Composting vs. Recycling
by Amy A. Whittle,
National Geographic, Published 2010
Composting and Recycling are two great ways to reuse waste materials without harming the environment. Both are simple and easy to do, help the environment, help the economy, and most importantly, help you! This article showed me how easily we can all change our lifestyles to help each other--and the environment out.
Composting is a process that reuses organic waste such as leaves, grass cuttings, vegetables, and newspaper, and combines them to create a compost that is very useful for growing new plants. The resulting soil is nutrient-rich and does not need to be fertilized. Beautiful plants can be grown with less effort because of all the nutrients found in the compost. If you do not use these materials, your community may. Many communities collect materials to make compost for projects and other community activities. The community may use it for planting new trees in your local park, or brightening up the town community center with new flowers!
Recycling is also very material efficient. Recycling takes used materials and reuses them for new uses, without wasting energy to make the materials. These used items are broken down into the basic materials and are then assembled into new products. When customers buy products with recycled materials, they are helping the recycling cause, and are also helping the environment. Much less energy goes into creating these products, so their prices are often lower than products with regular materials.
If recyclable materials or compostable materials are not used for these two causes, they are wasted and shipped off to a local landfill where they rot for millions of years.
I am glad I stumbled upon this article, because it showed me other ways that recycling and composting are helping the environment. I have never before truly understood the specifics of either process. Now I understand. These two processes alone employ millions of people and bring in billions of dollars to the industry, all while helping a great cause. What more can you ask for? It is the best of both worlds, and I look forward to learning about recycling in Environmental Science. I would enjoy learning about how the process really works, where the materials go, step-by-step. I want to know what can be recycled, who recycles it, and how to improve it.
I personally am very sure to check what can be recycled in my household and am responsible for making sure it gets to the right place. My family also keeps a compost pile in the back yard, and should be planting some new shrubs there soon. It's so nice to know that there is a better answer than fertilizer! Simply reusing organic material as nutrients for new plants...why didn't I think of that before? Did you know that you can be fined for not recycling certain materials? I like to think that I am not only helping my family out, but am helping my neighbors, friends, and the environment. Think about what the world would be like if everyone thought like that. Well here, recycling and composting is the start of it. Don't miss it.
1. What types of materials can be recycled?
2. Do you own a compost pile? If not, what materials on your property can be used in one?
3. How can we spread knowledge about recycling and composting to everyone?
4. What other processes like these save materials from being wasted or being shipped off to a landfill?
5. Why can't all materials be recycled? How can we add more materials to the recycling list?
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ReplyDeleteAaron- this is a very interesting topic. Like you, I did not really know a lot about composting and what goes into it. Recycling however I do know a lot about but I do not know the process of it. I am interested in learning more about what goes into each of these processes. Anyway, I think that composting is a brilliant idea because it is so effortless! All you really have to do is collect some leaves, plants, or newspaper and throw it in a pile in your back yard. Eventually you will be able to use it to start a garden or plant a tree. I believe that recycling is being more emphasized more and more every day. My household has a recycling trash can instead of a small bin. People really want us to get recycling! It is important to recycle water bottles, plastics, paper, newspapers, old books, and more. It is so simple for humans to do this, and if everybody recycled more, our environment could be a whole lot healthier and more organisms would be able to live a healthier life.
ReplyDeleteTo answer question 3:
Recycling is more known to people than composting, so we need to find a way to get them both out there in the world. In order to get more people to recycle, people in the community can put flyers in mailboxes informing them to recycle (and then recycle that paper of course). Communities can also make a big pile of compost and plant a tree in order to symbolize that they are trying to help the environment.
To answer question 5:
A lot of times, not everything can be recycled because of money. It is expensive to re-manufacture items that are being recycled. Certain items cannot be used again so they are not able to be recycled. A way to add more materials to the recycling list is to make more products recyclable and add the recycle label on it just to make sure people know they can put it in the blue recycling bin. People need to be encouraged to buy recyclable items so they can benefit themselves and the environment once they recycle it.
(I used this website to help me out and to get a little more background knowledge)
http://ecoramblings.com/why-all-plastic-containers-cant-be-recycled/
Author: Luke Vernon
Publication: Eco Rambling
I agree completely that composting and recycling is truly the greatest way to put used materials and waste to good use. I we don't want to run our earth dry of all resources, we better keep usuing what we have until we can't anymore! The only problem I think of when I consider composting is the smell. I know that sounds silly, and it deffinitely isn't a reason not to do it! I think that there should be large composting areas in EVERY town that are easy and quick to get to, so people will be more likely to do this. As for question 2, I don't have a compost pile! I have a lot of material that could go into one however. My yard is faily big so when we cut the grass, there is a lot laying around. We put it into a pile, but never use it for anything. I'm sure that if my town had an easily accessable compost deposit, we would take ti there to be put to good use!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis article was very interesting! I agree that recycling and composting are two simple ways to reuse waste materials without harming the environment. I already knew a lot about recycling, but not composting! Recycling is when used materials are processed to make new stuff. Fortunately, less energy goes into creating these recyclable products, so their prices are lower than normal items. At my house, we have a huge blue recycle trashcan where we put paper and plastic in. I was shocked to learn that you can be fined for not recycling certain materials. This reminds me of the time we watched the water tap video in environmental science class. The movie talked about positive and negative effects of water bottles, which we should reduce, reuse or recycle. I cannot wait to learn more about recycling and composting! Composting is so effortless because all you have to do is collect organic waste such as leaves, plants, or newspapers and pile it up in your yard. Eventually, you will be able to use that compost to grow plants, since the soil is nutrient-rich and does not have to be fertilized. I do not have a compost pile at my house, but I have a lot of material that could be put into it, so I should start collecting! If these two processes were not used, then the recyclable or compostable materials would just end up in landfills and rot. This is horrible because trash dumps are taking up a lot of space on Earth. The more resourceful humans become the healthier our earth will be.
ReplyDeleteTo answer one of questions:
We need to spread awareness about recycling by making people buy and use green products, which would benefit them and the world. Recycling promotional items such as tote bags, stress balls, key holders, sport bottles etc. can serve as a reminder to Earth friendly initiatives. Educating consumers about composting and recycling by handing out informational brochures, making local websites, and hosting programs for kids is another great way to make a difference. Teaching the younger generation about issues occurring around the world can inspire them to get a job that has to do with our environment or think of ideas to help it. All schools and homes should have recycling bins too! Communities should make a big pile of compost so people can take some to use or drop some off if they do not need it. Encouraging others to not waste will make a huge difference towards global warming, as well.