Advocacy Project Reflection

Recycling is a very important activity that everyone should take part in, it helps the environment, less use of land for landfills, and the economy. Many people may find recycling as a hassle, but with over 725 curbside and drop-off programs it shouldn’t be. While constructing a visual composition to advocate the need of recycling in Michigan, I learned many new facts about landfills and recycling in Michigan. Not only did I come across some fascinating statistics, but I came across some disgusting but realistic photographs of the tons of garbage and dirty water. Visually composing the need to recycle was not very difficult, it was actually difficult reducing the amount of information I had gathered.

Through-out my visual composition I tried to show all the different materials people may recycle as well as photographs of how large many landfills in Michigan are. I was able to capture photographs at the landfill in Wayne, Michigan while the garbage trucks were dumping garbage. I was outside the landfill area for about 10 minutes, and within those 10 minutes there were nearly 15 large garbage trucks that came to dump in the landfill. I found this very appalling because if within 10 minutes there can be 15 full trucks of garbage, imagine how much comes in a day, a week, or a month. My first and last slide, are collages of all sorts of recycling and landfill ideas. The slides in the middle of my presentation all represent something different; the one with the garbage truck represents all the imported garbage from other areas other then Michigan. The third slide with the dirty water represents what our water may look like if our landfills continue to grow.

Michigan consists of a large amount of landfills, these landfills do not only contain Michigan’s garbage but also many other places, such as, Canada. Michigan’s waste stream flows 69% into landfills, 20% into recycling, and 11% into incineration. Incineration means burning or reducing to ashes. If people of Michigan do not take recycling seriously, as the landfills in Michigan grow they may contaminate the supply of fresh water we have. This would mean we would have to rely on other states for our supply of fresh water.

The economy gains many positives from recycling. The recycling industries make many job opportunities available for Michigan residents. They need employers to collect, process and manufacture the recycled goods to be reused. These industries give jobs to over 5,000 Michigan residents, with a total payroll of over $137 million. Not only is recycling good for Michigan residents but it also helps out Michigan’s economy as a whole. Michigan receives nearly $2 billion each year in revenues from the sale of the recycled goods.

I believe recycling is an activity everyone should make a habit. Each and every person helps out tremendously. It’s not hard, nor is it time consuming. If we recycle then there will be less land used for landfills, this land can be useful for public facilities. It helps our state in various aspects, and the environment. Not only is it good for our generation, but if we recycle now we are helping our environment/state be a better and safer place for our children to come.