The Case Against Recycling

Posted on April 25th, 2007 by Christopher.
Categories: Current Events & Politics.

Why this American love affair with recycling? Several “myths” that fuel it. For example, plastic packaging is widely criticized because it doesn’t decay in landfills. But paper and cardboard — though technically biodegradable — also tend to remain intact, and actually use far more landfill space than plastic packaging, which has steadily gotten smaller as manufacturers develop stronger, thinner materials. In fact, it takes 12 plastic bags to fill the landfill space occupied by one paper bag.

Though fast-food containers and plastic packaging may seem wasteful, they actually save resources and reduce trash. Lightweight plastic packaging keeps food fresh longer, and takes much less energy to manufacture and transport than cardboard or paper. The typical household in Mexico City buys fewer packaged goods than American households, but it produces one-third more garbage, because Mexicans buy fresh foods in bulk and throw away large amounts that are spoiled or stale. Not surprisingly, food manufacturers save money when they use resources efficiently. A typical McDonald’s discards under two ounces of garbage per customer, less than what’s produced in an average meal at home.

Most of us believe that it is more “virtuous” to drink from a ceramic mug than a styrofoam cup. But, it takes much more energy to manufacture the mug, and each washing consumes significant quantities of both water and energy. Scientists have calculated that a person would have to use a mug 1,000 times before its energy-consumption-per-use is equal to the cup’s. In other words, if the mug breaks after your 900th coffee, you would have been better off using 900 polystyrene cups.

Why do I take the time to recycle soup cans? I have always assumed that my efforts save precious natural resources, and help ensure that future generations won’t be buried by the garbage I generate.

Recycling newspapers, often makes little sense. Paper is an agricultural product, made from trees grown specifically for paper production. We are hardly running out of timber — American forests contain three times more wood today than in 1920. Our concerns about depleting non-renewable resources may also be overblown. Copper, tin and other metals are cheaper than ever, though 40 years ago conservationists urged rationing so that future generations would have telephone wires and food containers. Today, we send our phone calls through fiber optic cables, made from sand, and most food containers contain no tin at all. Thanks to human ingenuity, the cost of most natural resources has been declining for years.

Generally, the cheapest and best way to dispose of garbage is to bury it. Modern landfills have little in common with the smelly town dump we remember from childhood. They are regulated by strict federal safety standards, and courts have routinely found them to be acceptable alternatives to expensive incinerators. In fact, the article notes, that “mountain of garbage” we fear is highly unlikely to materialize. According to one calculation, if Americans generate garbage at current rates for 1,000 years, and put it all in a landfill 100 yards deep, by the year 3000 the whole lot will fill a piece of land 35 miles square.

We live at a time when meaning and purpose are hard to come by, and the pace of technological change often seems overwhelming. It is comforting to think that — simply by making the “right” choice at the grocery store, or engaging in a daily six-minute recycling ritual — we can advance the transcendent task of “saving the planet.” But we must resist the temptation to reduce issues as complex as waste disposal to bumper sticker slogans.


9 comments.

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Christine the Lioness asserted

The fact that we’ve become better at creating efficient, waste-reducing packaging doesn’t necessarily give us free reign to be irresponsible in other ways. Every bottle or can that isn’t recycled ends up in a landfill. It’s still better to recycle it which not only diminishes the amount of space needed in a landfill for that bottle, but it also reduces the amount of new plastic needed to make a new one.

And aren’t plastics factories one of the worst sources of air pollution? I believe they are second to vehicle emissions. Let’s not rob Peter to pay Paul.

April 25th, 2007

Christopher the Pyro uttered

That might be true.. or it might not.

I just pointed out if we create waste at the same rate we are now we only fill a landfill 35 square miles.. hardly something to panic about.. additionally if it uses more resources to recycle than to extract new.. then that kind of kills the idea that we are doing something good for the environment… I don’t know if this is news to you.. but recycling isn’t exactly an environmentally friendly process.

April 25th, 2007

ProphetJoe the Irreverent remarked

Christopher, would you please cite resources for your facts? I’m not contesting what you say, quite the contrary, it makes sense, but I know that when I debate this with my coworkers, their attitude will be “Pfft”, so I want to be fully armed with the facts!

I like being well-armed (and thank God I’m already well-hung!)… life is good. It would be great if it weren’t for the damned funeral I have to attend tomorrow.

April 26th, 2007

Christine the Lioness chimed in with

PJ… Christopher rarely has facts to back up anything he says… -)

April 26th, 2007

ProphetJoe the Irreverent commented

I would note, ‘topher, that when you say “But paper and cardboard — though technically biodegradable — also tend to remain intact, and actually use far more landfill space than plastic packaging.“, that cardboard is *still* the most commonly used material in commercial shipping containers, so recycling does “save the earth” by reducing the amount of landfill waste. Most large companies like McDonalds, Wal-mart, etc. already recycle their cardboard content. That’s great for the planet (just so long as I don’t have to do it!) )

April 26th, 2007

ProphetJoe the Irreverent mentioned

Btw, while we’re talking about shipping and packaging, here’s a pet peeve of mine: who decided toys needed to be screwed or wired to the back of the cardboard packaging?? I have 2 small kids and at Christmas time, I spent literally 5-10 minutes trying to extricate each toy from the packaging without literally ripping the toy apart! My youngest loves the toy soldiers with 30 accessories (guns, helmets, goggles, gloves, rucksack, etc.) and EACH one was hard wired to the back of the cardboard package. The same was true for my daughter’s Barbie set. Even her hair had a metal wire (which was a gauge so thick I couldn’t cut it with scissors) through it — are you ‘effing kidding me???

Somebody needs to be bitch slapped, then fired!

April 26th, 2007

ProphetJoe the Irreverent up'n wrote this

Oooh — typo! I actually have 3 small (10 and under) kids. If they’re reading this, I didn’t want to offend one of them — and IF THEY ARE READING THIS, they’re in BIG trouble!!

April 26th, 2007

Trouble the Pirate pontificated

Oh how I do love ’spin’… Let’s look at one aspect… “if Americans generate garbage at current rates for 1,000 years, and put it all in a landfill 100 yards deep, by the year 3000 the whole lot will fill a piece of land 35 miles square.”

By this statement we can calculate, that this particular hypothetical landfill will contain:

292,723,200,000 cubic feet of ‘garbage’… That’s two hundred & ninty-two billion, seven hundred twenty-three million, two hundred thousand cubic feet of ‘garbage’… Sounds bigger now huh?

This is equivalent to producing 5,671,831 cubic feet per week over the allotted 993 years.

This equates to every American only throwing away 0.019 cubic feet of garbage a week… Or, 5.2 tablespoons of garbage a day… Now go and look in the kitchen drawer and find a tablespoon… I’ll wait… … …

Okay that took you long enough… Now imagine 5 of them and that’s how much garbage these ‘calculations’ indicate that YOU throw away each day… Hell, last time I changed my baby’s disposable diaper there was more than 5 tablespoons of shit [no pun intended] in it… And he goes through five or six a day…

So, if Americans are only dumping 5,671,831 cubic feet per week, and Mexicans are producing “one-third more garbage”… And to be fair let’s say the rest of the world is only producing “one-quarter” more garbage than Americans, then it follows that there is 15,416,465,262 cubic feet of garbage being produced worldwide for our little hole…

Don’t worry though, by the year 3000 this will only be 799,251,225,017,206 cubic feet… let’s say it out loud… Seven hundred ninety-nine trillion, two hundred fifty-on billion… Aw fuck it!

That’s still only “Ninety-five thousand, five hundred and sixty-four square miles” for the same 100 yard deep hole… Provided we can limit ourselves to the aforementioned, 5.2 tablespoons of garbage a day… Only 2/3 the size of California… Should be able to squeeze it…

Oh, and there is that matter of digging the 300 foot deep hole… I nominate Chris!

April 26th, 2007

Christine the Lioness said this

ROFL!

April 26th, 2007

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