If you live under a rock, Recycling is...

G.R.E.A.T.

This acronym wasn’t given its letters by accident; each represents a simple exclamation of what recycling is and can do to treat our ill planet. For those urban consumers chomping cheap food from plastic take-out boxes, this post will be more beneficial to read than the unheard of energy used to create the carrier as well as the reaction of your digestive system to what is entering your body.

G.-Guaranteed-The act of recycling will always be 100% guaranteed to not only make a crucial impact on our environment, but to always be available. In simplistic terms, this crucial impact on our environment will aid in eliminating the build-up of destructive landfills across seas, help reduce each individual’s carbon footprint, and create ample opportunity to reuse what was once labeled trash to name a few. For those still munching on that half-cooked orange chicken special, why don’t you take this as an offer to explore your surroundings? I’m willing to bet if the city you reside in didn’t already provide your residency with a recycling bin, a disposal can won’t be too far off your path.

R.-Reuse and Reduce- These words are commonly associated with recycling and any concept relating to the idea. Hopefully the phrase, “Recycle, Reuse, and Reduce” trigger a response from a past memory. If not, welcome to the 21^st century where our global population is relearning easy ways to always keep the environment in mind. However, no matter how often this phrase is instilled in the mind through constant public awareness on transportation vehicles, or service announcements on the television, many still wonder how our actions effectively help to reduce waste and create reusable products from garbage. Found under Wikihow[to guides],

“Recycling is the processes of collecting, processing, remanufacturing, and reusing materials instead of discarding them. This helps conserve raw materials and energy that manufacturers would otherwise use in producing new products. Recycling also reduces the amount of material going into landfills. Recycling helps lessen the pollution that may result from waste disposal. Reducing our consumption of materials and reducing the waste of materials also adds to the conservation of our resources. Recycling is simple; just group all your "garbage" in different groups including paper, glass, cans etc.”

It seems it would be juvenile to argue this process is difficult, yet sadly, the excuse of inconvenience or general lethargy can override what can potentially and easily heal our planet.

E.-Ease- Imagine you justfinished a delicious and fulfilling meal from your favorite local In-N-Out Burger. The trash accumulated after devouring the food consists of your paper cup and straw from your strawberry milkshake, your cardboard container that held all of your purchases, the paper carrier for the freshly prepared French fries, the mini paper container for your ketchup, and finally the leftover paper that was once wrapped around your dripping double-double. Fast food restaurants shouldn’t be using this quantity of paper and plastic in the first place, yet once you find the energy to remove yourself from your seat to the trash can, the decision is yours; but is there really even a decision to be made? Recycling needs to become a habit, an act that is subconscious, natural, already known. Though with the easily labeled bins, shaped holes for each

type of trash, and color to allow us to decipher each bin, we can leave our trash

knowing it is going to a eco-friendly home. It’s that easy.

A.-Alter-Just because recycling is simple, doesn’t mean it can’t alter the current state of our world. Though we need to focus on reusing and reducing our purchases, if we must discard, we must recycle. Each plastic bottle(that shouldn’t be bought and instead be replaced by a metal or titanium bottle) recycled not only saves precious resources but also avoids toxic processes used to turn these resources into consumer products. We must focus on conserving the dwindling supply of resources used to create the plethora of necessities on store shelves to preserve them for future generations. By reusing paper from paper or cans from cans instead of reproducing each individually, we can reduce the harm induced from the destructive nature of mining, logging and drilling in fragile natural habitats to make goods only to be used once and thrown away.

T.-Treatment-The main objective of this blog is to persuade our societies to choose to recycle and in doing so, a giant step towards treating our planet can be implemented. By making this decision, we can keep waste out of landfills,

• · One in five Environmental Protection Agency Superfund cleanup sites is a landfill.
• · Taxpayers have thrown away millions of dollars to clean up and monitor contaminated and toxic material filled landfills.
• · Landfills post threats of future toxic leakage which could create potential public and environmental health threats.

reduce toxins in the atmosphere and in the production of consumer goods,

• · Recycling decreases emissions of greenhouse gases which contribute to global climate change.
• · Energy is saved due to less production

and become cost-effective in the process.

• · When reusing a bottle or container multiple times, one saves the money they would be spending on plastic bottles thus treating our economy as well.
• · It costs less money to produce products from recycled materials in comparison to virgin materials.

The “Green Movement” has truly taken off in the last couple of years, yet just like the recovery of a flu usually eliminates the fever but leaves the cold before fully exiting one’s system, our populations must ban together to force all the symptoms of sickness to leave our Earth. Recycling can be the first, simple step of medication.