The Dots That Connect Recycling and Sustainability

The Dots That Connect Recycling and Sustainability

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Sustainability is the broadest, most inclusive conception of environmental protection.

- John Ikerd, Recycling for Sustainability, 2007

Sustainability is a term that nearly every field uses. Nowadays, even a shoe is predetermined to be either sustainable or not. The ones that are deemed sustainable are those that are made from recycled materials or other sustainable materials. Eco-friendly shoes are how they are now regarded, made from Sustainable shoe brands. 

The widest known definition for sustainability is that it is the ability of the present generation to meet their own needs without compromising the ability of the future generation to meet their own needs.  How is this possible?  One way is by recycling.

Recycling in its most basic form, is the process of gathering the wastes you have and converting them into useful, reusable products. Rather than throw out your waste, recycling can be your fall back plan to turn something that you would ordinarily throw away into something entirely new- almost entirely.  

''Many people see wastes as the end of a material. They see no life after it. But recycling gives it life. Recycling is the eternity of wastes...

''The first rule to note about the environment is that everything is connected.

Now, there is an established link between recycling and sustainability. Stack Exchange, a network of question-and-answer websites on topics in diverse fields, explains it this way ‘‘Recycling means using raw materials that have already been extracted; this reduces the need to extract even more of it to meet consumption wants. Simply enough, to be sustainable or to avoid depletion, the rate of extraction must be brought lower or equal to the natural replenishment rate.'' Recycling brings it to that rate- lower or equal-. 

Recycling is by no means the full comprehension of what sustainability entails, yet it is absolutely indispensable. 

Think about it this way;

Recycling is very good and very important to ensure sustainability but then the fact that people know all this is not enough motivation to get them to do it.  Different methods have been tried in the past to get people to recycle, still didn't work. The solution really is simple; according to a book by Charles Duhigg; The Power of Habits. It talks about cues, routines and rewards. Let me break it down: A cue is an action or event that is a signal for somebody to do something. 

Now this is a cue:

Do you have used papers? You should right? Alright don't put it in a container. You know what? Stack them. One by one, pages by pages, book by book. 

Don't wait till forever. Contact a recycling company. Let them know what you have. Who knows? You could make a little cash. Or it could even be used to make sustainable shoes like we discussed above. You never know. 

This is recycling. From one point to another and back. It’s a cycle.

Everything is interconnected...