Recycling

Tiara Davis

Heberth Flores

Recycle

According to the online dictionary, recycling is defined as “the act of processing used or abandoned materials for use in creating new products”

Recycling

Recycling is a method of conservation that was created long before the word was invented. In prehistoric times, nomads conserved all of their necessities. Everything was used and reused until it was deemed insufficient.

History of Recycling

Most of what we consider to be garbage was used for everyday life. For example, bones from animals were used as tools while skins were cleaned for clothing and bedding.

History of Recycling 2

In both of the World Wars Americans were encourages to conserve what ever the could with an emphasis on metal that would ultimately be turned into weaponry.


The recycling movement began in the early 1960s . Environmentalist believed that Americans were wasting minerals, fuels, water, and trees, some of the worlds most valuable resources.


In response to the waste outbreak, environmentalist began to develop conservation methods to prevent the inevitable.


Water Conservation

In the late sixties and early seventies it was some what difficult for the movement to begin because the, “… market for recyclables was not substantial and recycling efforts dwindled,” according to the Texas Center.


Authors Rathje and Murphy credit Lady Bird Johnson and her beautification campaign for reviving recycling initiatives. They point out that Mrs. Johnson's beautification campaign was in fact a campaign against litter, "garbage that is out of place." When Americans began to address the problem of litter by enacting bottle bills with deposit fees and restrictions on pull-off tabs, beverage distributors began to collect bottles and cans and sell them to scrap markets or reuse them.(27) From this flurry over litter, various recycling programs began to emerge all over the country.

Lady Bird…

Many environmentalist credit Lady Bird Johnson for launching recycling methods. In the early sixties Lady Bird launched a beautification campaign in which she planted thousands of tulips and daffodils.

Lady Bird…2

In 1965 her efforts led to the Highway Beautification Act.

The Beatification Act

The mission of the project was to limit the amount of clutter advertisements and place restrictions on billboards. The “ campaign against litter” eventually became a law.

The Beatification Act

Almost all of our everyday necessities can be recycled. Some of the most common are: plastic bottles, plastic jars

What Can Be Recycled

Paper: newspaper, magazines, paper bags, phone books, catalogs, & card boards.


Consumer Products: cartridges, batteries, empty aerosol cans.


Aluminum: soft drink cans, aluminum foil


Teel: tins, car bodies, refrigerators


There are a horde of other goods that can be recycled to help conserve the worlds resources. Everyday commodities such as lead, oil , and plastic are also recyclable.


light bulbs, crystal, mirror, & window glass

What Cannot Be Recycled

clay pots, ceramics


drinking glasses, plastic dinner ware, plastic glasses,


toys, foam products, plastic bags, heat resistant oven wear


toxic product containers


There are many goods listed that can not be recycled but are reusable. For example, plastic dinner ware can be washed just as window glass can be cleaned and reinstalled.

Cannot Recycle, But Can REUSE

Everything is not capable of being recycled but there are other alternatives. If a good is unable to be recycled it can be reused or one can simply reduce the amount of which the product is used.

Why Can’t Some Goods Be Recycled?

Foam products are not usually recycled because the effort is time consuming with a small outcome. The purpose of foam products, for example Styrofoam, is to protect and insulate. There are so many additional particles added to help Styrofoam fulfill its purpose that it can not be broken down further into something useful. Styrofoam can be used in other useful ways instead of being discarded.

Why Can’t Some Goods Be Recycled?

The recycling symbol that Americans have grown accustomed to viewing was the result of a competition. The Container Corporation of America developed a campaign to promote conservation awareness as well as launch a nation wide design competition.

The Symbol

Gary Anderson of North Las Vegas, Nevada won first place in the competition. He beat out more than four hundred submissions with his simple hand drawn image. His autobiography detailed his frugal lifestyle and how his father chose to reuse everything they used.

The Symbol

The concept of going green denotes, “heightened awareness of using the Earth's resources more efficiently. The term today includes efforts to conserve our natural resources, reduce our contributions to landfills, and reduce pollution generally. Going green, then, can be summarized by the mantra "reduce, reuse, recycle"--which means reduce waste, reuse what you can, and recycle what you can't.”

“Going Green”

We hear the term everywhere because of the rising awareness among the American people. Houston's own, Yolanda green has a Going Green session every Saturday on CW to educate her viewers of the importance of recycling and conservation methods.

“Going Green”

To recapitulate, recycling is defined as the act of processing used or abandoned materials for use in creating new products. It's important that we all learn to reuse, reduce, and recycle in our everyday life.

Recycling

Recycle: Cos You Can (2000). Accessed December 5, 2008. from http://www.tiac.wa.gov.au/forum/2000/wong/recycle/what_can_be_recycled.htm

http://www.texascenter.org/almanac/Waste/MUNICIPALCH8P3.HTML http://www.firstladies.org/curriculum/curriculum.aspx?Curriculum=1691 http://www.smallbusinessnationusa.com/toolkits/guide/P15_1001 http://www.firstladies.org/curriculum/curriculum.aspx?Curriculum=1691 http://www.smallbusinessnationusa.com/toolkits/guide/P15_1001 Ackerman, Frank. Why Do We Recycle? Washington D.C.: Island Press, 1997. Carless, Jennifer. Taking Out the Trash. Washington D.C.: Island Press, 1992. Environmental Defense web page. Produce Less Waste by Practicing the 3

1999. Grayson, Martin. Recycling, Fuel, and Resource Recovery: Economic and

Environmental Factors. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons, 1984.

Sources

Business

Recycling