Landfills are areas in each city or county where that communities trash goes. It can only get so full before a new one has to be made, which takes up a lot of land and therefore makes the people in the community upset. .
Recycling is one of the key actions that can be taken in order to reduce these repercussions (Hopewell et al 2009). The help and actions of societies, industries, and some of the government are going to inform more people that recycling is a positive thing and that it needs to be done (Hopewell et al 2009). The recognition of recycling in communities has increased tremendously over the last couple of year but the actions still need to be increased (Hopewell et al 2009). As of 2012, the U.S. had only recovered 34.5% of its waste (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 2014) while in 2011 the UK had a 67% recover (UK Department for Environment 2014). The U.S. is very behind other countries, but this can be a factor that these other countries have policies and laws for recycling, while only some of the U.S. states offer some recycling practices such as curbside recycling and five or ten cents back on returned plastic bottles.
Reasons People Aren't Recycling.
So why are people still not recycling? There are a few answers to this question. One of them is that it is too confusing (Bhalala 2013). There isnt a universal recycling code so knowing which type of plastic can or cant be recycled can lead people to just not recycle at all (Bhalala 2013). Also, recycling policies vary from state to state so people just dont want to take their time to learn what the policies are (Bhalala 2013). People are too lazy, they dont want to have to separate items into two different containers so just putting everything in the trash seems like the better solution (Bhalala 2013). People assume that since recycling isnt required it isnt necessary (Bhalala 2013). We have came up with the thought process that when something is out of site it is out of mind so people dont realize the negative impact it has on societies and on the environment (Bhalala 2013).
