The EPA estimates that every American produces more than two tons of waste yearly, with more than 200 pounds of that being food.
Recycling has now become a crucial part of environmental sustainability. It is the process of turning your trash into new products instead of just throwing them away. But remember that recycling is the third stage in progressing towards a sustainable environment. The first two stages are the reduce and reuse. As an individual, if you want to play your part in keeping your environment healthy, the best way to utilize your efforts is by prioritizing the reduction of usage of items that increase wastage and, secondly, reusing what you already have. And only opt for recycling when you need to discard something completely. This whole process of wastage reduction can only be effective by making individual and collective lifestyle changes.
The significant change in the public lifestyle can massively benefit our environment, economy, and community by creating a healthier planet for ourselves and our future generations. Recycling can be beneficial in several ways.
It can help conserve the natural resources. Recycling can reduce the need to extract natural resources such as timber, water, and minerals for new products.
Recycling can also effectively reduce the effects of climate change, as the recycling and compositing of municipal solid waste can save tons of carbon dioxide equivalents.
The process of recycling can also save energy in numerous ways. The conservation of energy from recycling can be understood by this example, which says that recycling just ten plastic bottles save enough energy to power a laptop for more than 25 hours.
Moreover, it can reduce the harmful effects of waste and pollution by diverting the waste away from landfills and incinerators.
Making products from recycled waste and the employment required can significantly boost the economy. This can provide several employment opportunities and benefit the economy through tax revenues from these products.
In addition to the economic and environmental factors, recycling can also benefit the communities directly. Mainly, the waste management facilities in underserved areas directly impact the health, property, and land productivity. Recycling can help reduce the adverse effects and turn them into a more sustainable alternative. On the other hand, recycling can also help the international communities, as recycled materials can be exported to countries that are incapable of managing their materials in methods aligned with environmental sustainability.
Now that we understand what benefits recycling offers to the environment, economy, and communities, let us tell you how some influential personalities have directed that attention toward enhancing the environment's sustainability and catering to climate change.
One such personality is Bill Shireman, who is a social entrepreneur focused on devising strategies and initiatives to promote sustainable business practices, recycling, and climate protection. His efforts can be seen in the organizations he founded in order to play his role in fostering a considerate and long-lasting change in our environments.
The most prominent initiative by Shireman is the framework he developed with Coors Brewing Chairman and CEO William K. Coors to provide financial incentives for recycling. This framework is named "Closed Loop System" and was applied in legislation to recycle beverage cans, glass and plastic beverage containers, tires, motor oil, computers, and electronics. It was first made effective in California, and after achieving positive outcomes, it was applied in other states.
Bill Shireman has partnered with Van Johns and other collaborators to initiate a campaign, In This Together (InThisTogetherAmerica.org), to promote his idea for a healthy environment and democracy.
As an environmental entrepreneur and Executive Director of Californians Against Waste in 1983-1988, Shireman wrote, secured legislative sponsors, negotiated, and led the team that lobbied for, passed, and helped to implement the California Beverage Container Recycling Act.
In addition to his efforts towards the concept of recycling, Shireman secured approximately $1M in TV and radio advertising for Proposition 11, the California Beverage Container Recycling Act, as Legal Affairs Director of Californians for Recycling and Litter Clean-Up.
The most considerate and effective way to save the environment is not to create products that can harm our planet. But if we have a lot of waste that can affect the sustainability of our environment, then we need to opt for efficient ways of recycling. On a community level, we all need to consume less of the stuff required to fulfill our needs. And to minimize waste, we need to reuse it as much as possible before recycling it. To tackle the global challenge of waste management, we must put in a collective effort to manage the waste of our communities and countries.
No comments yet