Recycling

Semester Essay # 7 Prompt 22

Carpooling, recycling, and planting trees are all activities that are good for the environment. Write an essay convincing readers to actively participate in one of these activities.

            Everyone with the ability to observe, I presume, should know what recycling is or should have at least heard of it. Recycling should be known because it is in everyone’s household or place of residency. It is the big blue trash can that sits in your driveway, backyard, etc. However, although recycling is right under people’s noses not everyone does it. Recycling has a lot of positive effects which is why I believe more people should participate in it. These positive effects benefit people in general so there is no reason why it shouldn’t be done.

            Recycling helps to minimize the use of earth’s limited natural resources. This is of great importance because it insures that what few natural resources remain will last longer. There will be more natural resources for everyone, everywhere. As one can see, recycling benefits earth’s population as a whole. It does not target one race, one culture, one country, etc. It is to the benefit of all to recycle.

            Apart from reducing the waste of earth’s natural resources, recycling also prevents the build up of waste, or in other words trash. All the trash people throw out gets sent to a landfill and sits there for a long time. When we take the time to recycle, recyclable materials such as plastic bottles and containers do not take up space in the landfill. Instead, they are reused to create another product. Would you rather have more trash sit in landfills or would you rather separate what can be reused and create more goods? To me, the choice is simple. I would much rather recycle, thus lowering the need to constantly build more landfills because of all of the waste. The worst case scenario would be for a landfill to actually end up next to one’s house. Now that would be disgusting. It’s better to never let that happen by just recycling.

            How great would it be to make a difference in the world? I don’t know if it is just me, but I am constantly hearing people say they aspire to make a change and do something special. Why not start with recycling? Believe it or not, recycling is one of the ways you can positively help the environment. We all know our environment is not currently in its best shape. Global warming, the lack of fresh water, the ozone layer, and the polar ice caps melting are all negative issues in the environment. Why add another problem? Let’s keep our environment running as it should and maintain its beauty. Recycling can assist in such a quest.

            It is interesting to consider all the great purposes recycling can serve. There will be more natural resources for future generations, less trash in landfills, and the environment will benefit. All this can be achieved if you just take the time to throw paper, plastic bottles, and all other reusable/recyclable materials away separately. In reality recycling does not ask much of you. Start making a difference today. Recycle!