The Next Generation Of Recycling Bins English Language Essay

For many years people have practiced recycling. In old times, where resources were less abundant than today, people would be more conscious about reducing, reusing and recycling. On the other hand, people nowadays don’t even bother to stop and think about what is going to happen once all raw materials on Earth are gone. They don’t realize that once it is all used up, there will be no way to get some more anywhere else. What happens when people don’t recycle is that all the recyclable products that are thrown away go straight into landfills altogether with other waste, and then it is all eventually lost.

There is, however, a small part of the population who does contribute to the recycling process, but it is just a minority, the other part of the population either doesn’t realize the significance of recycling or they just don’t care. This small minority that helps recycling things includes some companies and important people. They have been trying to get more and more people involved in the recycling process. Even channels for children have created projects to motivate kids and teach them about the significance of recycling. For example, Disney Channel has its own project called Friends For Change, where they have the main goal of teaching kids how to help and care about the planet. That is very important because kids will grow up to be more conscious about the environment.

On the other hand, older people are more complicated to convince or persuade that recycling is very important. Simple things have been created in order to help people recycle and motivate them to do it in their own houses, so they don’t even have to go anywhere else to recycle because these recycling containers can be place in their kitchen or anywhere they want. There are many different designs with lots of different features. These bins have diverse purposes depending on what people are looking for. There are certain containers that include two compartments, one for recyclable products and the other one for other wastes. Other bins contain different compartments labeled so that each recyclable material can be placed on separate places. Some have pedals, so people don’t have to use their hands to open up the trashcan; others have sensors so that the lid opens up automatically.

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Even though the containers sound like a great deal, it might not be that good of a deal because people have been complaining about the containers being too small, or too expensive, or too fragile and easily broken. A solution to this problem is to design and create a new improved container that will be made of stainless steel to make it more resistant and durable, that will contain larger compartments to place the trash or recyclable items, that will include an infrared sensor lid opener, and that will have a longer warranty period.

Today in the United States, Americans use over 80,000,000,000 aluminum soda cans every year. At one time, aluminum was more expensive than gold. That’s not even including the 50 billion disposable plastic water bottles Americans use a year. That makes up almost 20% of the composition in an average dump. Bottles and cans are some of the easiest items to recycle but yet Americans still have trouble recycling them. Call it laziness or ignorance about the subject, but there should be more efficient advances to allow recycling bottles and cans easier for Americans. Most raw materials are resources that cannot be created or formed by human beings. That means the amount of these raw materials that exist in the planet are limited, and once they are used up completely by people, there is no way to produce more. This is why it is so important to think wisely when it comes to recycling or just throwing away valuable materials into the trash. For many years, it has been difficult to educate people the significance of recycling, and these attempts have been unsuccessful because only a minority of the population has been contributing to the recycling process. The lack of care for the environment is just going to turn the world into a huge landfill. America has always been the place where everyone wants to come and live, but with statistics such as these soon there won’t be anything but landfills. With that said, saving the environment should be a very important objective for Americans. Technology today is extremely advanced, yet there isn’t any technological advance to sort out bottles and cans more efficiently.

The recycling process in America today offers each household a pair of recycling bins to recycle plastics/glass bottles, empty soda cans, and other containers that are later recycled after a long process of separating wastes according to their composition. Every week, workers pick up these bins and take them back to the facility to sort the items in the bins, but the bottles and cans that are thrown in the trash by people, do not get recycled. These recyclable items make it to the landfills and take up valuable space that could be used for other waste. Most public places such as schools and shopping malls today have designated trash bins for glass/plastic bottles and aluminum cans, which really help the process of recycling. Yet people still don’t always place those recyclable bottles and cans into those bins and they don’t get recycled.

In order to help the consumers recycle more efficiently, different types of containers for recyclable items have been developed. These developments make recycling much more convenient and assessable for the consumer. The consumers don’t even have to leave their homes in order to recycle; it is just a matter of buying one of those containers. The problem is that some are expensive, some are very fragile and therefore easily broken, and some are just too small. More people in the world would recycle if only these recycling containers were built more for the consumer’s everyday use. Recycling is already a difficult task for many, so when a company produces a recycling device, it absolutely has to be exceptional. If not it would definitely discourage people from recycling.

A simple example is the Neu Home 16-Gallon 2-Section Recycle Bin, which is a two-compartment recycle bin that holds 16 gallons/60 liters (8 gallons per compartment). It is made of stainless steel with plastic pullout buckets. It has a 30-day warranty and it is sold for $96.54. According to customer reviews, it is too expensive and not resistant at all, it is easily dented, and it is too small. The Plastic/Aluminum Recycling Center is another example. This container has superior quality, it is durable and it has unique disposal openings with recycle symbols and product labeling for clearly identification. It separates and stores recycling/trash material for easy removal and lower maintenance. It has a 55-gallon capacity (each compartment has a 27.5-gallon liner). It is sold for $240 plus $95 for shipping. Even though it is a good container and it seems resistant, the price is too high; therefore, people won’t buy something that expensive. There are no reviews available for that container. Another example and one of the more advanced bins that there is for sale is the iTouchless 16 Gallon Recycling Containers with Infrared-Sensor Lid Openers, which holds 16 gallons/60 liters total and comes with two 8-gallon inner plastic buckets, one for trash and the other one for recycle. It works using the latest sensor technology, lid opens automatically and it remains open when your hands are 6″ from the sensor. It brings open/close buttons for manual operation. It runs on 4 D-size batteries or optional AC-power adaptor. It has a 1-year manufacturer’s warranty and it is sold for $89.98. According to customer reviews, it is too fragile and easily broken because the lid is made of plastic, and the containers are small.

In order to solve the problem of recycling and the containers, all of those models mentioned above should be improved by developing a new container that contains some of the pros of those already existing containers, and of course getting rid of the cons. First of all, the container cannot be made of plastic because it will be too fragile and it would probably break. It will have to be made of stainless steel bolts and hinges to make sure it is more resistant. The design can still have two buckets to store recyclable items, but instead of being capable of holding only 8 gallons per compartment, it will be made bigger so that it can hold at least 12 gallons per bucket (it cannot be made too big either because then it won’t be feasible). The pedal mechanism can be removed because it can be easily damage or broken, so instead, the infrared-sensor will be kept so that it can open automatically. Each compartment will be properly labeled in order to identify where the trash and where the recyclable items have to be placed. The device will work using the 4 D-size batteries or the optional AC-power adaptor. The container will have to include at least a 1-year warranty and an optional extended warranty.

Ultimately our goal is to encourage recycling by developing this new and improved recycling container. By improving these recycling containers and developing one that is more efficient, people will be more motivated to purchase this type of recycling bins to recycle in their own homes. When people read bad reviews about products, they are less likely to buy it than when they read good comments about the product. It’s just natural to not want to purchase a product that other consumers have negative encounters with. If the product is developed well, consumers get motivated in purchasing the improved container and in turn will start recycling more and fewer materials would be wasted. This would also reduced the size of the landfills and ultimately keep America a cleaner place. As a result, the benefits would not be only for people, but also for our environment because it would make the recycling process more effective.

Feasibility

Our idea to make a more productive and efficient recycling bin will be a feasible idea once we explain our reasoning in the following paragraph. For the already existing products we have described earlier in this essay, we will take the pros from those and what consumers have reviewed as best qualities about those recycling bins, and we will make something that is efficient in many areas that existing products lack.

One of the problems with already existing models is the size and weight of the recycling bin. Our newly designed model will be made with high quality stainless steel, in a 12-gallon container, which will hold two compartments. The dimensions of this product will be approximately 36″x 34.5″ x 21.75″ and it will weigh around 24 lbs; which will make it easier to handle. As for materials, most of the bin will be made from stainless steel as mentioned before and other features will include infrared-sensor. No plastic will be used because it has already been known to be too fragile and consumers were not happy with it. The cost of our product will be competitive with existing models. The cost of manufacturing the bin will be $92.50 and it will be sold on the market for $100.90.

As for the installation of the product, the recycling bin will come already built in the box and all that will be needed to do is unwrap the packaging, install batteries or connect to AC power, and place in desired location for best accessibility. For best customer satisfaction, we have also decided to include one-year product warranty, therefore if there are any malfunctions the product will be fixed at no charge or replaced fully if needed. In addition, we will require consumers to take necessary measures to keep the recycle bin clean, especially around the infrared sensor area so it continues to work properly for years to come. It will also guarantee that if product is bought with battery power that it does not waste battery energy and will continue to work with one set of battery for at least one year, this in the long run will save the consumer expenses.

This modern and advanced recycle bin will be best suited for an everyday household, where parents can also encourage and teach kids the importance of recycling. Given that the bin is sensory powered it will be easier for younger kids and for the elderly to operate the product since no foot-pedal mechanism is required, and will have a tightly shut lid that releases no odor and will work very silently to not be distracting.

Conclusion

Recycling saves the planet in many ways, for example, it reduces the amount of waste that is placed in the landfills, and therefore it lowers the pollution that those landfills create. Also, it reduces the amount of energy that it is used because it takes more energy to process new materials than already used materials. This is why recycling is so important and it is necessary that people start being conscious about our environment. They have to get used to the fact that everybody must start recycling if they want to conserve the planet. That’s why devices such as recycle/trash containers have been created, so that people can have the commodity of recycling in their own houses. As it was already mentioned, this containers need to be improved in order to satisfy people’s needs and that way more people will be motivated to buy this type of product for their homes. They need to be made resistant, durable, bigger, and they need to keep the advanced features as the infrared sensors so that it will automatically open.

Future improvements with more technological advances could also be made to improve the recycling container. Even new types of containers can be developed. For example, in the future, it might be possible to develop a container that is able to automatically separate plastics from metals. It could have a metal detector so when it detects metal it places cans to one side and then when it doesn’t detect metals, it can place plastics to the other side. Of course, it would only work by placing one item at a time. Another future improvement would be a container that is able to recognize recyclable from non-recyclable items, so that it would place regular trash in one side and recyclable products in another side. That would be even more complicated and it might not be feasible, but it would definitely help the recycling process because people wouldn’t even have to place stuff in different compartments, just one compartment and the container would do the job of sorting the items out.

People have already being working on designing new prototypes that are much more advanced and that have been made using the latest technology. Obviously, these devices are not for sale because they would be extremely expensive, so they are just prototypes for now. An example of one of these sophisticated devices is the Barcode Recycle Station, in which there are four bins, one for each type of recyclable material. When you scan an unknown item, the appropriate container will open up automatically. This prototype is an illustration that clearly shows that it is possible to make big improvements using the more advanced technology in order to develop better containers to help and motivate people to recycle. With new technological advances every day, it is likely that someday more efficient and affordable recyclable containers will be developed, allowing the standard recycling bins of today to be revolutionized to be capable of separating bottles from cans and recyclable products from trash that are being thrown into a bin. The use of stainless steel bolts and hinges instead of plastic, a larger compartment to store items, and a longer warranty for the recycling container would improve Americans mentality on recycling. These simple improvements to the trash bin would make America a much more efficient and environmentally friendly place to live.