We have become a society built on trash. With the dumps overflowing and running out of room for landfills, it is understandable why so many people have started to recycle, and are trying to persuade others to do the same. If we were to recycle all our plastic, glass and paper it would reduce the amount of waste that would be put into our landfills. When we recycle our glass and plastic bottles they are cleaned, melted, and made into new bottles. The only difference between a new bottle and the one made of the recycled material’s, is that the one made of recycles materials is better for our planet. Now is one less piece of garbage that will forever be in a landfill.
Recycling is a process that takes all, or part of a material and uses it to make a new product. When thinking about recycling, some people think questions like ‘how does this benefit me’ and ‘why should I recycle?’ Recycling is a simple way that you can help the environment, preserve our limited natural resources and greatly reduces the amount of waste that is sent away to be put into a landfill. There are more then 100,00 recycling locations across the country. You can recycle almost anything, from milk cartons to paint. Most things that can be recycled don’t usually cross your mind when you are separating your garage. It isn’t just the paper, plastic and glass. You can also recycle things from your car, your toys. Things that have the word ‘Warning’ or ‘Caution’ on the label are the best to recycle and also the worst to put into a landfill.

Green is no longer just a color, it is a concept, I agree with the idea of ‘going green.’ Our planet is sick, and we need to do something to try and help it get better. While putting almost all of our garbage into landfill, we are using up our already limited space. It would be very beneficial for us and for our planet if we were to find a different way to dispose of some of these materials.
When we recycle our glass, paper, plastic ect. we can save room in our landfills. Landfills are the most widely used type of waste management. They are expensive to build and maintain. They are one of the steps that were taken to reduce the trash that we have to see. The American expression ‘Out of sight, out of mind. That does not apply in this situation.. The gases that some of the materials give off, (batteries, technology) goes into the ground and can cause explosions. This is prevented by putting pipes into the ground and within the trash in the landfill. With all the garbage that we have, the landfills do fill up. Since we can’t take back out trash, we have to make a new landfill. Landfills cannot be prevented. But we can reduce the amount of waste that we put into them. If we were to only put paper and food into our landfills, it would be decompose faster and pack tighter. There by giving us more space in our landfills.
It is better for the environment to reuse things then to just keep throwing them away. Did you know that recycling newpapers, cardboard, glass and metal can reduce green house gases? What about that recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a T.V for three hours? If we were to keep recycling we would be able to stop the hole in our ozone layer from getting bigger. We would also make our natural resources longer if we are not always dipping into them.
Global warming, the slow increase of the temperature in earth's lower atmosphere as a result of the increase in greenhouse gases. We call it global warming because it is changing the earths climate. Ice caps are melting, seas are rising and animals are struggling to keep up with these changes. It's changing the rhythm of our climate that living things have come to depend upon. What will we do to change the already set in changes of global warming? There are many simple things that we can all do to help stop the effects of global warming in its tracks. One being, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle! Americans haul 82 million tons of trash to recycling centers each year, but that’s only 32.5 percent of our garbage. Did you know that a 60-watt light bulb could be run for over a day on the amount of energy saved by recycling one pound of steel? If we would reuse our things we wouldn’t have to put it into a landfill and/or burn it, reducing the amount of gases that go up into our atmosphere. You could also think about giving your car a day off. You can carpool with some friends from school or work. Then you have one car carrying all of you, instead of three or four cars filled with less people. Exhaust from cars is one of the main problems. The easiest of all, plant a tree! Trees absorb carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas. Taking it out of the air we breathe, and away from our atmosphere.
Although there are many Pros for recycling, there are also Cons. One being, when factories recycle, they need fuel and energy for machinery, so they cause pollution. With this thought in mind, picture a factory. Then picture all of the cars that are out on the freeway at rush hour. The factory and the car give off the same gases. Like I mentioned earlier, there is no way to stop this problem completely. Our factories are a great deal of help, they are not stopping the problem, just reducing it.


This is important because this problem is irreversible. All we can do right now is stop it before we go past the point of no return. I support ‘going green’ and taking matters into your own hands, everyone can make a difference, let that difference start with you.