The Importance of Recycling (By Parisi, 8 years old)

Recycling is very important and it can cause a lot of damage. First, if you throw trash outside, it can harm bodies of water. Trash can travel throughout the world's rivers and oceans, accumulating on beaches and within gyres. This debris harms physical habitats, transports chemical pollutants, threatens aquatic life, and interferes with human uses of river, marine, and coastal environments. It can also harm the types of animals in oceans and rivers. The animals can think that the trash is food and try to eat it or move it around. This can cause a lot of damage to the animals underwater, and they might die. Even worse, if you keep on throwing trash that is harmful in the same body of water, the animals who live in there might become extinct. That would be really sad; people should put more recycling cans everywhere. Now I know what you might be thinking. How will people know that they can throw certain trash into recycling bins? Well, once you put more recycling bins everywhere, you can start making posters to tell people to recycle more.

Next, you should recycle because animals (not just sea animals) can die from pollution. First, if you are in a jungle and you are done with a soda can and you throw it in the grass, the animals might see the trash and mistaken it for food, just like fish and coastal animals. These animals would also pass away after choking on trash. Also, if there is a flock of geese and you throw a can at them, they might try to give you a warning to keep it away from them. Otherwise, they will eat it and pass away. In addition, if some of the animals die, then it will affect the food chain. For example, if a type of prey dies, the predators eating that prey would have no food. Then, the shark that eats the predator will have no food and it will die, and so on. That means not only the first prey will die, but many other animals will also die. Some animals are smart and they can sense that the trash that you drop is bad for them. Still, there are some animals who cannot do that, and it is your job to protect them by making sure you don’t litter.

Lastly, recycling reduces our need to constantly buy more things. First of all, if you buy a water bottle, then you do not have to buy bottled water, saving you money. If you get a reusable bag at a grocery store, you can carry the things you pick out on your next trip to the grocery store. Once you do this, then you won't have to keep on buying things, and it can save you money.

So buy your own water bottle, and when you get outside, bring that water bottle with you! There are many reasons that you should recycle and recycling is very important.

Glossary:

Accumulating: gather together or acquire an increasing number or quantity of.

Debris: scattered pieces of waste or remains.

Extinct: A species of animals that no longer exist

Flock: Pack of geese

Food Chain: A chain of animals that depend on each other for life

Gyres: Circular motion

Interferes: To block

Physical: relating to the body as opposed to the mind.

Pollutants: a substance that pollutes something, especially water or the atmosphere.

Predator: An animal that naturally eats another animal.

Prey: An animal that is hunted and killed by another for food.