Investigating Sustainability McAdam 2013 | Page 3

example if we recycle one million computers it keeps the same amount of greenhouse out of the environment to taking 16,000 cars off the road . Also more people are realizing that recycling is worth it . For example , in 2009 the average human recycled 325 pounds of paper a year , or 824 pounds per household .
The Negatives
Now that we know there are benefits , it is time to explore the negatives to recycling . To begin with , an estimated seventy percent of the money spent on recycling is spent on manual labor . I believe that this is ridiculous and we should spend less money on manual labor for recycling . Also , more money is spent collecting the recyclables , then sending them to companies to process . For example , New Jersey lost anywhere from one hundred twenty dollars to four hundred fourteen dollars . Continuing on , people also argue recycling is more destructive than dumping the same material in landfills . Next , recycling causes more trucks to be on the road causing more pollution . Those are just a few negatives about recycling , and I believe there maybe a few more .
My Opinion
After studying all these facts about negatives and positives of recycling I feel that the recycling positives outweigh the negatives . I feel this because even if recycling may cost more it saves landfill space . For example let ’ s say we didn ' t recycle then the U . S . A . Would be a total wasteland full of trash . Also if we didn ’ t recycle the incinerators would be used a lot more and the air would be a lot more polluted .