If you answered no to the previous question, what do you think could be done to improve and increase the awareness and information available upon the subject of recycling?
The answers to the above question were as follows;
‘Increased advertising such as; Television adverts, radio adverts, billboard adverts etc.’
‘Introduce teachings about recycling into the education system from a young age’.
Patterns
Graph 1: The majority of people within the North West recycle.
Graph 2: The main reason that a small number of people are not recycling is due to a lack of knowledge. This small number could be reduced by producing some sort of information pack that guides you through the process of recycling. Lack of time and effort was also a high factor for reasons for not recycling. Simplifying the process of recycling could result in more people doing so.
Graph 3:The most popular choice by far for why people recycle was due to the environment and climate change, which shows that public awareness on these issues is high.
Graph 4: The material that is recycled by the most people is tin, closely followed by glass and plastic. As these are all fairly common household items, it is hardly surprising that these are recycled most.
Graph 5 and 6: Over half of those surveyed said that they found recycling easy and those who said they didn’t find the process easy told us why. These reasons averaged out with little difference in popularity between them.
Graph 7: The results showed that most people have been recycling between 0 and 2 years. This is fairly accurate as around 2 years ago, environmental issues such as climate change were publicised more within the media, therefore increasing awareness and promoting recycling.
Graph 8: The main reasons people chose for why they started to recycle in the first place were both to do with the environment; again this shows that awareness of such issue has risen therefore increasing action taken against such matters.
Graph 9: The majority of people told us that they feel there is more than enough information available to those who seek it about recycling.
Conclusions
From my data, I have come to the conclusion that the majority of the population of the North West are genuinely concerned about their environment and the growing issue of climate change. It is known that everybody produces a carbon footprint due to pollution from cars, buses, the burning of fossil fuels, but from the data collected I feel that the public knows that it is their duty to try and become as carbon neutral as possible. Recycling can help them to achieve this. It takes 40% less energy to recycle a can than create a new one. By this method, people are helping to reduce the amount of pollution and land fill sites created, hence, doing their bit to help the environment.
I think that there should also possibly be more accessible information distributed to the public about recycling and how it can help the environment. Within my data collected, I discovered that a proportion of the public In the North West are misinformed about recycling and its processes.
Analysis
Recycling materials is now seen as a very important part of sustainable development. Local councils encourage us to recycle a range of materials as it reduces the demand for raw materials and reduces the problem of waste disposal. Due to pollution and an increasing demand for fossil fuels the problem of global warming is growing all the time. The Earth’s temperature has been gradually increasing over the last two centuries, due to the Greenhouse Effect, caused by an influx in greenhouse gases. Global warming could potentially cause flooding, changes in weather patterns and even droughts. For these reasons many people argue that recycling should be considered vital important and a necessity in our everyday lives. They feel that we, as humans, have abused the Earth enough with landfill sites, and poisonous gases and should in theory ‘repay’ our world for our debts before itr is too late.
Others believe that there are other methods that will work just as well as recycling, if better, and also reduce the problem of global warming. The
following are conservation methods;
- Reforestation – the planting of forests on areas of land that are not currently forests. This provides new habitats and increases the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere whilst reducing the carbon dioxide levels, therefore reducing a greenhouse gas.
- Coppicing – cutting young trees down at just above ground level to encourage the growth of side shoots; the process is repeated every few years. Trees with multiple trunks are produced.
- Replacement planting – planting trees to replace those that have been cut down. This also maintains habitats.
Conservation keeps ecosystems stable as environmental conditions change. These conditions include both biotic factors and abiotic factors. Conservation can lead to greater biodiversity by; preventing species becoming extinct, maintaining variation within a species and preserving habitats.
Others will also argue that the world is undergoing a cycle and that global warming is completely natural and is to be accepted. They believe that global warming will then result in an ice age that will then lead to another normal state, just like it is now.
In my global warming is an important issue and should not be ignored. Recycling is a good method to help combat the oncoming problem however it cannot compete with global warming alone. Other methods have to be considered if we are to prevent climate change and they must be put into action soon.
Glossary
Recycling – The process by which resources are used again.
Carbon footprint – The amount of fossil fuels you use in your every day life that contribute towards global warming.
Carbon neutral – Where no carbon footprint is left by replanting trees or any other method.
Biodiversity – the variety of different types of organisms in a habitat or ecosystem.
Conservation – the process by which ecosystems are kept stable as environmental issues change; these conditions include both biotic (living things) and abiotic (temperature, light etc.) factors.
Environment – The surroundings in which an organism lives.
Pollution – the contamination of an environment by chemicals, waste or heat that threatens existing habitats and/or endangers organisms.
Resource – A raw material that is used by an organism.