Essay #2: Proposal-Even three year olds can help save the world

To’Mika Cooksey

English 213

Essay #2

Even three-year olds can help save the world

Fairbanks, AK might seem like a small city, but it still has its problems like a big city. One of the problems is recycling- which process used materials to make new materials. It basically prevents useful materials from being wasted, which overall helps the environment. However, Fairbanks is not a key player in this recycling game at all.  Fairbanks is wasting useful materials by not implicating recycling around the city; and with air pollution, global warming, etc being many of our problems; we should lead by example by starting with recycling by setting up more recycling centers, bins, and information in different areas around the city.

If you look around the town of Fairbanks, you are going to notice that there is not a lot of recycling incentives. When people go shopping the bags provided by the store from every trip are just being throned away. Most business has just regular trash cans that are not implicating any type of recycling. At stores where computer inks are being sold, if the company is not providing a way to recycle the old ink cartilages then either is the store is not either. There is over a dozen fast food or restaurants that use quite a bit of paper and plastic along with the movie theater that just throw these items away.

All of these items are going into one place-landfill, not only the fact that landfills are becoming harder to find, but the fact that we are filling them with useful materials is saddening. I never fully realized how much materials we wasted until I clearly thought about it. When we throw away grocery store bags, ink cartilages; fast food paper bag, cups, and wrappings; movie theater paper bags and cups, candy boxes; boxes and cans the food we eat come out of, tags we remove from our clothes; clothing, towels, wash cloths  that are torn or old; balloons from birthday parties, electronics that no longer work, etc.  The list goes on and on what we throw away that is useful.

In case you did not know, Fairbanks is receiving some of the consequences of the nations global warming by the glaciers melting, our wildlife being endangered, more forest fires than ever, etc. True, we add to the factor, but it’s about time we stand up and be leaders. There is no better way of us doing this then by starting with something easy-recycling.  Not only is it easy but it encourages other places to follow along with the trend. The law can’t make people perform this but there are many things that can be done that can influence people’s decision.

A lot of people do not fully know what recycling is and its effects. We can show more commercials that basically implement that recycling is a process of taking used materials and making them into new materials. This helps reduce waste, energy, and pollution.  Recycling also helps reduce landfills and their cost. Almost anything can be recycled such as concrete, batteries, clothing, ferrous, glass, paper, plastic, etc. All these items have to be sorted into a particular group before they are recycled.  Just like the fire department has their own mascot “Smokey the Bear”, recycling can have its own mascot since cartoon tends to attract and entertain most people.

School cans show films to students about recycling, and show them how to properly dispose of using materials through sorting of recycling bins. These films can be showed even at elementary school since this is the next generation. Place such as Wal-Mart has already started the trend, and the trend can continue if more places around the city started.  Even if place start doing this they have to advertise because the average consumer does not pay attention.  The city should go ahead and implicate the tax on bags which is just going to encourage people to buy reusable green bags that usually break less and carry more stuff. More than half the stuff we dispose can be reused it’s just the problem of getting it to the allocated place.  The city can start a better recycling program that picks up more recycling goods so that it doesn’t burden people with finding a place and loading their vehicle up going to these places.  Instead of going door to door they can ask that people have the items sorted and put at the curb for pickup on certain days. Sorting I agree is time-consuming and instead of sorting we can put all items in one bag as long as they are not messy such as clothing with paper cup rinse out, and old pots and pans rinsed out, etc.  People can agree for a very small tax that will allow for more recycling faculties to be operated and recycling services.

This might not seem like a big deal and might make you wonder how this can really help.  But every time you throw something away think about if it goes in the list of things that can be recycled.

Concrete

Batteries

Biodegradable Waste

Clothing

Electronics

Ferrous

Aluminum

Glass

Paint

Paper

Textile

Timber

Tires

When you think about it almost everything can be recycled and this will in the end cut down on landfills and pollution. Paper alone saves about 70 percent of air pollution by itself. We have to start somewhere, so why not with recycling.  When you think about it even a three-year can understand put a paper cup in the trash can that says paper on it.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling

http://earth911.com/

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