Most people are taught to recycle. In many cases this is a good habit to have as it has good long term results. At times there are some major disadvantages to this practice. This is not an attempt to get people to stop recycling or feel badly but to think about what is happening during the process. There is more to the whole picture of recycling than it appears when you also weigh in environmental impacts as well.
One huge issue that many don’t think about is the energy cost it takes to transport the items that you are recycling. There is the cost of picking the items up and transporting them to the recycling centers that are available in your area. If there is one center for plastics, glass, paper, metals, and other items that is there locally, this is not an issue. For some, the recycling center is miles away. After it’s separated at the plant, there are more trucks used to get to various plants for different materials. Saving the resource in this case has a huge emissions and energy cost associated with it making recycling much less effective.
At times there is a chemical cost in the water. With certain plastics and with the inks on paper, these can be get into the water during the recycling process. At times certain plants do have chemical waste issues in the water supplies. Before recycling products like this at those places, make sure that the water quality if not being affected negatively.
One thing you may be unaware of is that if your local area does not have enough workers or machinery, there are times where the recycling that you have done is just thrown away as there is too much to go through. Make sure that when you do take the time to recycle that it’s going to a place that is actually processing your goods versus ending up in the garbage. If not, this is simply a huge hassle for you with no good end results.
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