Manufacturing the goods that we use every
day consumes a large amount of energy. Disposable items such as packaging
are taken for granted, and the energy used in their production is rarely
considered.
Purchasing only those items that are truly
necessary, as well as reusing and recycling products wherever possible,
can reduce resource use significantly. Using recycled material as the
feed-stock for manufacturing consumes far less energy than manufacturing
items from virgin (raw) materials.
All sources of energy have negative impacts
on the environment. These impacts include global warming and acid rain
caused by the combustion of fossil fuels, radiation risks from nuclear
power plants, and the flooding of vast areas of land by hydro-electric
dams. Recycling items such as paper, glass, plastics and metals, therefore,
has multiple benefits. These are, in order of significance:
- Preservation of our non-renewable
energy and materials resources,
- Less energy related environmental
damage, and
- A reduction of the amount of waste
sent to landfills.
(Modified from the Energy
Fact Sheet, published by the Energy Educators of Ontario, 1993)
First a few helpful terms and definitions:
RECYCLING
is making a new product out of an old one (e.g. making paper out of
old newspaper instead of virgin wood fiber)- REUSING - means simply extending
the life of a product by reusing it (e.g. reusing car parts, or bringing
a reusable cloth bag to the store)
- REDUCING - lowering the amount
of materials we use (e.g. instead of having 15 pairs of shoes, just
having 4). This is certainly the most environmental choice and the one
we should strive for.
- “DOWN CYCLING" - not all products can be made into qualitatively equal products when they are recycled.”
E.g. plastic bottles cannot be made into new plastic bottles, because
recycled plastic is of lower quality. They have to be made into something
like park-benches. This also reduces the number of times a product can
be recycled. This is a particular problem with plastics and to a lesser
extent true for paper and glass. Metals can be recycled dozens of times
without down-cycling effects.
- MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE - This is
the garbage we usually think about when we talk about trash. It is what
we, the end-users throw out. This waste is also sometimes called post-consumer
waste. Although most visible, this is the smallest amount of trash we
create. Much more is created in the process of mining and production:
- This invisible trail of resource consumption
and waste is sometimes called the "ECOLOGICAL RUCKSACK ." (The
rucksack in the cartoon contains all the mining waste and toxic waste
created in making a small wedding band)
This is why it is so much
more valuable to cut consumption and not just to recycle.
Recycling is good, reusing is better, and if you really want to save the
world: Reduce!
How much do we waste?
“In 2003, U.S. residents, businesses, and institutions produced more than 236 million tons of Municipal Solid Waste, which is approximately 4.5 pounds of waste per person per day, up from 2.7 pounds per person per day in 1960.”
Taken from: www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/facts.htm
Total Municipal Waste Generation
in 2003: 236 million tons (before recycling)
Trash
Facts
The vast percentage
of ecological damage is done before a product reaches the consumer,
not afterwards:
For every ton of post-consumer
waste there are 20 tons of hidden pre-consumer waste, as the manufacturing
process makes its way from forest, field and mine to supermarket
shelf.
In the USA, just four
materials - paper, plastics, chemicals and metals - account for
71% of all toxic emissions.
Each ton of material
that the average American consumes leaves 32 tons of waste in its
trail.
In North America, we
generate more waste per person than in any other country! |
Taken from "Beyond the Wasteland, Guy Dauncey:
http://www.earthfuture.com/lit/beyondthewasteland.asp"
Learn more about: Why
recycling is not enough
