For the first time, a recent study has confirmed that human-caused pollutants have affected the deepest oceans on our earth. The Mariana Trench, more than 10,000 meters below sea level, has its entire ground coated in persistent organic pollutants originating from humans before being banned in the 1970s. It is discoveries like these that allow us humans to question our impact on these tragedies, both holistically and individually. However, as college students, people would prefer to worry about their upcoming tests and papers than recycling or composting. This reasoning is understandable, but unfortunate. Our generation is the most compelled that change is needed, but also the least compelled to step outside of social norms to embody that change.
While it is understandable that college students aren’t focused on changing their habits, college is also a time to grow and become the person that you want to be once you enter the working world post-Duke. To help anyone who wants to start making more informed decisions, below is a recycling ranking, to quantify the benefits of recycling different types of materials based on costs of production:
There are about 9,300,000,000 aluminum cans that go to waste every year around the world. That’s a lot of aluminum, which is the most energy-intensive, carbon-producing material we use in everyday life. Aluminum is also the most important to recycle because metals can be recycled endlessly, meaning they should never be wasted sitting in a landfill. For every ton of Aluminum recycled, 11,334 kg of carbon dioxide are diverted.
In the United States we currently use about 71 million tons of paper each year. Paper can be recycled only about 4-6 times because the fiber degrades, but every ton of paper made from recycled materials saves 17 trees, about 450 gallons of oil and about seven gallons of water. Per ton of paper averted from landfills and recycled, 1,200 kg of carbon dioxide are saved.
Plastic
Our world currently produces 200,000,000,000 plastic bottles every year! Per day, the United States alone wastes 140,000,000 plastic bottles. Sadly, most Americans continue not to use refillable water bottles but instead buy plastic ones at their disposal. Keep in mind this is only bottles we’re talking about, plastic can be seen everywhere in daily life. Ikea-style furniture is all made out of non-biodegradable plastic, as well as most packaging and miscellaneous products. One way college students can avoid larger types of plastic waste is by renting furniture and kitchenware, rather than buying what you need each year. Every ton of plastic diverted from the landfill and reused saves 788 kg of carbon dioxide.
Glass
Glass is another material that is extremely important to recycle because it can be reprocessed around at least 30 times before it can no longer be used. Many companies use glass in an effort to be more responsible, yet many consumers are unaware of the number of times materials can be reprocessed or repurposed. Every ton of glass recycled keeps 417 kg of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
While there are numerous different types of clothing produced every year from thousands of different materials/chemicals, it is easiest to show the harmful effects of the textile industries’ processes by following the life cycle of a single cotton shirt. Cotton represents more than half of the fiber used to make clothes across all textile industries (the rest coming from synthetic fibers and plastics or oil); with over two billion cotton shirts produced a year. It takes more than 20,000 liters of water to produce a single kilogram of cotton or the equivalent of a single shirt and a pair of jeans. What is even more troubling about cotton cultivation is the number of pesticides used. The EPA states that cotton farmers in the United States spend on average of 4.1 billion USD on pesticides annually accounting for 24 percent of all pesticides used in the United States agricultural sector. The U.S. than ships their cotton far, far away to countries like Bangladesh or Indonesia where cotton is processed into yarn before being shipped again, to countries like China and India, where the yarn is transformed into a final product. Of course, that all happens before the dyed, finished clothes are sent to -hopefully- a store. Many times, of course, we order clothes online, incurring a whole new transportation and packaging cost. Overall, clothing should be recycled and never thrown away, as unwearable materials can still be processed into useful materials such as insulation or blankets.
While you may be the type of person who thinks one individual cannot save the world, there are clear quantifiable benefits to recycling materials. What many of us fail to consider is the abundance of resources available to us in the United States. Having access to everything at our disposal doesn't mean that we need to act as the consumers that large companies would want us to be. Next time you buy something, consider why you want to buy it, whether or not you need it, and whether or not you will be throwing it in the garbage anytime soon. There are plenty of small decisions we can make to lower our carbon footprint every day, from not getting a take-out lid to carrying around a refillable water bottle. Even if these small decisions don’t change the world, at least you can feel better about your role in our climate catastrophe.
Eliza Grace is a Trinity junior. Her column, "the green wave" runs on alternate Thursdays.
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