case Study
An individual named Trammell Crow in Seattle is dedicated in recycling old electronics. On Earth Day of 2004, he organized a collection event to raise awareness and take unwanted electronics. His organization collected a total of nearly 3,800 pounds of electronic equipment. Crow’s recycling accomplishments are productive, but he can’t recycle every old electronic in the United States.
What the Government should do
The United States government should take action in the severe issue of recycling unwanted electronics. Figuratively, every day should be Earth Day for recycling electronics and the government should have policies that require the proper disposal of old electronics. Therefore, reducing the amount of toxic wastes will ultimately help the overall health of the earth, and cut back on the use of landfills.
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Recycle to make earth beautiful and to create jobs for 1.1 million individuals
For more information:
-http://www.all-recycling-facts.com/ recycling-statistics.html -http://ipsnews.net/news. asp?idnews=38635 -http://www.greeka.com/greecehistory.htm -http://www.all-recyclingfacts.com/recycling-statistics.html -www.greeklandscapes.com/travel/ location.html--www.nationsencyclopedia.com/ economies/Europe/Greece.html -http://www.ethnologue.com/show_ map.asp?name=GR&seq= -10 http://www. backyardwildlifehabitats.com/id119.htm -http://www.keepbanderabeautiful.org/ bearspringsblossom/recycle.html?gclid= CMyStMnClKgCFUhrKgodmB9EDw -http://ata.horrycountyschools.net/ UserFiles/Servers/Server_1034119/ Image/button_bin_recycling.jpg -http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/ europe/4620041.stm -http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/ indicators/103.html -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ countries_by_literacy_rate -http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/ datablog/2009/mar/03/access-water -http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/ articles/article/Greece/Religion-inGreece/412 -http://www.google.com/ publicdata?ds=wb-wdi&met=sp_dyn_ le00_in&idim=country:GRC&dl=en&hl=en &q=life+expectancy+greece http://www.google.com/ publicdata?ds=wb-wdi&met=sh_dyn_mor t&idim=country:GRC&dl=en&hl=en&q=child+mortality+rate+greece -www.bglhy.orf/faw/search.php?search=recycling -www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/ccc/cmo/cel-cw/result.htm. -http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10113911 http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/business/documents/Electronics_recycling-casestudy.pdf