Bob Leitsch VIDEO IS TOWARDS THE BOTTOM OF THE PAPER
Proposal Essay Final Draft
Dr. Johnson
April 15, 2013
Recycling
Should Be Mandatory
Because recycling in
the United States is not mandatory, many problems have risen out of it. There
are multiple ways in which the United States Government can enforce the act of
recycling. Also, there are multiple reasons as to why they should make sure that
people are actually recycling.
To begin, there are
multiple ways in which the United States Government can enforce the act of
recycling. One way could be that they could pass a law stating that all
citizens could be forced to have a recycling service. I believe that if the
citizens are forced to have the service, then they will feel that they have no
choice but to recycle just so that they can get their money’s worth for the
service. A way that the government can enforce this would be to send fines to any
citizens that do not pay for their recycling service, which could act just like
a traffic ticket. This means that if they do not pay it in full by a specific
time, then they will have to attend a court hearing, and after so many
offenses, they will have a warrant out for their arrest.
Another way could be
that once that law is enforced, then every citizen could be forced to place
tags on all of their garbage bags that they place outside for pickup. The
reason for this would be that once dropped off at the waste dump, every bag
could be run by conveyor belt underneath a large magnet. By doing so, any metal
can be found that was thrown out instead of being recycled. The reason for the
tags is so that any bags found with metal that was not recycled can be traced
by the trash company, and the person can be fined a predetermined amount,
depending on the extent of the offense.
Next, I would like to
talk about the benefits of forced recycling. One of the benefits would be that
it is good for our economy. This is because many American companies rely on
recycling to provide the materials to make new products. Second, recycling also
creates job opportunities. Being that recycling is a $236 billion a year
industry, it allows companies that prioritize on recycling to employ 1.1
million workers nationwide. Third, recycling reduces unneeded waste. Because the
average American throws away seven and a half pounds of garbage every day, it
can be assumed that some of that are materials that can be recycled. If that
material is recycled, then it will stay out of landfills and will save many
problems in the future. Fourth, recycling is good for the environment.
Recycling as a whole requires much less energy than collecting the materials
from their natural state which means that it can use up to 95% less energy.
Fifth, recycling can help to prevent global warming. This is known because a
study was done in 2000 showing that recycling solid waste had prevented the
release of 32.9 million metric tons of greenhouse gases into the air, which are
the primary cause of global warming. Sixth, like helping to prevent global
warming, recycling can help to reduce water pollution in the waterways of the
United States. Finally, recycling can help to protect wildlife. It can do this
by reducing the need to damage forests, wetlands, rivers and other placed
essential to the wildlife. (Reasons to Recycle) I believe that because of all
of these benefits, whether or not United States citizens should be forced to
recycle is almost a useless question. The benefits of recycling clearly
outweigh any problems, if there even are any. (Top 10) Even with all of these
reasons why you should recycle, there are still people who believe that there
is no reason to recycle. One reason is that people feel that it is just
inconvenient. Others would include that people say that they do not have enough
space in their home to recycle, they do not feel that it makes a difference, or
they just feel that it is too hard to do. (5 Reasons Why People Don’t Recycle)
In my opinion, all of those thought processes are simply the definition of
being lazy. If people would do their research, then they would see that it does
make a difference. Also, there is nothing hard about recycling. It is
absolutely no harder than throwing away garbage and putting it out for the
garbage truck to pick up. The only difference would be that people have to make
the conscious decision of what belongs in the garbage bin, and what belongs in
the recycling bin, which is no harder than looking on the packaging and seeing
if the “recyclable” symbol is on it. If this does not show how lazy those reasons make
those types of people sound, then I do not know what will.
I strongly believe that
this solution is very feasible. The only problem that may stand in the way
would be getting enough citizens to make it known to the United States government
that the passing of this particular law would have many benefits. The
government would simply have to be shown the multiple benefits of mandatory
recycling, including the new job opportunities, the lower cost of
manufacturing, the lower risk of global warming and water pollution, etc. All
of these benefits would do great things for the present, as well as for the
future for the world’s natural habitats as well as our children and future
generations.
In conclusion, because
recycling in the United States is not mandatory, many problems have risen out
of it. There are multiple ways in which the United States Government can
enforce the act of recycling, all of which are very feasible. Also, there are
multiple reasons as to why they should make sure that people are actually
recycling.
Works
Cited
“Top 10
Reasons to Recycle”. Stark State College,
2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2013.
Citron-Fink,
Ronnie. 5 Reasons Why People Don’t Recycle and 5
Reasons They Should. Care2 Inc., 4 Aug. 2011. Web. 15 Apr. 2013.
