“Recycling is a good way to reduce waste”, but it is the last step in the reduce, reuse, and recycle cycle. There is “a widespread belief that recycling eliminates the environmental impacts of bottled water”(Saylor, A., L.S., & Amberg, S., 2011).
Too often we use recycling as a justification for convenience. This is not an effective solution as the recycling system is broken. There are inefficiencies in the system such as contamination, an abundance of energy needed to recycle, and a lack of recycling programs according to the 2019 report by The Journal of The Sustainable Innovation MBA at the University of Vermont.
Bottled water may not be good for you, but it is definitely NOT good for the planet. Pathwater reports that nearly ¾ of Polyethylene Terephthalate commonly known as PET or plastic #1 does not make it to the recycling process and of those that do, only ¼ of PET plastic water bottles are recycled. It is time we held the system and ourselves accountable for contributing to the problem.
Though recycling is not the answer, it would be naive to think that we are never going to use single-use plastic or other materials that will one day need to be recycled. When that time comes, we need to be educated on what can be recycled.
Recycling is tricky. How you recycle and what you recycle can make a big difference in the recycling process; however, recycling regulations vary from county to county, state to state, and country to country. What can be recycled at Gettysburg College?
Regardless of your area’s regulations, the fact that you are thinking about recycling is a step in the right direction of starting to think about why we even need to recycle in the first place. However, we can not stop there. We need to look at the deeper issue of the necessity to realize the recycling system is not the solution to our environmental problems.
NowThis News. (2017, November 24). What Happens to Your Recycling After It’s Collected? [Video]. Youtube.
Nadeau, M. (2019, April 15). Single-use plastic: Why recycling is not enough. The Journal of The Sustainable Innovation MBA at the University of Vermont.
Pathwater. (2019, January 9). Do plastic water bottles really get recycled?
Saylor, A., Prokopy, L. S., & Amberg, S. (2011). What’s wrong with the tap?: Examining perceptions of tap water and bottled water at Purdue University. Environmental Management, 48(3), 588-601.
