The Dilemma of Recycling !

The Dilemma of Recycling

Line of Inquiry Essay
Marshall Nicholas
James Madison University

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Abstract
During this paper the issue of recycling will be discussed. For decades recycling has been
a major issue and this paper will show how it is a very complex problem that affects everything
on this earth. Going through multiple source one will begin to see how this is a major issue that
is also very controversial. Since there are so many people backing this problem at hand it is hard
to agree what is the best way environmentally and economically to go about recycling in the
future. This issue is not only important for every individual person on earth but also an issue that
bring consequences to our planet and everything on it as a whole.

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According to the Environmental Protection Agency we recycle only 30 % of the 75% of
our waste that is recyclable. With numbers like this it is easy to see how pollution and problems
with waste management have became a very prominent issue with over 7 billion people on this
earth. With the growing amount of people and waste they generate on this earth we are beginning
to see global issues that are affecting all aspects of life around the globe. According to the
National Resource Defense Council, Antarctic ice caps recede 9% every decade. This is dues to
the positive carbon feedback loop, which is when the ice caps melt the release stored carbon into
the atmosphere, raising the temperature which leads to more ice melting. As one can see this is
one of many problems that can arise from loops like these which cause major problems for not
just humans.
The main issues with recycling are what's the most cost effective way, what we should
focus on recycling, and who should be primarily responsible for recycling (producers or
consumers.) These issues are highly debated and cause clashes between environmental groups
resulting in not moving forward in trying to resolve the issue. Looking at different selections
from a few big names in the recycling field one can begin to grasp how their opinions are similar
and differentiate on the issue of recycling goods. As a reader one should pay attention to the facts
to begin to build a stance to act on this issue because it relates to everyone on this earth today
and the negative effects would be detrimental to present and future generations.
The first source is by Conrad MacKerron, a senior director of the environmental
nonprofit group As You Sow, as stated on their web page As You Sow is a non-profit
foundation chartered to promote corporate social responsibility through shareholder advocacy,
coalition building, and legal strategie. Mackerrons major problem with recycling is the fact that

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to much of the problem is forced toward the consumer and not the producer. This is why he
pushes for EPR laws, which are Extended Producer Responsibility laws. These laws would allow
more of the responsibility of recycling on the producers of the actual products and also
packaging material which is one of our largest portion of waste. Mackerron explains how we
need to focus our recycling strategies in this quote, There are some bright spots; the U.S. does
well in paper recycling, but aside from paper, just 22% of remaining packaging is recycled. As
said earlier one of the many problems is deciding what is most effective to recycle and
Mackerron does a good job at pointing out that as a country we are focusing too much on
recycling goods that are biodegradable such as paper materials and need to focus on materials
such as aluminum which according to Alcoa the U.S could produce enough 25,000 jetliners. This
wasted material affects our environment and does not allow us to most effectively use our
resources. Throughout the article Mackerron continues to discuss the how the U.S and the world
can raise awareness for EPR laws and how these laws would benefit the world as a whole in the
future.
The next source was a live broadcast in which host/science reporter Bruce Gellerman
interviewed Gavin McIntyre the chief scientist at Ecovative Design. The main discussion of this
interview was on the newly developed mushroom packaging that Gavin McIntyre is pushing
for distribution companies to use. In this interview Gellerman discusses the problems with
packaging today and explains how we use about 19 billion pound of styrofoam a year just from
packaging peanuts. McIntyre explains that they have developed a new process that will allow
100% biodegradable waste. The idea behind it was using mushroom , this sounds like it could
turn into a mess but the Ecoactive design team was able to use only the roots which means there

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would be no spores or mushroom caps surrounding an a item. According to McIntyre, this
process was developed through observing mycelium growing on woodchips. He then explains
how the process of the mycelium growing on wood works not only as a decomposer but as a
adhesive. McIntyre believes that this is the next step in reducing the amount of energy needed to
recycle packaging material.
The last source is from John Tierney, an Environmental journalist who has been fallowing
recycling for decades. This article in the New York Times discusses how the recycling practices
and goals that are being set today are only going to make it worse in the future. Tierney shows
how one should not believe that it's necessary to completely recycle everything, Items such as
paper and aluminum are far more effective than trying to recycle every yogurt container, plastic
bottle ,ect because these items do not have as much of an impact as many other things people
don't recycle. The last part of the article bring attention back to landfills a long hated practice. He
explains how modern day landfills are more effective , economically and environmentally with
the new technologies in lining, incineration, and methane collection so this practiced should still
be used for things that wouldn't make sense to recycle.
With such a large and controversial issue many different sources don't agree upon the
most efficient and beneficial recycling practice but there are similarities in their views. All the
sources listed above agree that recycling practices today are not efficient and the rules and
regulations for waste companies are very broad and easily bent. Mackerrons extended producer
responsibility plan is a way that would put more responsibility on the Big companies than on the
people to recycle and how these billion dollar companies should not try to pinch pennies and
invest in better more biodegradable packaging material. This is a point that is agreed and

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expanded upon in Gavin McIntyre article on mushroom packaging. McIntyre expanded upon this
by going to show that companies wouldn't even have to pinch pennies because his material cost
less than most styrofoam or other synthetic packaging in the quote We sell these materials at
either cost parity or below the foam and synthetics that they were using previously. (McIntyre,
2015) A point that was also agreed upon between Mackerrons selection and Tierney news article
was that the view on what to recycle is not efficient and cost a lot of energy when we aimlessly
recycle things that we can afford not to. Tierney provides a great example in this selection,
Once you exclude paper products and metals, the total annual savings in the United States from
recycling everything else in municipal trash plastics, glass, food, yard trimmings, textiles,
rubber, leather is only two-tenths of 1 percent of Americas carbon footprint (Tierney,2015).
The work that was done by these authors contrasted more than they were similar because
they all have different outlooks on how to fix the problem at hand. The first two article by
Mackerron and Gavin McIntyre may agree that the producers packaging choice is a problem but
Mackerron believes that making harsher regulations and stricter laws for producer responsibility
of recycling, this can be seen in the quote By supporting EPR laws and policies that drive more
aggressive and effective collection efforts, companies can then make commitments to use far
higher levels of recycled content in product packaging (MacKerron,2014).Opposed to Gavin
McIntyre who thinks the packaging they use is the main problem and we should move toward his
100% biodegradable packaging material.Tierneys selection is the most different from the other
sources because he believes that we should re put our trust back in landfills and incineration for
most goods other than paper, aluminum, and some plastics. Mackerron states in his article that
incineration and methane release from landfills is a heavy contributor to global pollution but

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Tierney does not agree and believes that the new technology at hand is sufficient enough.
Budgeting is the final dilemma that these sources dispute on( explain in final part.)
Mackerrons Extended Producer Responsibility Laws article was a solid scholarly
article that provided excellent info related to the topic of recycling.This Article is Current,
creates a sense of credibility which helps authorship, as well as provided clear and organized
information. This sources only problem was not citing that many scholarly sources to allow the
reader to build trust with the information provided. Gavin McIntyre Mushroom Packaging
was not as solid as the first source but still had good trust worthy information. The author did
well in providing relevant information to the topic, used current information, as well as
expressed the ideas of the article in a clear and organized way. The drawbacks of this source
include: few scholarly sources were cited decreasing the amount of author credibility, this came
with lack of supporting evidence of his ideas but was helped by the expertise in the field
McIntyre had. Lastly this source left the publish unknown which reduces the credibility of the
article as well. The Reign Of Recycling is the last source that could be considered the best of the
3. Tierneys news article was included new and relevant information to the topic at hand, he also
had very high credentials and a history in talking and writing about the topic of recycling, his
information was clear and to the point which maintained proper organization all the way through.
Considering that this article was published by new york times also adds significant credibility to
the source.
Viewing these different sources as a reader it is easy to see that the issue of recycling is a
large issue that is debated by many different environmentalist. All though all these sources have
the same final goal, to better the environment, they have different ways of accomplishing them.

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After reading this essay as a reader it should be easy to see that this is a global issue that affects
not only us but also future generations as well as other . Without properly analyzing and finding
the best way to go about this global issue we will continue to waste valuable resources we will
need in the future.

Work Cited

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Living on Earth: Mushroom Packaging. (2012, March 23). Living on Earth.
MacKerron, C. (2014). Extended Producer Responsibility Mandates Benefit the Environment
and Businesses. In L. M. Zott
(Ed.), Opposing Viewpoints. The Environment. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press.
Tierney, J. (2015, October 3). The Reign of Recycling. Retrieved March 12, 2016.