Recycling Reconsidered

The Present Failure and Future Promise of Environmental Action in the United States

Bibliographic Data

ID20031156
AuthorsSamantha Macbride (corresponding author)
Year2011
Pages320
Publication date2011-12-09
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueRecycling Reconsidered (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherThe MIT Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.7551/mitpress/8829.001.0001
OpenAlexW4248245263
Open LibraryOL29707415M
ISBN9780262298551
GOOGLE_BOOK_ID4N7XEE6xb9IC
LanguageEN
Citations received34

How the success and popularity of recycling has diverted attention from the steep environmental costs of manufacturing the goods we consume and discard. Recycling is widely celebrated as an environmental success story. The accomplishments of the recycling movement can be seen in municipal practice, a thriving private recycling industry, and widespread public support and participation. In the United States, more people recycle than vote. But, as Samantha MacBride points out in this book, the goals of recycling—saving the earth (and trees), conserving resources, and greening the economy—are still far from being realized. The vast majority of solid wastes are still burned or buried. MacBride argues that, since the emergence of the recycling movement in 1970, manufacturers of products that end up in waste have successfully prevented the implementation of more onerous, yet far more effective, forms of sustainable waste policy. Recycling as we know it today generates the illusion of progress while allowing industry to maintain the status quo and place responsibility on consumers and local government. MacBride offers a series of case studies in recycling that pose provocative questions about whether the current ways we deal with waste are really the best ways to bring about real sustainability and environmental justice. She does not aim to debunk or discourage recycling but to help us think beyond recycling as it is today

Computer Science · Environmental Justice and Health Disparities · Environmental Philosophy and Ethics · Municipal Solid Waste Management · Government policy · Recycling (Waste, etc.) · Refuse and refuse disposal · united states

Tools

Open DOILibgen