ONLY for One Touch! Psych Lit Review Redo 12Hour Deadline!

Running Head: RECYCLING AND RECYCLING GUILT 1

RECYCLING AND RECYCLING GUILT 10

Recycling and Recycling Guilt

Name

Instructor

Course

Date

Introduction

Recycling refers to the re-use of products whereas as recycling guilt refers to the guilt associated with the lack of not being able to re-use the products you have bought and thus, they are taken to be waste. These goods end up polluting the environment causing health problems for all living creatures on earth. Consumers should be able to use the recyclable goods without ways of recycling them or consume goods which cannot be recycled in order to be able to participate in an activity. Further, most goods that always result into wastes exists as plastics and end up causing pollutions to our surroundings (Truelove, 2016)

Recycling

Companies contribute to large amounts of waste products in their operations ending up polluting our environments. Eliminating these waste products created at their industries will be beneficial to business, industries and also environment. Waste disposal costs are very expensive compared to having easy way of recycling them. When these waste pile up they end up forming landfills that creates insidious problems all over the world (Ottman, 2017)

Through the rise of technologies, it has been possible to recycle a lot of waste products through various options. This is carried out because industries need to conserve resources which they were supposed to use in discarding their industrial waste products. For example, recycling of aluminum used in cans has brought a lot of economic and environmental benefits that cannot be matched if they were discarded as wastes. Furthermore, recycling these steel cans has been able to save 74% of energy that was supposed to be used in making new cans. The service of recycling products vary in most company website whereby the can include the ways to separate recyclable products for curbside pick-up and the lists of products which they can be recycled by the consumers (Bissing-Olson, 2017)

Recycling of various products

Junk mails- this involves recycling mail products that get into our homes through putting a recycling bin next to the kitchen or door which will be play an important role in retrieving mails. This will be important in remembering to recycle junk mails as you walk inside the door or kitchen. Further, recycle envelopes that remains by the time it is opened including the envelopes with plastic windows. Similarly, it better to go paperless at home. Most organizations have been able to adopt this habit where they place bins are placed outside so as people could be able to recycle wastes. In schools, parents have been able to drop their paper recycling where the schools have to sell paper to recycling. Facility. This has been helpful in enabling the schools to source required funds. These recycling bins have been painted in bright yellow or green so as people to be able to spot them.

Books- this involves donating books that are no longer used due to the reason that they have been destroyed. They will have to be taken to recycling companies and turned ion to use. This has brought a lot of benefits to the environment as the used papers of books can no longer pile up.

Shredded paper- most curbside recycling programs have been able to utilize shredded papers from schools and offices. Similarly to books, this is done to prevent them from piling up in the surroundings. In compost sites, the shredded paper can be put in these compost sites where the worms play an important symbiotic role. For just a short period of time they will be able to decompose the paper and turn them to manure which can be used in the gardens.

In cartridges- The ink cartridges can be source of various toxic products that should not be allowed to go into trash. Major organizations have been able to supply the store with staples and beauty where we should take old in cartridges for recycling. The recycling companies have been able to come up with mechanisms to ensure that people are encouraged to carry out this common course. For example, providing a discount on in cartridges when customers have taken these ink cartridges for recycling.

Disposable plate and cups- toasting disposables into trash should be trash should be avoided at all costs. In this regard, they should be able to be recycled where most cups and plates get into recycled bins, they should be put into recycle bins and paper plates can be decomposed. Similarly, they can be shredded and put into underneath the mulch or around the base of flowers and plants. Paper plates have been known to provide moisture and nutrients to plants after they have been broken after several weeks.

CDs and DVD Cases- In the previous year’s the CDS were burnt and DVDs put into fabric collections. This was important in saving a lot of space in the house. Currently, it is possible to recycle these products employing the use of curbside services.

Cardboard boxes can also be recycled for example, cereal boxes, cracker boxes, pizza boxes and others. Lack of recycling activities to these products leads to adverse effects on environment due to pollution they cause. Similarly, household batteries have also contributed to the pollution in environments when they break down in our landfills. Libraries and post offices have been able to collect these batteries for recycling purposes so as to easing the burden in our environment.

CFL Bulbs- these bulbs contain mercury which is a carcinogenic compound. Due to this they cannot be disposed to our curbside recycling or in the trash. Therefore, they can be dropped in safe disposals at home Depot. Similarly, they can be disposed at the hazardous facilities which has been provided by recycling websites.

Old TVs- these consumes a lot of space when they have been dropped into dumpsites as they do not decompose. The old TVs in the household are being replaced by the digital ones and thus, old homes end up in the garbage. Apart from problem of decomposing and space occupation, TVs have been known to have harmful chemical and ingredients that can affect the lives of people and microorganisms. For example, old TVs have an estimated lead amount of eights pound without adding other heavy metals and their compounds in them. In this regard, it is important to avoid shady smugglers who can shift these old TVs to third world countries for disposal and dismantling.

Power cards- most phones bough normally have power cards and charges. They become obsolete with time and hence, the owners always see the necessity of disposing them. These items should never be thrown away and thus, it is advisable to look for recycling centers for these items. This will help us conserve our precious environment from unwanted pollutions.

Benefits of Recycling

Recycling helps in saving resources- employing the use of recycled materials in the manufacturing process and thus less resources will be required in making new items. If new materials have been utilized, it will involve use of raw materials which can be obtained from raw materials from the earth through mining activities and forestry. By doing this, natural resources are being destroyed and can be depleted within a very short period of time. Therefore, it is important to carry out recycling in order to prevent this problem. Similarly, recycling helps in saving energy. Less energy will be needed when recycled materials are being made into use. This will be important in ensuring that minimum costs have been used in making recycling process and thus, business can be able to make profits.

Recycling helps in environmental protection- Recycling has made it possible to reduce the need of extracting raw materials through mining and quarrying, refining, and processing of the materials. Therefore, avoiding these process through recycling of wastes and other products is one of the ways we can use to protect environment. Lastly, recycles helps in incineration reduction- when products have been recycled, it is possible to make recyclable materials into new products and thus, the quantity of wastes send to rubbish can be reduced.

Recycling Guilt.

This refers to the guilty associated with not being able to recycle products that you use or buy from the shops and industries. People may consume these products without no means of being able to recycle them or consume un-recycled products in order to participate in an activity. Every environmental issue can be challenging when imagining the vast environmental effects on the choices. Therefore, proper solution should be put in place in solving this problems (Arli, 2017)

How to deal with Recycling Guilt

Ensuring continued sustainability- this is a very significant aspect in trying to ensure that there is no recycling guilt. Making life changes also requires this aspect that will try to ensure that there is massive overhaul of life at once. This process involve the use of substitutes for example, switching to recycled toilet paper when you run out of cushy soft stuff or using of rags when you run out of towels. Similarly, you have to learn how to make goods only as you use the store bought versions. Further, it is important to keep plastic Tupperware until it breaks or wear down and replace it with the available alternatives. Though these changes can be overwhelming, it is so important to adopt them so as to be able to avoid recycling guilt. These habits are also important for life compared to attempts to change to eco-friendly activities (Echegaray, 2017)

Being aware that guilt does bring motivation- depression is a rare motivation factor, instead of saying of what you think to be doing, try to have a future focus on what you will do. This includes avowing the usage of plastic bags, bringing along your coffee jar instead of using coffee cups that end up being pollutants and making your positive efforts to be your inspiration in this endeavor.

Practicing the 80/20 percent rule- 80 percent means making every environmental friendly choices for example, use of compost, recycling, drying rack instead of clothes dryer, making of our own body care products instead of industrial ones, opting out of paper bills and bringing coffee cup to the coffee shop makes you to feel good because you are trying avoid recycling guilt. Having gray areas are what is called 20% rule where this involves making choices that are not environmental friendly resulting into pollutions.

Being able to recognize that there is no perfection in carrying out this actions can also be an important aspect in trying to ensure that you do not suffer recycling guilt. Some of the actions taken sometimes are not perfect choices for example, in trying to decide between organic produce from foreign countries and those ones that have been grown locally. Similarly, a person can be practicing these environmental friendly activities but cannot be able to make his/her family members do the same like child won’t be able to use natural toothpaste (Dai, 2015)

Laws and regulations for Recycling

· Special waste – with the aim of reducing hazardous waste materials

· Packaging waste Directive- For recycling and packaging materials

· Ozone depletion chemical regulations aiming to reduce the amount of chemicals in the ozone layer

· Landfill directive which aimed at reducing the amount of landfills send to landfill sites

· Kyoto protocol aiming to reduce amount of emission of harmful gases

· ELVs Directive aiming to increase the recycling of vehicles

· Directive and batteries which aimed to increase recycling of batteries.

Conclusion

It is always of great deal to ensure that our environment is safe from contaminants that is caused by us. There have been several discussed ways of ensuring that these toxic wastes does not destroy our precious environment through recycling. Through carrying out this important process, it will enable us to avoid recycling guilt (Kuletz, 2016). Similarly, environmentalist and law enforcers has to continue playing their important role in ensuring that the problem that comes with lack of recycling wastes is averted. They have to work hand in hand with industries checking how they are handling used products. Lastly, the environmentalist has also to take initiative in providing educational programs to people on the importance of recycling used goods so as we can be able to preserve our precious environment.

References

Arli, D., Leo, C., & Tjiptono, F. (2016). Investigating the impact of guilt and shame proneness on consumer ethics: a cross national study. International journal of consumer studies, 40(1), 2-13.\

Bissing-Olson, M. J., Fielding, K. S., & Iyer, A. (2016). Experiences of pride, not guilt, predict pro-environmental behavior when pro-environmental descriptive norms are more positive. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 45, 145-153.

Echegaray, F., & Hansstein, F. V. (2017). Assessing the intention-behavior gap in electronic waste recycling: the case of Brazil. Journal of Cleaner Production, 142, 180-190.

Kuletz, V. L. (2016). The tainted desert: Environmental and social ruin in the American West. Routledge.

Ottman, J. (2017). The new rules of green marketing: Strategies, tools, and inspiration for sustainable branding. Routledge.

Truelove, H. B., Yeung, K. L., Carrico, A. R., Gillis, A. J., & Raimi, K. T. (2016). From plastic bottle recycling to policy support: an experimental test of pro-environmental spillover. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 46, 55-66.