There are many environmental issues that are prevalent in today’s world, not the least of which include water conservation, better use of natural gas and electricity, curbing air pollution, and global warming. One issue that I feel many people can control immediately is recycling. It may be a small contribution but one that has an immediate and major impact on our nation’s landfills. I can recall, in my youth, a time when bottles were returned for a nickel a piece and people would collect tin to sell at some unknown “yard” for pennies a pound. I am not sure why this policy went by the way side but it was a concept of recycling that should have been continued. When plastic bottling came about in the seventies, there was no recycling. These plastics were not made to be recycled. Everything went to trash. Many other products used in homes went directly to trash yards as well and our landfills started to become overfilled.
It was not until 1991 when Coca-Cola came out with a recyclable plastic bottle. ” Recycling efforts will get a boost in 1991, when Coca-Cola introduces the first recycled-PET soda bottle. PET recycling will grow from 8 million pounds in 1979 to 622 million in 1995.” (A Brief History of Recycling. Motor City Free Geek. Retrieved from http://www.motorcityfreegeek.net). Awareness of landfill issues become more prevalent during the nineties and more people start to take recycling efforts seriously. The National Resource Defence Council reports that our nation currently recycles 32.5% of our trash compared to 5% in 1970 (Recycling 101.National Resource Defence Council. Retrieved from http://www.nrdc.org). The efforts of Applied Social Psychology’s Cognitive Dissonance Theory could possibly have been what caused this action to take place. Believing that we need to recycle and actually doing it are two different things and could cause that struggle within each of us if we do not do our part. Awareness campaigns along with reports of a bleak future for our children if we do not recycle have moved many Americans to action.
Recycling is a large part of our communities. It takes little effort but helps in such a major way. It has become a normal part of my life. It’s the least I can do for the environment.
A Brief History of Recycling. Motor City Free Geek. Retrieved from http://www.motorcityfreegeek.net
Recycling 101.National Resource Defence Council. Retrieved from http://www.nrdc.org
As a young kid, my brother collected aluminum cans to take to the local beverage distributor to exchange for cash. Imagine his excitement when our neighbors were putting on an addition to their home. Not only was there some aluminum siding scraps he could add to his payload (and they were a bit heavier – which meant more $$$), but our neighbor drank several beers during the process too! This was well before many recycling programs had been implemented. I remember going to New York City for Earth Day when I was in High School. The day was absolutely perfect weather-wise and it was almost impossible to absorb the message that our planet was in peril. So for me, the dissonance wasn’t there. But once our municipality gave out recycling bins for our weekly garbage pickup, I felt a certain sense of competition – much like the study completed by Siero, Bakker, et al. (1996). We would take note each week if our neighbors had many things in their recycling bins or if they even used them at all ! Our schools began to provide recycling containers in the lunchrooms and classrooms. We would “police” each other to remember to follow the Earth Day motto of “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” . I think by adding those levels of competition we were more inclined to think twice before just throwing all of our lunch tray trash away in the regular garbage can. I’m wondering now if we need to bring more of those competitive elements to the table when implementing social interventions in communities? Or do we need to make the dissonance so strong (like limiting access to electricity) to activate change in behaviors that would lead to conservation of resources and preservation of the planet?
I think you indeed touched on an important aspect of environmental conservation that EVERYONE can be a part of and as you suggest have a direct impact on the environment. It is interesting that you brought up the point of receiving a nickel for recycling a can or bottle. I grew up in New York and that was the standard. However, I have since moved to Idaho where there is a very limited recycling program. There is no money incentive to recycle bottles and cans. Furthermore, many counties do not provide recycling bins to have items that are recyclable to be separated from other trash.
I agree that an intervention designed to impact the communities at large would be a great benefit. I think that an intervention targeting youth would have the biggest impact since the youth typically have not developed bad habits and when adopting recycling practices the impact would be greater because they would recycle throughout their lives.
I, too, can remember during my youth when my mother and I would take our glass pop bottles back to the store to exchange for newly filled ones. If we did not purchase, at a discounted rate, a new case, we would get a recycle refund. Those days are long gone with mass production of plastic.
I am happy to hear you are able to recycle within your community. The city I reside does not use a weekly recycling program. All garbage is collected twice a week and sent directly to the landfill. When I first moved here I thought it was asinine as the city I moved from did not think twice about having a budget sent for recycling and even has made changes to the bins making them much bigger in recent years. It would be nice to see such a program begin here however it is stated the necessary funds are not available.
Thanks for sharing this. I remember when I was in Germany, bottles had to be returned to the drink shop, those bottles were recycled and used for drinks. Other recyclable things were picked up at the corner. It just seemed easy to recycle in Germany.
Here is seems a little more complicated. One has to collect everything and then take it away (most of the time). Some communities collect it at the street corner and others don’t have a system in place at all.
In many communities it is hard to recycle, how do we make it easier for everyone so that we can do an every day part to conserve our earth?