The world today is undergoing drastic changes in weather and condition has worsened in the recent years. The reasons for this are varied. However, the major reason is pollution, in all its forms. The world produces so much waste which it needs to dispose of in order to maintain cleanliness. But for that purpose, there are many solid wastes that are burned or left to decompose on their own which damage the environment and contribute to the rise in pollution. If this keeps up, very soon the environment will be completely ruined, and it can play havoc for humanity. (EcoCycle.com). Therefore, recycling is an activity which can thereby preserve the environment, and its benefits have huge importance for the future.
Recycling is a beneficial process that reuses and reprocesses materials to make them usable once again. Not only does recycling cover the aspect of reprocessing, but it also refers to collecting of materials discarded and waste and making sure that this material is not disposed of incorrectly. (What is.com). Hence, recycling as a process, not only has the added benefit of preserving the environment, it also cleans up and improves the surroundings. The reason why this concept sprung up in the first place was due to the accumulation of waste products and materials into water bodies and landfills. People used these places to dump the products and materials they no longer needed and since the waste materials need to go somewhere, they are then dumped in far off places, away from residential areas. (EcoCycle.com). At times, these materials are burned up as well because there no longer remains the land and area to accommodate all the waste material. Therefore, plastics, paper and another flammable material are burned up to get ridden off. Sometimes it is thrown into water bodies, where is decomposes and is ingested by marine life, which can kill them. Hence, waste material remains a threat to the environment and to marine life. If continued, life on earth could be in grave danger. (Pullen).
Recycling actually helps to protect the environment. Lesser products are needed to manufacture things. There are different kinds of recycling. Upscaling is a kind of recycling that involves the addition of a product to increase the value of the new product. Downscaling refers to reducing a product to pick out one material or element that can be reused. (What is.com). In these processes, the amount of waste material and effluents that would be produced in a factory is eliminated, and thus, there is less pollution and resultantly lesser damage to the environment. There are many countries in the world that are suffering greatly from high levels of pollution, particularly air pollution due to industrial waste which is why they have turned to recycling as a greener method of preventing and reversing the environmental conditions. (Pullen).
Global warming is a condition that characterizes the increase in the temperature of the Earth. The changing temperature leads to climatic changes and abnormalities in weather that have not been reported before. This condition did not build up itself in a day or two; rather it has built up from years of recklessness on the part of humans in waste disposal and reuse. (EcoCycle.com). Moreover, the more products that were manufactured without being reused made the power plants run to process more harmful effluents and gases that stifled the natural atmosphere of the earth. The future of mankind is at stake here because if this continues, the air on the earth will become too polluted to breathe and people will suffer from more respiratory diseases than ever. (Pullen).Today, in China, there are certain cities where the air is too polluted to be breathed in safely, and the inhabitants need to wear masks over their faces. If industries are used at such a fast pace, this is bound to happen.
Recycling for the environment not only preserves the energy and environment in the health aspect; it also helps to preserve the reserves and resources of the Earth. The need for raw materials is immediately reduced when recycling is carried out. For instance, the recycling of paper and cardboard is one important example. The paper is made from trees and with the growing demand of paper, more trees need to be cut for its production. However, if the paper in all its forms, is recycled and reused, it can help to save millions of trees from going to waste. (Pullen). With the conservation of trees, a handful of environmental problems can be prevented and cured. One page of paper can be recycled a couple of times. The downside, according to some people here is that recycling will reduce the quality of a product. This is true, but it depends on the kind of material and the number of times a product is recycled. Moreover, recycling is a much more sensible option than allowing the waste products to decompose in the environment, releasing harmful gases and chemicals which deteriorate the environment with the passage of time. (Pullen).
Additionally, not only does recycling preserve raw materials, but it also preserves energy. The time taken for the production of a recycled product is lesser than that for a new one by scratch. This, in turn, saves the fossil fuels that are providing the energy for the machines and systems to run in industries and factories. (Pullen).
It is true that much of the damage has already been done. The earth’s temperature is rising steadily, seasons have altered intensities, floods, droughts and famines are more frequent, and rains fall unpredictably. However, it is still not too late to reverse conditions and make the future more bearable for the coming generations. It would only take certain amends such as recycling and reusing materials instead of burning them or disposing them in water and landfills and helping in preserving the environment as much as one can.
Work cited
EcoCycle.com. Environmental Facts. 2016. Web. 25 Feb 2016.
Pullen, Kate. What impact does recycling have on the environment? Green Living. 2011. Web.
25 Feb 2016.
What is.com. Recycling. 2016. Web. 25 Feb 2016.
