Question

Some people claim that not enough of the waste from homes is recycled. They say that the only way to increase recycling is for governments to make it a legal requirement. To what extent do you think laws are needed to make people recycle more of their waste?

Model Answer

Recycling is often promoted as a way to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfill sites. This is why governments are considering making domestic recycling complusory under law. I feel, however, that this would be a waste of time, as recycling is not the solution to many of our environmental problems.

The goal of universal recycling is misguided for a number of reasons. Firstly, material produced by recycling cannot be used in the same way as the original product. For example, recycled paper can only be used in packaging rather than in the production of new books. Recycling is also a very inefficient process; a few items of misplaced waste can ruin a much larger quantity of recycled material. Given these limitations, I believe forcing people to recycle would be a mistake.

A more environmentally friendly solution would be to prevent waste from being produced in the first place. Rather than forcing billions of individuals to recycle, the government should target the way large companies package their products. Many products that are sold today in plastic containers can easily be sold loose. Adapting to this change would be less work for consumers than recycling all their waste. It would also be more effective at reducing the overall amount of waste.

In conclusion, I feel that passing draconian laws making recycling compulsory would be a waste of time, as there are far more impactful steps that can be taken. Our efforts should be focused on preventing waste from being produced at all rather than dealing with it after the fact.

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