Recycling Proposal Memo (Research Paper Sample)

Student’s Name Instructor’s Name Course Date Memo: Recycling Paper/Cardboard To: St. Louis Community Leadership From: Concerned Community Member Subject: Recycling Solution to Paper/Cardboard Date: November 5, 2018 Throughout my stay in St. Louis, I have been observing the behaviors of the residents and realized a few problems that need to be solved. One of the key problems noted is the issue of improper conservation of the environment. The majority of the residents do not seem to be too careful with how they dump wastes. They have the bins but they do not care where the bins spill some dusts around or not, which is a clear indication that they are less concerned about their environment. Recently, I have discovered that the community leadership intends to initiate a cleaning program that involves the entire community as a means of promoting environmental conservation. I applaud your efforts and I will be on the front line in the cleaning exercise because I value my environment and wish to see it always clean. The idea I have in mind is recycling paper and cardboard products as explained. Collection of Paper Products As mentioned, paper products are the largest waste products in the country. In fact, Heos and Westgate (56) support the same notion by stating that paper products make up approximately 71 million tons (29 percent) of the municipal waste stream in the US. These paper and cardboard waste products include corrugated cardboard, magazines, newspapers, office papers, paper board, and paper cardboard dairy and juice cartons among others (Heos and Westgate 68). All these wastes can be recycled and reused as a way of conserving the environment and growing the economy. Collection of these wastes will be done using various tools that are grouped according to the quantities of the wastes. Paper products in small facilities such as homes and business centers will be collected using stackable boxes or the box pallets that are transported by forklift and driven up to the transport Lorries that will move them to the recycling center or the processing machine. In other words, the residents of St. Louis will be issued with paper bins in which they will put the paper wastes alone separate from the other wastes that will be put in the normal waste containers. The process will create employment for the young people and ensure efficiency in conservation of the environment. In the case of medium and large sized facilities, garbage skips or tautliners that have capacities of 15 to 30 cubic meters, will be used to carry and load the paper products into the transportation Lorries to be taken to the recycling center. Other tools that will be used include recycling bales, compactors, and semi-trailers. Reusing Paper Products Paper products are hardly reused because the majority of them serve their functions once. For instance, once the magazine is read, the owner is likely to dump it into the bin. However, nearly all paper products can be reused through recycling them. The recycling process ensures they are cleaned and all the chemicals or contaminations eliminated to make them suitable for use after the process. The following is the breakdown of the major steps involved in recycling paper products and cardboards to make them reusable. Recycling Steps Recycling of paper and cardboards entails five essential steps. First, the paper or cardboard is re-pulped through which fibers inside are separated and bleached. Bleaching is the application of a chemical procedure that involves hydrogen peroxide, sodium hydroxide, and sodium silicate (Goodstein 44). The second step involves screening the fibers and cleaning them to get rid of any contaminations. The fibers are then washed to eliminate leftover contaminations and ink. The next step is pressing and rolling them into paper. Lastly, the rolls of paper are made or converted into boxes or made into new products. The last step differs from one recycled material to another as well as in line with the new product that should be made. As observed, the process is not difficult provided the required machine is present. My proposal is that the community leadership should purchase a recycling machine and set it somewhere. It should then proceed to empower young people on the need to conserve the environment through collecting waste cardboards and taking them to the recycling center. These young people will have acquired jobs and will conserve the environment extensively (Grier 63). If the idea of purchasing a recycling machine becomes unachievable, then the community leadership can decide to talk to one of the recycling companies in the state with a paper/cardboard machine to accept waste papers collected by jobless young adults and pay them small fees. Once paid, the young people will feel motivated to collect even more as they try to encourage community members to promote environmental conservation by supporting the recycling business. Recyclable Paper Products Magazines Unlike cardboards that are made of hard and strong papers, magazines are mostly made from a buffed and coated paper to achieve a glossy look. Once they have the glossy appearance, magazine papers are shielded with a white clay that enhances color photographs by making them look highly brilliant (Grier 54). It is equally important to note that the shiny look of the magazines does not taint the paper in any way. During recycling, once the fibers have been rolled into paper, they are not converted into boxes but rather, they are cut according to the magazine-size papers and printed before they are made into booklets. Important to note is that only 45 percent of magazines in the country are recycled, which means that lots of them go to waste yet once recycled, they can be used to make tissues, newspapers, paper board, or writing paper (Nunn 112). It clearly indicates that St. Louis is not the only region in the country affected by magazine waste Office Paper Similar to magazines, only 45 percent of office papers are recovered for recycling. The recycling procedure for office paper begins with re-pulling of the papers to separate the fibers and bleaching them. Bleaching process helps the fibers to become softer and easily screened. After screening, the fibers are then cleaned to get rid of contaminations (Grier 82). The fibers are washed to remove the leftover ink. Once done, they are pressed and rolled into paper. Thereafter, they are cut into sizes required for office work and made into different forms depending on the requirements of the offices. Note that once the office papers are recycled, the higher grade papers such as letterhead, bond, and computer paper, are turned back into office paper especially if the recycler manages to keep them separate from other waste papers. Once recycled, the office paper can also be used to generate paperboard, tissue paper, magazines, stationery, or other paper products. The same recycling procedure is used for other paper products such as newspapers, paperboard, for juice cartons and paper cardboard dairy, phone books, and unsolicited direct mails among others. Importance of Recycling Paper in St. Louis The idea of recycling papers and cardboards has both environmental and human importance. First, recycling is essential because waste has negative effects on the natural surroundings. Rubbish usually release greenhouse gases and harmful chemicals in landfill sites. To prevent such occurrences in St. Louis, it is important to embrace recycling especially of paper and cardboards that make up the largest percentage of waste to reduce pollution of the environment (Goodstein 71). Second, lack of recycling of papers and cardboards contributes to global warming and habitat destruction. Remember that paper originates from trees as the raw materials, which means that deforestation has to occur for paper to be manufactured. Recycling means less tr...