5 Factors That Affect Recycling

Recycling offers a win-win situation both for the consumer and the environment. Americans are embracing recycling more and more as a part of everyday life. The EPA reports that recycling increased three percent between 2006 and 2007. In addition, the amount of trash generated per person dropped during this same period.

The recovery rate varies with the material. In 2010, Americans recycled over 60 percent of the paper generated. Plastic recycling, on the other hand, was a mere 6.8 percent in 2007. Other factors also play a role in what ends up in the landfill and what is recovered for recycling.

One of the biggest barriers to recycling is having an accessible way available to do so. According to Earth101.com, about half of Americans have curbside recycling. Over 80 percent have access to recycling bins, whether at work or around town.

Recycling must be easy for it to succeed. Unfortunately, that is part of the problem with some materials. A specific procedure must be followed to recycle CFLs. You must take tires or used engine oil to someone else for recycling. This presents an obstacle in some cases and can negatively impact recycling rates.

Sorting follows the same path as ease of recycling. Spending extra time going through your trash can certainly be a deterrent. With improvements in recycling facilities, sorting is becoming less necessary. It also exposes workers to fewer hazards with machine sorting.

The payback you recycle—or don’t receive—from recycling can affect whether or not you participate. Some large office and electronic store chains will take care of the hassle of recycling e-waste for you. Some businesses offer cash incentives to take back the hard-to-recycle items.

If recycling is going to succeed on a grand scale, it needs to remove the barrier to recycling e-waste. According to the EPA, about 379,000 tons of electronics were recycled in 2005. However, about 1.8 million tons or nearly five times as much ended up in landfills.

Communities need to be more aggressive about opening up avenues and curbside recycling to e-waste. Otherwise, landfills will become a haven of hazardous waste.

ChrisD | My Bio & Articles

Chris has a long history of government and volunteer work for environmental causes. She participated in the early planning efforts for Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in Illinois, the nation's first site of this type. Her work ...