Recycling

Don’t litter, it makes the world bitter!
Recycle your bottles, cans, plastic and paper. Do not litter them; they can be used in some other way.
Environmental sciences
ERSC 1020H
Marta Wolniewicz

Recycling 2
Introduction:
Recycling is very important for the natural environment and for humans as well. Littering has a huge negative effect on our environment and human health. Such as plastic, this is made up of non-biodegradable material and will always stay in some form. It is hazardous for all the lives living under water as it could be eaten as food by many birds and sea creatures. Also plastic resins are flammable and have caused many accidents worldwide and release many deadly toxins upon burning. Though cans are completely recyclable but it requires a huge amount of electricity which is provided by hydroelectric plants thus affecting our natural river and lake ecosystem and forests. Papers are made by cutting millions of trees which destructs the natural environment and forest. So don’t waste the paper and put them into the recycle bin.
Recent progress has been seen in plastic recycling (Al-Salem, Lettieri and Baeyens, 2009). Technological sciences are working on recycling on food packaging materials (Arvanitoyannis and Bosnea, 2001). Environmental Sciences are working on all kind of recycling to make our earth a better living place. The purpose of my study is to find out the recycling habits of people and to aware them about its effects and damages on our environment and human health. To find out people’s habit of recycling we will conduct surveys at Trent University. After getting the result we will have a look and see how much people are aware of recycling, its ways and programs. We have predicted that most of people know about plastic and paper recycling but we plan to discuss more about plastic recycles as Toronto has recently started recycling clamshell plastic containers which many people are not aware of (The star, 2013). Recycling 3
Research question:
How does paper and plastic use affect our environment? How can paper and plastic recycling have a positive impact on our environment?
Method:
The study method we have chosen is survey. Getting information from people is an important way to make decision about the interested topic. They help viewing the current situation and help decide what needs to be changed and where and how money should be spent to improve it. We will be conducting surveys to know about the recycling habits of people, like if they are recycling properly or not and if not then what can we do to improve their habits in order to save our environment. We haven’t done the survey yet but we will be doing it in Trent University, Oshawa at Thornton hill. They will be distributed in Environmental Science class of about 30 students and each participant is over 18. The questionnaire will be based on closed ended multiple choice questions.
Depending on the survey result, we might decide to aware students more about recycling, its ways and other plastic items/containers that can be recycled. We will also be showing video or distributing some articles on the effects of plastic and paper use, its effect on our environment and the ways to prevent it.
Please see the appendix for questionnaire.

Recycling 4
Result and discussion:
As mentioned before, we haven’t conducted the survey. But we are expecting to see a positive result as all students are young and they are connected to community somehow so they know about recycling. Plastic and paper recycling is more common than any other type of recycling and people do actually recycle as university has placed recycling bins in classes. And community has placed recycle bins on sidewalks and bus stops etc. Various technologies and studies conducted of plastic solid waste have greatly contributed to the waste management, its recycling, treatment and recovery (Al-Salem et al., 2009).
Study limitations:
The class of about 30 students is not good enough to come to a decision and will not give enough data to know about the recycling system of a particular community. Also some students at Trent University are from other city (as 4 members of my group come from a different region), which will effect the results too because other city might have better recycling programs and facilities than the city survey conducted at.
Questionnaire is subjective so people may not respond truthfully so it is hard to know if the survey is accurate. All participants are students, who are probably working part time so they are mostly out for university or work and might not know much and what items their family has been recycling. Recycling 5
References:
Aghbali, Arman. (2012, September 13th). Toronto now accepting ‘clamshell’ plastic containers in recycling blue boxes. The Star. Retrieved from www.thestar.com
Arvanitoyannis and Bosnea. (2001). Recycling of polymeric materials used for food packaging: current status and perspectives. Food reviews international, 17(3), 291-346.
Al-Salem, Lettieri and Baeyens. (2009). Recycling and recovery routes of plastic solid waste. Waste management, 29, 2625-2643.
Merrild, Damgaard and H. Christensen. (2008). Life cycle assessment of waste paper management: the importance of technology data and system boundaries in assessing recycling and incineration. Resources, conversation and recycling, 52(12), 1391-1398.
Yusuf and L. Ify. (2011). The effect of waste paper on the kinetics of biogas yield from the co digestion of cow dung and water hyacinth. Biomass and bioenergy, 35(3), 1345-1351.
Astrup, Fruergaard and Christensen. (2009). Recycling of plastic: accounting of greenhouse gases and global warming contributions. Waste management and research, 27(8), 763-772.
Jagdish Kuniyal. (2005). Solid waste management techniques for the waste generated and brought down from campsites in the hill spots, trails and expedition tops. Waste management and research, 23(3), 182-198.

Appendix: Survey questionnaire
Recycling
Don’t litter, it makes the world bitter!
Please select the best option for the following question
1) Do you recycle? i. Yes ii. No iii. Sometimes iv. Never
2) If yes, what do you recycle? i. Paper ii. Aluminum and metal cans iii. Plastic food and beverage containers iv. Glass bottles and jars v. Cardboards / tires
3) If you recycle, what is your primary motivation? i. Environmental benefits ii. Provincial regulations iii. Fiscal responsibility iv. None

4) Do you sort your recyclables at home? i. Yes ii. No iii. Sometimes iv. Not really
5) If you don’t recycle on regular basis, indicate which one of following is your contributing reason i. Needs more information on how to recycle ii. Don’t know what to do with recyclables iii. Takes too much time iv. Don’t believe in it
6) What is your difficulty level on deciding what items can be recycled or not? i. Easy ii. Difficult iii. Moderate iv. Neither

7) If recycling containers were more readily available, would you make an effort to recycle more? i. Yes ii. No iii. May be iv. You don’t know
8) Overall, are you satisfied with your community recycling program and pick-ups? i. Very satisfied ii. Somewhat satisfied iii. Very dissatisfied iv. Somewhat dissatisfied
9) How do you get information on recycling ways and programs? i. Radio ii. Cable / TV iii. Community newspaper iv. internet

References: Aghbali, Arman. (2012, September 13th). Toronto now accepting ‘clamshell’ plastic containers in recycling blue boxes. The Star. Retrieved from www.thestar.com Arvanitoyannis and Bosnea Al-Salem, Lettieri and Baeyens. (2009). Recycling and recovery routes of plastic solid waste. Waste management, 29, 2625-2643. Astrup, Fruergaard and Christensen. (2009). Recycling of plastic: accounting of greenhouse gases and global warming contributions. Waste management and research, 27(8), 763-772. Jagdish Kuniyal