Dear Future President,

     I would like for you to take into consideration the problem that affects our environment for our future generation. There are many programs and systems related to clean environment and recycling. People do participate in those kinds of things, but isn’t it weird how our country does not require recycling? We must have a mandatory recycling law to create a better future and clean environment.

     The United States is one of the biggest countries with plenty of population. If we had a mandatory recycling law, then 318.9 million people in the United States would have to follow the law. With this many people recycling every year, it will at least show some progress and improvements on the environmental problems. Recycling reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators. It also conserves natural resources such as timber, water, and minerals. Preventing pollution by reducing the need to collect new raw materials is done by recycling. It saves energy, it reduces greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change, it helps sustain the environment for future generations, and it helps create new well-paying jobs in the recycling and manufacturing industries in the United States. There are so many benefits of recycling so why not try?

     Our country is one of the developed countries in the world. Since we do not require recycling, our trashes are sent to poor countries. Those poor countries such as Ghana, India, Indonesia, Mexico, etc. receive our trashes and are paid money for it. It may look like it is beneficial, but it is not. Those countries are paid but their environments are destroyed. The destroyed environments can cause serious effects. Plenty of waste thrown into landfills cause various problems, such as the contamination of the soil and water with toxins, the accumulation of electronic waste, the formation of leachate and the release of greenhouse gasses. Decomposed trash releases methane and other greenhouse gasses that contribute to climate change and may also cause health problems to humans and animals. We need to stop creating the problems and start making the solutions.

     My first time in U.S. was amazing; however, I was shocked by U.S.’s recycling organization. The difference between this country’s system and South Korea’s recycling system have a huge gap. I used to live in South Korea. Even though I was little, I was taught to recycle. South Korea thinks strictly about recycle policies. Throwing out the trash in Korea is different than what the United States citizens are used to back home, and there are certain rules to follow. First of all, Korea is pretty specific with the kinds of trash it recycles. It is a basic rule that you must separate the biodegradable waste, PET bottles, other plastics, batteries, bottles, and sometimes more. The food wastes are doing its part to save the world one kilogram of garbage at a time. Instead of paying an extra tax to pay for garbage processing services in Korea, garbage men and processing centers are paid through the sale of garbage bags in Korea. Paying the garbage bags helps economic issues too.

     I believe there should be a mandatory recycling system to think forward about our future and also to be of great help to our community. Please consider this problem as a world-wide issue seriously. It is very important for our bright future.

Sincerely,

Sophia