In the United States of America, there are millions of people participating in recycling activities as facilitated by numerous organizations. The reasons for taking part in some form of recycling range anywhere from getting the deposit back from cans and bottles; to processing used materials into new products for the sake of preventing the waste of potentially useful materials; to saving the Earth’s ecosystem.

Recycling, to an overwhelming majority of people in this country, consists of throwing “away” (into the recycle bin, instead of the garbage can) materials which have performed their original purpose and the user no longer perceives any value, aside from maybe a return of the deposit paid for the item. The recycle bin’s contents are then taken by the owner or a collection service to a processing center where “someone else” will take care of the rest. There are at least three major problems here, though:

1. There is no “away,” only a way. Non-existence is often seen as a quality of “away,” when in reality everything has “a way” it affects its surroundings. With disregard for a world that exists beyond the experiences of an individual, all other individuals and the world they live in are being affected with blind intentions, leading to further misunderstanding and mismanagement.
   
   Example: Whether we throw a meat wrapper or soda can into Read the rest of this entry »