As of now, there are significant "barriers" in place preventing millions of Americans from having access to convenient recycling (American Beverage Association). The warrants substantiating the claims are straightforward. For one, America is in the midst of an economic recession. Many Americans have lost their jobs and can barely afford to pay for their rent, food, and medical bills. If it will cost Americans money to recycle items like televisions, then Americans are simply going to rebel. Second, Americans cannot be expected to sort their garbage. The process is dirty, it takes up too much time out of the day, and it requires Americans to actually read the packages they are buying. Americans need a simpler solution, but none has been found yet. In one locality, a custodian was "left sifting through waste, trying to pull out recyclables and garbage mixed in the wrong bins," (Carberry). This shows that recycling is proving to be a more complicated task for Americans than was previously believed by city governments. The children's book Garbage and Recycling by Rosie Harlow makes recycling seem simple. Recycling should be that simple for adults, who are the property owners paying the bills. Finally, it can be inferred that because millions of Americans do not have access to curbside recycling that those Americans are disadvantaged and discriminated against. Americans living in areas without curbside recycling would actually have to carry or drive their garbage somewhere. This costs money, which substantiates the first warrant in the argument. This is also complicated, as even when the consumer...

Even if curbside recycling were extended to all Americans, it is likely that many would still find it too complicated and too time consuming to carry out.
Therefore, recycling is an activity that is too complicated and too time-consuming for Americans. Americans cannot afford to recycle if it costs extra money or if extra driving is required. Americans cannot read the labels on their plastic or be expected to tell the difference between magazines and newspapers. Instead, Americans should put random pieces of garbage in a bin and hope for the best.

Works Cited

American Beverage Association. "Independent Survey of Communities Shows Recycling Access Widespread With Room for Growth." 30 Oct. 2009. Retrieved online; http://www.ameribev.org/minisites/recycling/news-and-resources/readmore.php?id=174

Carberry, Libby. "Taking out the trash: New recycling initiative tackles lack of enviornmental action at South." The Lion's Roar. Retrieved online: http://thelionsroar.com/news/3476/

Granger, Trey. "To Electronics Questions." Earth911. Retrieved online: http://earth911.com/news/2010/03/29/your-top-electronics-questions/

Harlow, Rosie. Garbage and Recycling. Kingfisher.

Heimlich, Joe E. "Recycling." Ohio State University Fact Sheet CDFS-108-98. Retrieved online: http://ohioline.osu.edu/cd-fact/0108.html

McNatt, Marissa. "What NOT to Put in the Bin." Earth911. Retrieved online: http://earth911.com/news/2010/03/22/what-not-to-put-in-the-bin/