The recycling of waste materials such as glass, plastic and aluminium containers is an important practice that has immense environmental and economic benefits. However, a large portion of the population do not properly dispose of their refuse and the recyclable waste ends up in the general waste landfill. In this essay, I will cover the reasons for this phenomenon and discuss possible solutions to solve it.
The reasons for the lack of recycling in some countries generally comes down to two main reasons, namely the lack of awareness and the inconvenience of separating waste (both on a domestic and industrial scale). In many parts of the world, a nationwide recycling initiative could be a new undertaking or it simply might not exist. What could be the reason? A major one would be the financial impact to the budget because a country-wide program would be quite expensive to create and maintain, thus a country with a low GDP would not be able to have a recycling program without impacting other, more essential areas of development. The extra effort involved in segregating recyclable waste from general waste is also a factor that causes a lower rate of recycling in communities, as people may not have the time nor inclination to sort the refuse appropriately.
To combat this problem and encourage individuals to recycle more, I believe that a comprehensive public approach should be initiated to enlighten the population about the economic, environmental and artistic windfalls that can be gained from refuse recycling. Campaigns via television, radio, podcasts and community awareness drives could be started to increase public awareness, in addition to holding free workshops that teach people how to make art out of glass bottles, aluminium cans, old newspapers etc. Simultaneously, public infrastructure can be altered to facilitate easy disposal of recyclables such as placing recycling bins adjacent to the general waste bins or having specific recycling stations that offer rewards for each article that is deposited. On a domestic scale, neighbourhood agencies could provide free recycling dustbins to each house or dwelling and organize a weekly refuse pick up, so that no extra effort is expended.
To conclude, I believe that the two main reasons for the low rates of recycling in some countries are the lack of awareness about the practice itself and the benefits, followed by the reluctance to go through the extra effort to recycle refuse efficiently. When the population as a whole completely understands the advantages of recycling, I think that the proportion of people taking part in choosing to do the right thing will increase.