Recycling is an environmentally friendly way to reduce the depletion of natural resources, water usage, air and water pollution, and damage to the environment. For instance, every ton of paper recycled saves about 17 trees, 2 barrels of oil, 3.2 cubic yards of landfill space, and 1 ton of pollution.  

When compared to production from raw materials, recycling is much more energy-efficient. It takes only 11% as much energy to recycle aluminum, 20% to recycle glass, 44% as much for iron, 60% for paper, and 70% to recycle plastic. Recycling also saves on the cost of waste disposal. On average, it costs about $40 per ton to recycle household trash, $50 per ton to transfer it to a landfill, and $70 per ton to incinerate it.

Despite the benefits of recycling, only about 37% of trash is recycled nationwide. Sedgwick County, where I live, recycles only about 17% of its trash, 14.7% through curbside recycling, and the rest through drop-off sites such as Pro-Kansas recycling. The reason often given for the low rate of recycling is the cost.

Single-use plastic bags are a real problem, and some cities have banned their use. Although each plastic bag does not weigh much, an estimated 92 billion are used in the United States each year. That is about 1.1 billion pounds of plastic bags. Not only do they add about $800 million to retail grocery prices, but most of them end up in landfills, being incinerated, or scattered across the landscape. Animals often ingest plastic when they eat food that has been thrown away in plastic bags.  Plastic bags also end up in places they shouldn’t be, such as storm drains, sewage treatment plants, and even in cows’ stomachs. It has been reported that, at slaughter, it is not uncommon to find plastic materials inside cattle’s stomachs. Enzymes in a cow’s stomach have been found to break down some kinds of plastics, but not polyethylene which is the main component of plastic bags.

Small plastic particles have become ubiquitous in the environment and are now even found in us. Microplastics (plastic particles less than 5mm) are now widely detected throughout the human body, including the bloodstream, lungs, placenta, liver, kidneys, and brain. When taken into our bodies when we eat, drink, and breathe, they may cause inflammation, cellular damage, and metabolic disruption. While potential links to cancer, cardiovascular disease, and infertility are suspected, research is ongoing to understand long-term health impacts.