The Act of Recycling

The means of recycling has become necessary for conserving the well-being of the earth. The act of recycling has gained popularity in America, and the process of recycling is the most reliable means to take care of the environment. However, New York is regarded as the number one city that accumulates trash more so than any other in the world. This dilemma has led the city to implement a program which would reduce the quantity of garbage in New York City. The project would take advantage of this situation by collecting the trash and selling it for reuse for a profit. But these methods were not successful as there were minimal profits to be made selling garbage. Therefore many businesses in America have taken the initiative to help by creating there own recycling programs. The government can also help bring about solving the problem by creating regulations that force companies to contribute to the recycling efforts.

New York City is the most massive metropolis and the largest contributor of trash in the world as it generates a million tons of waste each year. New York City is also very dense and narrow which leads to traffic becoming an obstacle to getting garbage out of the town. The city has managed to deal with these problems by implementing complex waste-disposal programs which come from both private and public waste-management companies. The waste is then separated into three groups: paper, glass/metal/plastic, and non-recyclable garbage. The non-recyclable trash is thrown into landfills, and the recyclable waste is sent to a recycling plant where the items are sorted, and either used for energy or sold for profit to paper mils or companies overseas. "Report Calls Recycling Costlier than Dumping" by Eric Lipton discusses, how recycling has been a heated discussion in New York City. Lipton states, "Recycling in New York City has long been a topic that has attracted passionate debate, as environmentalists have argued that separating paper and plastic, for example, not only saves trees and other natural resources but is also cost-effective." Lipton explains that the situation in New York City has created passionate debates and discussions that helped drive government involvement. The government has been collaborating with neighborhoods and local businesses to help with the recycling and waste efforts, but recycling is the most costly method in controlling the situation.

Recycling has become more expensive because of the cost of collecting recyclable material as opposed to gathering trash which is less costly. "The Negatives of Recycling in New York" by John Tierney discusses, how the recycling efforts have failed to produce results in creating an alternative to waste disposal and instead increase the cost of recycling. Tierney states, "Collecting recyclable material costs more than collecting trash, because there's less material to pick up at each stop, and the materials themselves aren't worth enough to offset that expense. The city receives only $5 to $10 per ton of paper, and it must pay recycling companies $45 per ton to accept metal, glass, and plastics." Tierney explains that New York City is receiving a negative gain in their attempts to replace trash disposal with recycling. This predicament has cut into the budget of the city which have hurt development cost. The realization is that the city would have saved and made a ton of money if they didn't