Why Don't They Recycle?

Recently, I was invited to a party. The hosts wereAs my Mother always said, "Do it right the first time
lovely, the home was large and beautiful in aand you won't have to go back and do it again." We
well-to-do area. Everything about the day wasonly have one country, one Earth, we should honor
fantastic, except for one thing...they didn't recycle. Iit, revere it and take care of it. Over the last 100
noticed glass bottles in the trash, I thought maybeyears of the world's growth we have taken for
some party goer made a mistake. Then I noticedgranted that the Earth would just sustain. It would
another and another, no mistake.always be here for us to manipulate it and abuse it
Does their township not offer recycling? I can'tas we chose.
imagine these intelligent, well read people would haveWhat can one do if recycling is not offered in your
a blatant disregard for the environment. I didn't ask.area? Take Action, write a letter to your local
That would be poor etiquette. I should have though,newspaper, the township officials and your county
I could have at least taken those bottles with mefreeholders. Make everyone aware of the damage
and recycled them at my house.that is being done. You voice will be heard. Get
It leaves me wondering, why don't they recycle?children involved in your quest for a better world.
Cans, bottles and paper are the most widely recycledChildren are innovative thinkers and can make a real
products in the nation. Why not there? I am suredifference.
there are many areas of our country that are still inFor example: Recently a local Boy Scout Troup in our
the dark about recycling. We are the self-proclaimedarea provided a hard plastics pick up to their
leaders of the world, yet many other countries havecommunity. Hard plastics are items like: Plastic lawn
far surpassed us environmentally. There are somefurniture, kids molded plastic play sets, 5gal water
countries, such as Sweden where composting yourbottles, etc. Any large hard plastic items. They sent
food scraps is mandatory. They have been able toout fliers, collected these items on a particular date
reduce the amount of green waste going into theand took them to the township Public Works Facility,
landfill drastically. Food scraps will not effectivelywhere from there it was taken by the township to
breakdown inside a plastic bag in a landfill, in fact itthe County Recycling Facility. They collected over
contributes to the production of methane gas, one500 pounds of hard plastic that would have ended up
of the leading destroyers of the ozone.in the dump!
It is our responsibility, to hold our government andIt does take some effort on our part to recycle hard
ourselves accountable. The USA is more than capableplastics, however a quick trip to the Township Public
of implementing recycling in every state, county andWorks Dept. will keep these items out of our landfills.
municipality... we should insist on it. It is more costThey can then be recycled and turned into other
effective over the long term to have theseuseful products, like Polywood Furniture. By asking
programs in place. Recycling products, makes newour local municipalities, maybe they will offer one or
products with a smaller footprint than products usingtwo pickups per year. By recycling these hard plastics
virgin materials. Recycling saves thousands of acreswe can save valuable space in our landfills.
of landfill space every year. Recycling also reducesThese young boys made a difference in our
the amount of methane gas being produced in landfillscommunity and our environment. We should all follow
and chemicals from leaching into our soils and makingtheir example. If everyone nationwide would make
its way into our ground water supply. Once thethis small extra effort to recycle, the effects would
damage is done, it is difficult and costly to undo.be staggering. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!