Esc 111

Rick Politician ESC 111 October 21, 2002 Homework #3 The success of recycling hangs in the balance-- Recycling no longer rallies the American people behind its banner. On the individual level, many Americans still support recycling by throwing their glass, metal and paper into the appropriate bin(s), yet recycling does not hold its own as a national cause. New York represents trendy in America. The city that never sleeps is to America what Jackson is to Tennessee State, the forerunner of change. When the mayor of New York City states that recycling "'does nothing to help the environment,'" all of America must realize that recycling will not generate adamant support in the next few years. Why would Michael R. Bloomberg halt recycling in its tracks? The answer lies in tightening city budgets that force politicians recognize the inability of recycling to achieve cost effectiveness and see cutting recycling programs as potential money saving idea. Recycling fails to earn profits in city programs for three main reasons. First, only about half of the American populous recycles. The city programs provide recycling options for almost all of their citizens yet only 30% of all recyclable waste does not end up in trash. A good analogy for this would be a corporation where only half the employees did any work and those employees that did work were only 60% efficient. One can see that if they would not expect this corporation to make a profit, a city's recycling program would not make money either. Another problem that stunts cost effective programs, U.S. companies pay a lower price for the collected recyclables than in past years. Aluminum scrap, for instance, once sold for 60 cents per pound compared to 20 cents now.2 States and cities set up these recycling programs with budgets using the old figures. With prices dropping the cities can no longer achieve their budgeted goals. Land remains a plentiful resource in America. As long as cities can cheaply dump their waste in landfills, recycling does not appear economical. The costs of dumping are picking up waste, dumping it, paying employees and maintaining the trucks. In addition recycling requires extra bins, a whole new fleet of trucks, people, to sort the recycled goods, and transportation to the buyers. Recycling will not succeed unless it becomes cost effective or Americans are forced to face their own trash.