By Alexia Torres Camino

SAN JOSE, CALIF.  — The current ongoing worldwide environmental problem,  pollution. Our oceans and cities are being polluted with chemicals and plastics. Are we not recycling, or taking care of our planet, what’s going on? 

In the state of Calif. just 9% of reusable items are actually being recycled. Now imagine all over the United States. According to the EPA(Environmental Protection Agency), only 27% of recycling is actually being used to make new products for consumers. 

Big recycling companies, who are supposed to be reusing our materials, are not doing their job. They have encountered the issue that recycling takes a lot of time and tons of money to actually do so. 

To “solve” this problem they have decided when we recycle it all ends up in the same landfill as our trash. These companies lie and still encourage everyone to recycle even though this is behind them. This is the main reason why we still see large quantities of trash in our local areas. This is what destroys our planet. 

“It’s not that recycling is bad. It’s certainly better for the environment than landfilling or burning unsorted trash. But there’s a growing worry among environmentalists that it could be promoting additional consumption and additional waste.”(How recycling is killing the planet by:LOUISE GUILLOT). Guillot, whom I agree with, says how recycling is good for the planet because it has resulted in a diversion within environmentalists, however, some agree only to profit off of this. Elaine Duong, a current senior at Silver Creek High School states, “Although many have said recycling is good which I agree with, it helps the environment. Companies who make plastic still happily make them to make millions of profit. This also leads to the problem that people need to 100% recycle to make our oceans/earth cleaner. Companies have the lead to reuse or degrade our plastic yet they don’t do it which I disagree with.’’ This is something I can agree on ,recycling is very important yet some environmentalists view this as a selfish opportunity to make money, instead of being compassionate and caring for the earth as their reason to recycle. This is why pollution is not being resolved right now, it is due to people’s greed. 

To me, recycling is very important, my family and I try our best to recycle at home. Right now tons and tons of trash are being thrown out to our oceans, cities and landfills to make them overflow with garbage. Imagine how our oceans and cities will look in a decade if this constant waste is continuously littered. I believe people should try their best to recycle because after all this is our world that we live in and it is our responsibility to take care of it; to make it a safe and clean place to thrive in.