What happens if nobody recycled

While some countries still incinerate plastic to generate energy, groups like the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives are quick to point out the health hazards and problems of incineration. Plastic is very 'mobile' given its low density and light weight, and items from illegal litters, dumps, and landfills blow over to streams and rivers, and is carried to oceans or is washed up on beaches.

Some gyres are colossal in size. There are four large gyres in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, too. The other kinds of plastics are heavy and sink to ocean floors. Thousands of animals from small finches to great white sharks are killed as they get entangled in discarded fishing nets. Three hundred species of animals ingest plastic mistaking it for food; for example sea-turtles mistake bellowing plastic for jellyfish.

Nearly , animals die every year; some starve to death as plastics fill their bellies and there is no place left for food. Others are affected by the toxic elements added to plastic. Plastic breaks down into micro-plastics rapidly, though it takes a long time to decompose completely. Because of the size, even small insects eat micro-plastic.

Once ingested by small animals, plastic can find its way to people's tables by a process called bioaccumulation. When animals are eaten by bigger predatory fish and other sea-life, plastics, and the chemicals in them, get more concentrated as they move up the food-chain. Energy used to make base plastic from feedstock and manufacture different products accounts for 2.

If a plastic item is thrown away, it cannot be reused or remade into another plastic item. The base plastic in the item becomes a total waste. Raw materials and natural resources, such as water and energy, are needed to create new plastics. If the plastic item is recycled, the base plastic can be reused to create a new plastic item, frequently using fewer natural resources in the manufacturing process.

Not all plastic you recycle ends up recycled. There are various reasons why this might happen. When it does, the plastic may end up in a landfill. The plastic may end up buried underneath tons of trash.

Over time, the harmful toxic chemicals are leached into the ground and find their way into the groundwater and potentially contaminating drinking water supplies, rivers, streams, and eventually the ocean. Just as marine life consumes the plastic floating in the oceans, land animals scavenging in landfills ingest a certain amount of plastic. In addition, they often become entangled with different types of plastic that can lad to strangulation and injuries. Most of the beaches worldwide suffer from littering of single-use packaging of food and beverages, leading to loss in livelihoods when tourism is affected.

In California, more than half a billion dollars are spent annually to clean beachfronts for tourism. Decrease plastic production by increasing the amounts of plastic recycled.

Without recycling, this "wasted" plastic cannot be reworked and reused. Instead, new plastic must be made, requiring additional natural resources.

You can help to save the environment by keeping wasted plastics out of the landfills, air, and oceans as well as cut down on natural resource used to make new plastics. Green Living Recycling Facts and Tips What Will Happen if You Do Not Recycle Plastic The properties that make plastic popular, like its light weight, water impermeability and long life are the same things that make disposing of it very difficult.

Plastic Disposal There are several ways you can dispose of plastic. Not only will there be environmental impacts if we stop recycling but there will also be big economic impacts. As we mentioned above, the recycling industry employs hundreds of thousands of people in the U. Recycling also saves manufacturers money. For instance, according to All Recycling Facts , using fresh aluminum costs twice as much as using recycled aluminum. This is because a lot more energy is needed to extract aluminum from its raw forms.

Without those savings, the cost of our goods would increase. Additionally, glass and some forms of metal can be recycled and remanufactured an infinite amount of times and never wear out. The effects of not recycling are substantial. We not only need to continue recycling but also step up our efforts. If you have scrap metal or electronics lying around that are ready to be recycled, bring it to GLE Scrap Metal.

We purchase, process, and re-integrate all recyclable base metals. To find out more contact us or call us at In addition to emitting greenhouse gases, plastics can also leach chemicals into the soil and groundwater as they decompose.

The long-term health risks associated with these chemicals are still being determined, but scientists have determined that they can significantly alter hormones in animals and humans.

Creating a new item requires a certain amount of material. When recycling is done right, the materials needed to make that item can be sourced partially or entirely from recycled material. When items are thrown into the garbage, those materials are lost and need to be replaced by new material through mining, drilling or other methods of resource extraction. To give this issue a little perspective, think of how much plastic was probably produced between and In the ten years from to alone, we produced even more plastic than in the entire previous century.

The good news?