Is Recycling Actually Bad for the Environment?

English Language and Composition
Reading Time: 15 minutes
Suggested Writing Time: 40 minutes

Directions: The following prompt is based on the accompanying six sources.

This question requires you to integrate a variety of sources into a coherent, well-written essay. Refer to the sources to support your position; avoid mere paraphrase or summary.
Your argument should be central; the sources should support this argument.

Remember to attribute both direct and indirect citations.

Introduction

Recycling has been a lingering political issue for years. Multiple federal recycling bills have been proposed, and none have come close to being voted into law. Environmentalists argue that the environment isn’t the only thing that benefits from recycling, but the economy benefits from it as well. If this is the case, how come these proposed bills haven't been voted into law?
Is recycling not as good as the majority of Americans believe it to be?

Assignment

Read the following sources (including any introductory information) carefully. Then, in an essay that synthesizes at least three of the sources for support, take a position that defends, challenges, or qualifies the claim that recycling has a positive impact on the environment and America’s economy.

Refer to the sources as Source A, Source B, etc.; titles are included for your convenience.

Source A (Schulz)
Source B (Clough)
Source C (Horton)
Source D (Beautyman)
Source E (Unknown Publisher)
Source F (Lingam)

The following article is excerpted from an online city newspaper.

The decision by the city commission to adopt curbside recycling is a step in the right direction — which is why we fully support its leadership on this issue. However, the decision by the city commission to make curbside recycling optional rewards the wrong behavior (polluting), and punishes the right behavior (recycling). Those who already recycle will choose to participate in curbside recycling and pay for it. Those who do not recycle will likely opt out and continue polluting, wasting perfectly good resources and costing the rest of the taxpayers more money in higher landfill fees in the long run. It is shortsighted and irresponsible to continue filling up our landfills unnecessarily and pass the expenses on to our children. Yet those who may opt-out either don’t realize the increasing waste problem we are experiencing with our population growth or they believe that $3.51 will bankrupt them. Unfortunately, they don’t realize that in the future, their rates will increase a lot more if they don’t start recycling and reducing their waste now. That is why our government needs to stand strong and educate the public on the issue. Change is always hard for the first few months, but with time, people will realize the importance of the program and how convenient it actually is. Curbside single-sort recycling is the most convenient and effective way to decrease unnecessary waste in our landfills. Our current container system is inconvenient and very limited in the products that are accepted, whereas the new curbside proposal includes glass bottles, jars, cereal, cracker and cake boxes as well as several other items not being recycled in our current system.

The following passage is excerpted from a website that discusses current political and policy issues. Of the estimated 112 million households in the United States, one of the most common domestic practices is recycling. Schools, public service announcements, and pop culture mediums implore citizens to help the environment by sorting their paper, plastic and aluminum. And, amazingly, most people listen. American citizens have had recycling so imprinted on their psyche that failure to comply with this societal more causes an accumulation of guilt on their "green conscience."
The theory that recycling may not be as good for our economy and environment as we had thought. First, it is imperative to note that not all recycled materials are actually recycled. This theory is re-enforced by statistics indicating only 6.8% of all plastics are actually recycled, when 77% of Americans are thought to recycle. To be properly recycled, recyclables must be appropriately sorted by consumers, and properly collected. During sorting, the recyclables are checked for food and other contaminants, which could potentially cause the item to go straight to waste disposal. Recycling is a commodity business with supply and demand. If there are not enough of the same items to recycle, or a local recycling facility does not have the capability to reprocess the material, then the item is disposed of in landfills. The all-American act of recycling, thus, begins to look a little more complex.
One of the seemingly inherent facts about recycling paper, plastic, or aluminum is that reprocessing results in financial savings. While aluminum recycling can readily be traced to savings, paper and plastic recycling does not necessarily save the country money. It is estimated that the cost to fill a landfill with a ton is $50-$60, while to recycle a ton of materials costs closer to $150 or more. Advocates of recycling might argue that the recycling industry, a government subsidy funded with tax dollars, creates jobs, which stimulate economic activity. This tax subsidy, however, results in a net loss of approximately $8 billion a year. In other words, these jobs are not only failing to create revenue, these jobs are losing hard earned incomes. Recycling doesn't seem quite as romantic when the only people making money are the companies that utilize the repurposed materials. Where is our payback? Average Americans are the individuals responsible for the majority of the national recycling effort, and yet, we don’t see any of the benefits.
The following passage is taken from an article that explains why recycling isn’t as good as what most Americans believe it to be.

With all the hype surrounding the importance of recycling, this can be a hard question to answer. Yet when you consider the popular environmental mantra to "reduce, re-use, recycle," it turns out there's a reason recycling is the third "R."
While recycling products like aluminum cans (which requires 95 percent less energy than creating new ones) and steel (which takes 60 percent less energy to recycle than produce new, and prevents the mining of iron, coal and limestone) is a no-brainer, the benefits of recycling other products is a little less clear-cut. One category of recyclable goods that's gotten a lot of press is e-waste -- things like printer cartridges and discarded electronics like telephones and DVRs. When you drop off these items to be recycled, the majority of them end up in countries like China and India, where regulations for dealing with them are either non-existent or not enforced. There, men, women and even children work to tear the electronics apart and extract the parts that still have value. The methods involved are usually highly toxic, polluting the surrounding environment and endangering lives. The water in the Lianjiang River in China, where e-waste is often dumped after being scavenged, contains 200 times the acceptable amount of acid and 2,400 times the acceptable amount of lead. The chemicals to which workers are exposed -- including dioxins, heavy metals and mercury -- can lead to brain and kidney damage and chronic illnesses like asthma and skin diseases.
In the end, whether or not recycling is a "good" or a "bad" choice involves many different factors, including a close examination of not only the potential energy and materials saved, but also the energy and materials produced and whether there are standards in place to make sure it's done properly. This isn't to say that recycling electronics is always a bad thing, just that it's important to investigate how it's being done. So if you're still intent on recycling your old TV when you upgrade to a new flat screen, just make sure it's with a reputable company that goes about it responsibly.

The following cartoon is an original Archie Comic taken from a Huffington Post web article.

The following passage is taken from an informational website containing facts and information about recycling.

For decades now we’ve been creating toxic waste and dumping them into the environment without realizing the damage it is causing to all living beings around us. You may think industrial waste is the main culprit of such toxic and massive pollution. You may be right. But then, have you ever wondered where such industrial waste comes from? Half the time, it is from the production of our day-to-day products (eg. plastic bottles, detergent, etc) and the disposal of our daily waste (eg. food packaging, electronic gadgets)!
If we do not invest in proper mechanisms and processes now to minimize the harm we do to the environment, it is going to be too late and all future generations will be affected by the inconsiderate practices of the current and previous generations.
So what can we do?
With recycling, a substantial portion of our waste can be broken down into their original elements and be used to produce new materials. In this way, we can reduce the harmful waste we discard into the environment (ie. pollution, and even conserve raw materials). Besides the environmental reasons for recycling, there are also other reasons why is recycling important. Recycling contributes to the economy. This is because recycling conserves resources and saves money, creates jobs and even generates revenue. In turn, recycling is also a form of patriotism, because we are helping our country save money and reduce our dependence on other countries for raw materials. And there are also ethical reasons why recycling is important. If we do not recycle now and conserve our resources, in time to come, there would not be none left for our future generations. And they would also have to pay the hefty price for the damage we did to the environment. Every single human being living on this planet has a part to play in recycling, in protecting this precious world, and making it greener, less toxic and more inhabitable.
Recycling, waste management and eco green living at home, schools, offices, and in the community will definitely benefit the environment and everyone to a great extent!

The following passage is excerpted from a web article that explains why a federal recycling law would be a good idea.

No doubt global warming has reached alarming proportions prompting us to take expeditious steps to prevent it. Each country is trying its level best to conserve its limited energy resources and postpone their rapid exhaustion. ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’ is one of the best formulas that guide us in the right direction.
Recycling is the process of re-using a given product beyond its actual or originally intended use or producing a new product from a recyclable material. In fact recycling involves all the three elements of energy conservation formula. It reduces the use of energy resources; paves the way for reusing a given product; converts a used product into a new product. Naturally, recycling has received a wider currency from the advanced western countries that consume more energy resources than other countries in the world.
Though US have a federal environmental agency that support recycling, it does not have a federal recycling law. Realizing the importance of recycling, various cities or states in US like Pittsburg, San Diego, Seattle, New York, Philadelphia, Connecticut, San Francisco, Gainesville, Florida and Honolulu have enacted their own mandatory recycling laws. A common reason that prompted these states to enact the mandatory recycling laws was that they had difficulties and constraints in land fillings and disposing wastes.