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                                                                                            1. Question: What is recyclable in sustainability?
 

        We believe we live in an age where recycling of materials such as Glass, Plastics, paper and metal are commonplace. We see recycle bins in schools and businesses, we place products in separate trash receptacles expecting that all this trash gets recycled sustaining our world. Yet we blame others for trashing our planet. Plastic bottles floating in the oceans by the billions, animals suffocated by plastic ties and bags and mountains of trash filling our landfills.
Honestly, of all the recyclable products what percentage is actually recycled?
According to the United States Public Interest Research Group only 34.7 percent of material are recycled. The EPA places this number even higher at around 66% with paper and plastic products ranging between 33 and 28 percent.  With this being said, what really are recyclables? Or should we say what isn’t recyclable?
Most industry considers a recyclable as a material that can be reused over and over, such as Glass, Plastics, paper and metal. The dictionary defines it as “to treat or process (used or waste materials) so as to make suitable for reuse”. In other words, all trash is recyclable! The EPA unlike the USPIRG considered grass clippings and other trash used for fertilizer and heating as part of their recycling program. So, if we use the EPA 66% we are still trashing 34% of material. That’s the quantity of Glass, Plastics, paper and metals that the USPIRG says we actually recycle! That’s a LOT of trash that could have been used.

So why don’t we recycle this 34%?   South East London Combined Heat and Power otherwise called SELCHP operates a “35MW power station that burns 420 kt per year of black-bag waste from the London area. They burn whole waste, without prior sorting. (MacKay P287)”

 “A ‘crisis of sustainability’ has evolved as a result of the global application of the western development paradigm of ‘progress’ through unfettered capitalism with little regard for social, cultural and ecological consequences. (Cajete 2000)” In other words,  we prefer easy and cheaply made product which makes recycling more complicated and discarding as trash simpler. Why do we purchase disposable items like razors? Its cheaper? No. a reusable razor can last 1000 shaves or more. We just prefer disposable because its quicker and easier to just replace, rather than taking the time to re-sharpen a blade for a razor. “Every year we spend approximately $200 billion on plastic and glass bottles that have a relatively low rate of recycling. We created a disposable society.( Theis P207)
Food waist we trash because of fear of disease and the odor that they produce from sitting. Yet this could be used as fuels! Yet pumping oil from the ground is cheaper than creating a system to recycle such products
There is no need for manmade mountains and the high cost of dumping trash. If we would focus on sustainability creating our society on recycling rather than trashing, we could eliminate dependency of the grid and live in a cleaner world