Should recycling be mandatory?

"Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.....

Recycling is an easy habit to establish, and significantly reduces what goes into the garbage can each week. In my region, paper including corrugated cardboard, glass, plastics labeled 1 or 2, and metals go into a green bin that’s picked up curbside each week at the same time trash is picked up. Yet it is not mandatory.

If recycling is one of the three Rs of environmental preservation--reduce, reuse, and recycle--then why is recycling not mandatory everywhere in the United States? What do you think?
Should recycling be mandatory.
What would have to change for mandatory recycling to become the law of the land?


                                                                      PMM

While it should be against the law to litter, which it is in most places, forcing people to recycle is a real violation of civil liberities.  Why?  Consider:

1.  30% of recycled plastics leaves a "toxic ash."  This is a huge environmental concern.  What do we do with tons of tons of this ash?

2.  While some communities have recycling processes that are efficient, it still takes LARGE amounts of fossil fuels to actually DO the recycling.  In other words to take care of one carbon footprint, often a bigger one takes its place.

3.  The old "towel in the hotel scenario."  How many times have we seen in the hotels wildlife/ nature flyers in the bathroom imploring us to reuse our towels for the sake of poor dland animals and rain forests?  What bull!  The hotel just wants to save money by washing less towels per day.  Thus, a lot of asking people to recycle is simply making businesses money and does zilch to save the environment.

So...until we have a much, much more truly efficent way to recycle, then I would say NO (for now!)