Recycling: Cost Benefit Analysis, Essay Example

Executive Summary

Recycling is common practice in many communities where environmental needs are essential to a growing and thriving population. These factors play a role in shaping outcomes for individuals and in supporting the continued growth and development of a sustainable focus for a given community. The need for recycling in a community is largely based upon its level of focus on preserving the environment and in making all persons accountable for their actions in regards to the environment at all times. As a result, recycling is an essential contributor to this process and supports a valuable contribution to an organization’s focus on sustainability and environmental protection. All persons must play a role in contributing to a positive environment in one way or another, and recycling provides an opportunity to achieve this goal without difficulty. It is important to identify these resources and to recognize the value of developing new perspectives to address recycling needs within a given community through specific activities directed at this process. For example, community-based support is critical to the creation and maintenance of a comprehensive recycling facility within a community, as this process ensures that the community is in full support of the need for a recycling facility to accommodate local residents’ recycling needs. This process is essential towards the discovery of new challenges that require full support and guidance in order to determine how to best move forward with a recycling strategy that will have a positive impact on the community at large.

Introduction

In the modern era, recycling is an essential practice that supports environmental sustainability and growth on many levels. Due to the serious risks associated with the world environment, including global warming, it is important to identify the resources that individual communities might use to support a long-term effort to make a successful contribution to preserve the environment. This process involves the preservation of specific materials, such as paper, plastic, and glass, to be broken down and reused in new products. Recycling is an effective method of reusing materials, such as plastic, that would otherwise end up in landfills and that do not biodegrade on their own. Therefore, with the state of the current environment and the carelessness that is often observed, recycling is critical to improve environmental conditions and to preserve and reuse materials in future products. The creation of a recycling plant or facility within a community provides many benefits to local residents and to nearby communities, as it offers them a place to bring their recyclable products with ease, and also enables them to feel better about making a positive contribution to the environment. The following discussion will address the need for a recycling plant in a community, the costs and benefits of this development, and how it will impact local residents, as well as the environment, both in the short and long term. These developments will support the continued growth of efforts to preserve the environment through a widespread recycling program within a local community, one step at a time.

Findings

Recycling plants are an important necessity in many communities in order to ensure that all possible options are explored to improve the environment through this process. Recycling is a necessity because waste in the United States is at an all-time high: “The world has changed a lot in the past century. From individually packaged food servings to disposable diapers, more garbage is generated now than ever before. The average American discards seven and a half pounds of garbage every day. This garbage, the solid waste stream, goes mostly to landfills, where it’s compacted and buried. As the waste stream continues to grow, so will the pressures on our landfills, our resources, and our environment” (Stanford University). These findings suggest that Americans in many ways need a reality check and must possess an improved understanding of recycling and how it benefits their communities in different ways. This requires community-based education so that individuals recognize their own behaviors and how they contribute to environmental decline over time. These factors must be considered because they play a role in determining the impact on the environment through human carelessness that is caused by poor behavior that feeds into environmental waste in many ways.

Facts Regarding Recycling

The recycling industry is highly fruitful and productive in many states, including California. In this state, there are over 4,300 recycling plants that already exist and that contribute to providing jobs for over 84,000 people in the state (Stanford University). Furthermore, this translates into $14.2 billion in revenues annually for the state, and up to eight jobs in manufacturing for each job that is attributed to recycling to rebuild and reuse the collected material (Stanford University). This is only one of many examples throughout the United States where there are significant opportunities to expand recycling efforts in order to generate job creation on multiple levels that will have a positive impact on the environment as a whole. Based upon current statistics, recycling has a positive impact on energy saving principles, including the use of recycled aluminum from soda cans, glass bottles, steel, and paper (Stanford University). This process is essential to support the benefits of recycling and also demonstrates a need to develop expanded programs to improve recycling rates in many communities. This process is essential to the discovery of new techniques to ensure that recycling continues to grow in scope and purpose across the United States.

Benefits of Recycling

Recycling has many benefits for the environment, as well as individuals who participate in this practice on a regular basis. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notes that recycling is used at an average of 32.5 percent, which reflects a shift in thought and perception regarding recycling, but this is clearly not enough: “The products that we use are wrapped in several layers of packaging material that are perfectly recyclable – plastic, aluminum, paper, tin, wood, etc. Solid waste disposal experts engage in an uphill struggle to contain this virtual avalanche of garbage we produce every day. It is apparent that digging a hole, a landfill, is clearly not the answer. Sooner or later, the waste becomes uncontainable and will spill into our farming areas, forests, and water sources” (Pace Butler Corporation). This information demonstrates the importance and high degree of relevance of recycling in today’s society and how it must increase from its current numbers in order to alleviate extreme waste in daily living. There is a strong need to promote a change in behavior through recycling in order to improve the attention that is paid to the environment. This is a critical component of any activities that are conducted to support environmental change and progress on many levels. This process will ensure that there are sufficient opportunities to improve the environment as part of the daily routine. The consumption of many different products contributes to the need for recycling on many levels; therefore, this process must be supported by a widespread initiative that will encourage the appropriate actions and behaviors in order to accomplish the desired level of environmental support and change.

Recycling provides environmental, economic, and human benefits, the latter in the form of an increased prevalence towards recycling rather than wasting resources (Covec).This is an important step towards the discovery of behavioral strategies that will improve recycling habits in many households. Many who participate in regular recycling appear to feel an obligation to improve the environment through this activity and may feel guilty in cases where recycling is not a common practice (Covec). Therefore, it is necessary to develop new strategies that may be effective in promoting recycling on a widespread basis. This process also requires an understanding of the true costs versus the benefits and how these factors contribute to any final decisions that are made regarding recycling that occurs (Covec). The costs of landfills may be lower to operate than a full-fledged recycling plant; however, the benefits to society, the environment, and to human health are likely to be much greater with the use of recycling plants (Covec). For these reasons, the latter is a highly desirable choice with any number of benefits for its users.

Economic Advantages/Disadvantages of Recycling

The economic advantages of recycling should not be ignored, as they provide considerable support for the development of new strategies to improve economic growth in this area. Perhaps most significant are plastic, glass, and aluminum recycling, all of which contribute to maintaining a steady and stable economy on many levels. This process is instrumental in promoting change and in creating a sustainable economic impact on the environment that transitions into positive outcomes in the form of job creation and job retention (Pace Butler Corporation). Recycling also provides sources of income for those who recycle and take their plastics, cans, and bottles to recycling plants, as cash back is often given for these returns, thereby providing an incentive to continue this behavior for the foreseeable future (Pace Butler Corporation). The creation of an effective environment for recycling requires individuals to be proactive in this process and to recognize their responsibility to make recycling part of the daily routine. In other words, recycling must be part of a lifestyle change that supports a higher level of environmental awareness and focus on a continuous basis.

Recycling is not an inexpensive process, as it costs up to $147 per ton to recycle materials, in comparison to $28 per ton to store these items in a landfill (University of Maryland). Nonetheless, this practice is one of the simplest methods of preserving the environment and in reducing waste that is currently available. However, in conducting a cost benefit analysis, the benefits clearly outweigh the risks and provide a means of developing new strategies for improvement that will support increased recycling on a regular basis as a means of environmental preservation and a reduction of waste.

Commonly Recycled Items

With respect to specific types of items that are commonly recycled, it is important to identify these differences and how they impact the environment: 1) aluminum, which improves energy efficiency by 95 percent and reduces pollution by 95 percent; 2) glass, which leads to 50 percent lower water pollution and 50 percent energy savings; 3) paper, which contributes to 60 percent energy savings and 95 percent lower air pollution; 4) plastic, which if recycled, will remove two billion tons of plastic from landfills; and 5) steel, which contributes to an energy savings of 74 percent and from one tone of steel, a savings of 2,500 pounds of ore, 1,000 pounds of coal, and 40 pounds of limestone (University of Massachusetts Amherst). These factors support the continued development of new opportunities to enhance recycling on many levels that support the continued growth of the recycling industry.

Conclusion

Determining recycling needs within a given community requires a high level of understanding of its needs, its current level of recycling activity, basic perceptions and attitudes regarding recycling, and other factors that may contribute to effective outcomes within the community. Recycling is essential to environmental preservation on many levels and is an activity that any household may adopt. Therefore, the ease of recycling makes it highly attractive to consumers who are environmentally conscious, as well as budget conscious. This is an important step towards the discovery of new techniques and strategies to improve the visibility and popularity recycling in a community to support the environment. At the same time, economic growth and opportunity might not be realized in the initial stages, but will be observed in the future as a means of developing the economy through job creation and long-term success. These efforts are critical to ensure that local residents are taking the steps that are necessary to participate in recycling on an active basis and in developing new approaches that will support successful outcomes in recycling over the long term. This includes an increase in recycling efforts across communities in order to achieve effective results.

Recommendations

In using the Survey Monkey approach to determine local response to the recycling plant concept, it is important to gauge interest and to identify current opinions and beliefs regarding recycling so that possible solutions and improvements to existing recycling programs might be explored. It is important to consider the needs of a community and to assess the level of waste that currently exists in order to determine if a recycling plant is warranted within a community. This process is instrumental in determining need, location, financing, possible benefits, and other alternatives. When the need warrants a recycling plant, this need must be taken seriously because it provides a greater sense of accomplishment and support of the environment within a community setting.

A viable community where a recycling plant is warranted requires significant capital in order to get the project off the ground and in supporting the ability of local residents to use this facility regularly to do their part towards the creation of an environment that supports a sustainable enterprise. This process is critical to the long-term success and viability of a recycling plant within a community, as well as the opportunities that are available to enhance its growth over the long term. These efforts encourage local residents to be environmentally responsible and to recognize the value of developing new frameworks to support recycling on a widespread basis. This process, however, cannot be accomplished without the support and guidance of local community members in order to support an increased recycling effort using the resources that are available. The use of a recycling plant will generate cost savings, support job growth, and also demonstrate the importance of new perspectives to ensure that residents are in full support of environmental programs and recycling efforts that take place on a regular basis across different areas. These programs will pave the way for future trends in recycling that will have a positive impact on the community and its people, as well as the environment in which they reside for many years to come.

Works Cited

Covec. “Recycling: cost benefit analysis.” 5 May 2014: https://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/waste/recycling-cost-benefit-analysis-apr07/recycling-cost-benefit-analysis-apr07.pdf

Pace Butler Corporation. “What is recycling – 7 benefits of recycling.” 5 May 2014: http://www.pacebutler.com/blog/what-is-recycling-7-reasons-why-we-should/

Stanford University. “Frequently asked questions: benefits of recycling.” 5 May 2014: http://bgm.stanford.edu/pssi_faq_benefits

University of Maryland. “Cost-benefit analysis of recycling in the United States: is recycling                 worth it?” 5 May 2014: http://www.english.umd.edu/interpolations/2601

University of Massachusetts Amherst. “Environmental benefits of recycling: recycled vs.                      virgin.” 5 May 2014: http://www.umass.edu/recycle/recycling_benefits.shtml