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Does recycling work?
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Recycling encourages people to buy sustainably

More and more people are becoming eco-friendly and buying recycled products. This is a great investment for consumers and the environment.

The Argument

Recycling educates people about how we should take care of the environment. With that knowledge, people will be prone to do and buy more environmentally friend things. They’ll buy metal and paper straws, take more initiative to not use so many cars or buy an electric one, and sort through their trash. By encouraging a culture of recycling, people will become more conscientious about other products they use as well, having wider positive effects for the environment.

Counter arguments

No matter how much people learn about and want to recycle, it’s mainly up to industries to carry the recycling movement. Although paper and metal straws are used in a few areas of the world, plastic and waste is still produced by big companies. Advertising encourages people to buy products that harm the environment.[1] Unfortunately, eco-friendly lifestyles aren’t advertised much, making them unpopular or unknown to the public. Plus, electric cars are very expensive, and for many it wouldn’t be convenient to switch to different ways to commute.

Proponents

Premises

[P1] Recycling educates people about environmental dangers. [P2] People will be inclined to protect the environment more, in ways other than recycling.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] It’s ultimately up to people to practice what they learn. Most likely, they won’t recycle as much as hoped. [Rejecting P2] Changing a lifestyle on a large scale is tough and shouldn’t be expected of people.

References

  1. https://bizfluent.com/about-7414742-advertising-influence-people-.html
This page was last edited on Monday, 20 Apr 2020 at 06:57 UTC

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