The benefits of recycling is an interesting topic to me because recycling is something that I know my family at home currently does not do, which I have always wished we did.  I feel as though the advantages of recycling far outweigh any disadvantages, and that it should become mandatory, simply because it can help preserve and save the environment for the future.  Recycling can reduce pollution and help achieve so many other things, that I just do not understand why anyone would ever be against it.  Personally, recycling has played a more important role in my community, then it has in my own house.  In the past, I have participated in local events back home for Earth Day and also at an environmental awareness camp called Harford Glen.  These activities I did really helped show me why it truly is so important to recycle, and how many different things that recycled materials can be used for.  I am qualified to write about this because I have worked and participated in these environmentally friendly places, which have lead me to gain a lot more knowledge then the normal everyday person on the topic of recycling and how it can affect the environment and the future of Earth.

In order to answer my research question, I will begin with the following three sources.  My first source is by Nicholas M. Vaz, is called, "Are You Gonna Eat That?: A New Wave Of Mandatory Recycling Has Massachusetts And Other New England States Paving The Way Toward Feasible Food Waste Diversion And A New Player In Alternative Energy."  In this article, Vaz writes about the effects of pollution on the environment and how Americans are some of the top contributors.  The U.S. as a whole throw away more then  one-fourth  of all its food, producing more then 36 million tons of food waste per year (Vaz 2).  Only about 4% of the waste actually decomposes, the rest either remains in landfills or is burned in incineration cites (Vaz 2). Food has become a major contributor to the pollution in the U.S., which has lead to excess amounts of greenhouse gases like methane causing global warming.  This article specifically talks about the different recycling issues presented across the country within the a few states, and how they are trying to get laws for mandatory recycling passed.  An example of this can be seen in the New England region, where in this article Vaz discusses about how they are moving towards mandated diversion of food and waste landfills and incineration facilities (Vaz 3).  These law proposals are outlines of new and creative ways in which states can effectively and efficiently clean up their air and avoid anymore pollution.  Throughout the article, Vaz gives historically accurate data about how much pollution and trash is produced by humans in the U.S. each year, in order to get peoples attention regarding recycling.  This is not Vaz being bias, these are just facts, which accurately depict the wastefulness of people in the the U.S.

The second source I found to help answer my question, is Ben Keller's article "Businesses Face Mandatory Recycling Rule Next Year", in which he writes about how in 2012, a mandate took place in which California businesses had to subscribe to a recycling service who will then haul away all the company's recyclables.  This mandate was an effort to influence the employees of these companies to recycle seeing as the company is paying for it, they might as well use it.  Keller's article is a good example of how to get the ball rolling with mandatory recycling, and include interesting new ways such as the mandatory company recycling, which can jump start the recycling business.  In the article, Keller says "about 11% of California businesses already operate in municipalities with some kind of commercial recycling program, and another 19% will need similar services to comply with the measure" (Keller 1).  These programs not only help with the environment, but they also help with getting more people involved with recycling by generating new jobs within the recycling companies because of a higher demand for workers and truck drivers.  Keller's main claims in this article leaned towards the idea that recycling in general can lead to a more efficient and better sustained environment when done correctly, which he showed evidence of with the recycling mandates that took place in California.

My third source is a scholarly article written by James D. Ward and Dennis W. Gleiber, called "Citizen Response to Mandatory Recycling."  In this article, the authors write about how small cities and towns are facing issues with how to properly dispose of waste.  A shortage of landfill space and new state and federal regulations on landfills have alerted local governments to the seriousness and urgency of dealing with solid waste disposal.  Many local governments have been forced to reevaluate their waste disposal programs in response to these conditions (Ward, Gleiber 2).  The article examines waste stream reduction in a municipal recycling program that recently expanded from a voluntary system, to a mandatory system by analyzing citizen attitudes toward recycling and self-reported compliance with the plan.  The feedback in this article supports the question of "should recycling be mandatory?", by showing statistical outlines and tables that examine the increase in waste over each year in the past decade, along with the rate at which these materials are recycled.  The authors of this research article did not show bias in their studies, they were very factual and produced evidence to supports their claims throughout.

The question of whether or not recycling should become mandatory, is one that has been in discussion for the past few decades.  Over time, the build up of trash and pollution on Earth has lead to dramatic effects which unfortunately may never be able to be fixed.  The concept of recycling is one that not many people seem to argue with, because they know that re-using materials makes less trash and waste, therefore resulting in less pollution.  The main point in which people do argue, is whether or not the time and effort they have to put into it is worth their time.  A lot of people in the world would rather just throw all their garbage into one container and not think twice about what will happen to it and where it will end up.  People do not want to have to worry about separating all the materials into different bins and looking to see what type of plastic or glass it is their things are made of.  This is why there is a need for recycling to become mandatory, not only because it will help the environment, but also because it will help stop the laziness that has taken over in society today.  Recycling needs to be made mandatory sooner rather than later, because if not, future generations may never be able to overcome the damage that has already been done.

Overall, I feel like my paper topic is at a good starting point, but I believe that I could narrow down my research question to something less broad, in order to create a more concise argument.  This would also allow me to get more focused on one aspect of recycling, such as the effects of pollution with recycling; the actual process of mandatory recycling and how to make it mandatory; or the monetary struggles that come with trying to make recycling mandatory.  These are all just more ideas that can be branched off of for my final paper, in order to help make it stronger.

