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Delaney Joncek
Works of Art
Benjamin Craig
2 June 2016
Recycling Waste into Art
Today across the globe, in landfills, parks, and habitats, garbage is building up in
excessive quantities. It is polluting our oceans, drinking water sources, wildlife reserves, and
other crucial environments and climates of our planet. Natural Climate Change published an
article in 2015 that stated American landfills are taking in twice as much garbage as the
government initially thought to be true. This means that even our own government is unaware of
the atrocious impact our wasteful habits pose to our planet and that the problem has worsened to
a serious decree without notice. On average, these landfills are receiving five pounds of solid
waste per person per day. If we continue to dispose of waste in landfills without serious recycling
reform, eventually it will be our towns, cities, lakes, rivers, and oceans and forests that appear as
the cluttered and visually unappealing as our landfills do.
It is true that over the past couple of years, America has made some progress in the realm
of recycling. Increasing curbside recycling containers as well as increasing containers in schools,
factories and other institutions has made a difference, but we are still creating too much waste
that isnt being reused or repurposed. In 2011, less than 35% of households and less than 10% of
businesses were doing their part in recycling in the United States (EPA 2011). In 2013, the U.S.
reached a 34.3% recycling rate. Slowly, we are making progress. If we are able to raise the
United States to a 75% recycling rate, we will generate 1.5 million new jobs and benefit the
equivalent of removing 50 million cars from the road each year. This will create gratification for

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citizens instantly, while also gratifying them later in terms of preserving the place that we call
home.
As of now, with advancements that have been obtained by recycling organizations over
the years, the problem isnt lack of of resources to recycle, but lack of participation by citizens,
businesses, and other institutions. It takes 95% less energy and water to recycle a used can than
to create one out of virgin materials , and each person is given the opportunity to recycle over
25,000 cans within their lifetime (Recycle Across America 2014). Glass can be infinitely
recycled. Using recycled materials to create glass will cut water pollution in half. Recycling
cardboard saves oil, a nonrenewable resource that we currently use as a primary energy source.
Using recycled paper to create new paper reduces air pollution by 95%. Electronic waste is piling
up tremendously with the speed in which we are now advancing to new devices. These issues are
being addressed in small quantities. Certain states now require collection and recycling programs
for electronic waste. Several businesses and schools are beginning to compost food on location.
80% of retailers are recycling their cardboard. Our attempts to reduce all of these wastes are a
step in the right direction, but still, we are able to do more.
The problem is waste. We are able to save things, to use them again for the same purpose.
We are able to use them for purposes new and different. Our world is the only one that we have
and we should constantly be striving to protect it from harm, yet we are continuing to harm this
planet that we call home, and our repercussions are catching up with us. The disposal of waste is
emitting an abundance of greenhouse gases that are contributing to the change of our climate
with methane being the most abundant (GRID-Arendal 2014). It seems ridiculous that something
as little as slight participation would add loads of improvement to these issues, but because

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average citizens dont seem to be willing to participate in the movement, we must construct
something stronger and more powerful in order to resolve the mess that we have made.
Art is a form of therapy: an escape, a passion, a handhold. If we are able to combine
something pleasant and instantly gratifying with resolution of a major issue to the lives of the
general public, then we will make progress almost effortlessly. We must work together to
preserve our oceans, our habitats and wildlife -- our various lands ecosystems and water sources.
We must preserve our planet with a project that does not feel like work. We will establish a
project that benefits lives instantly, while also creating a series of long term benefits for both
inhabitants of this planet and the planet itself.
Education is a mandatory component of life for citizens in the United States. Beginning
around the age of five and progressing all the way up into the twenties (sometimes even later) we
are conditioned to learn essential things that will make life easier and relatively better. We learn
math and history, literature and science, and in recent years we have done a good job with
developing art programs, but we are still lacking compared to other countries in terms of quantity
and quality of these programs. Also, these developing art programs are still considered 2nd hand
to the other primary subjects, despite statistics demonstrating academic achievement and
improvement. Japan, Hungary, and the Netherlands are example of countries that order
mandatory music and arts courses and in turn consistently rank in the top percentiles in other
subject courses (PISA 2011). Students involved in art studies are more often recognized and
awarded for academic achievement and class attendance (National Endowment for the Arts
2014). Art studies and activities are also proven to keep at-risk youth stay in school. These
statistics prove that art benefits students academics and overall being to a great extent and
should be more prevalent in the U.S. education system.

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With increased art education in schooling systems, we would be able to make ecological
improvements to society. My proposal is for an art activities program that puts recyclable
materials into the hands of children and channels their artistic abilities into improvement of
themselves and improvement of global conditions. These activities will include gardening using
composted materials, decor creation, fabric redesign, sewing to create new apparel, and more.
Students will even be able to use materials to make simply appealing visual and expressive art of
their choice. These pieces will be used in art symposiums where other classes, schools, parents,
etc., can see the effects this program is having on the students and spread awareness to outside
parties. The goal is for the program to effect outside members as well and send the word flowing
through the streets. The reuse of materials will also inspire students to participate in collective
activities such as park clean ups, tree planting, beach sweeping, and more. The program will also
promote less wastefulness, for students will see multiple uses to objects before they decided to
just toss it in the trash. Students will become passionate about the environment and the idea of
recycling. The program will include field trips to recycling plants, as well as field trips to
landfills where students will see what they are preventing from happening. There will be a cycle
of enthusiasm to the preservation of the planet and the creation of art. They wont be exposed to
a sliver of painting, they will see a broad spectrum of artistic opportunities incorporated with
ways to better the world.
Now several parents and faculty members have fought art activities and programs on the
basis that it wont leave funding for important subjects. Despite the fact that what is important
is subjective, there is an unbelieve imbalance in funding between subjects such as science and
art. Arts and humanities is federally funded at around $250 million each year, while the National
Science Foundation receives around $5 billion in federal funding (Giuseppe 2015). Now

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regardless of whether we just arent allowed to dip into other federally funded subjects that
receive unruly amounts of money greater than the arts because it would anger close minded
adults, there is the fact that we are talking about recyclable materials. Many of the necessary
materials (compost, fabric, cans, glass) can be retrieved through student collection. While
demonstrating to students that it is beneficial to clean up our neighborhoods and prevent food
waste, we can collect some seriously reusable materials that can be turned into something
seriously cool projects. Collecting cardboard from local retailers is a prime example of easy
collection if people are anti-trash collection. Food from the cafeteria can be used to teach
students to separate foods for composting and create their gardens that they developed from
scratch which will be ultimately rewarding when plants and food begin to bloom and they see for
the first time how the cycle of things is supposed to work. Any recyclable items that dont fit into
the art project curriculum can still be conditioned to be recycled on to factories that will then use
less energy to create new products. It is a win-win situation for all involved and shows no signs
of weakness.
Parents and faculty members against this movement might try to argue that the bare
minimum in terms of recycling is enough, but statistics arent lying. We are continuously
producing tons and tons of waste as a nation and we are failing to do our part to the environment.
While recycling has become popular in trendy cities such as Brooklyn, New York and San
Francisco, California, that is where all of the recycling is being done. Residents of other cities
dont participate in the movement and that is what is sending us backwards. There cant be only a
select few promoting the project of recycling, because that is what cause recycling to be an
economic burden. When it becomes such a pain to incorporate recycling into everyday life, the
cost of recycling goods goes up, for we are doing so much to produce so little. If more people

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spent time incorporating the objective of recycling into casual day to day activities, then the
higher amount of recyclables would lower the cost of the initial process (Tierney 2015). Many of
the people against this moment are against it for the wrong reasons, once again. While being too
lazy to participate and being unaware of repercussions is one thing, knowing the dangers of our
wastefulness and choosing to fight against environmental improvement out of selfishness for job
security is another. Reducing the need to manufacture new products reduces the need for mining,
drilling, and logging. This upsets workers of the industry and causes them to repel the movement
for their own financial security as opposed to the well being of our planet as a whole. While both
of these reasons for repelling the movement are ridiculous, unethical, and unreasonable, this
project can create awareness even within those parties that can change the minds of those already
seeming to be set in stone. With time, we can prove to the non believers that recycling is worth
all of work that we are putting in.
Ultimately, our earth is in trouble as its inhabitants continue to create massive loads of
waste, pollutants, and greenhouse gases. Without reform in our ecological approaches, our
natural gas supply will runout within the next 35 years and if our consumption rate of oil
continues, our oil reserve is predicted to run dry within 14 years (Carty 2016). Scarcity of these
resources is an issue, but a greater issue is the pollutants that are coming with the reckless use of
these products. It is our job to regulate our resources and to find ways to channel our
wastefulness into usefulness. Through my project, we can influence younger generations to
facilitate good ecological habits and strong morality when dealing with ecological issues. If the
younger generation is conditioned to reduce, reuse and recycle from the beginning, we will have
less to worry about in later days. All it takes is one step in the right direction and the spread of
awareness to make a difference.

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Through the activities of collecting, composting, creating, and constructing, my

ecological art program will allow kids to participate in artistic activities such as gardening,
sculpting, sewing, and more in order to be more useful with recyclable products. This program
will not only help benefit the academic status of participating students, but will also provide
growth in ecological awareness as well as personal responsibility in the role of society. It is my
hope that these practices will be facilitated amongst education systems across the nation as well
as in countries that do not yet practice ecological and art resolution together. These steps towards
better global conditions and better schooling conditions are simple enough to be incorporated
with little to no change in funding. With support from peers, professors, friends, parents and
other outside perspectives, we can make the world a better place with the simple resolution of art
and ecological practices.

References
Giuseppe. R (2015 February 17). Saving the Arts in our Nations Schools. Retrieved from
https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-arts-education
National Endowment for the Arts (2014 February 28). Re-Investing in Arts Education:
Winning Americas Future Through Creative Schools. Retrieved from
https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-arts-education
PISA for the United States (2014 February 28). Successful Reformers in Education.

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Retrieved from https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-arts-education

Recycle Across America (2014). Recycling Facts. Retrieved from
http://recycleacrossamerica.org/recycling-facts
Tierney. J (2015 October 3). The Reign of Recycling. Retrieved from The New York Times
US Environmental Protection Agency (2016 April). Advancing Sustainable Materials
Management: Facts and Figures. Retrieved from
https://www.epa.gov/smm/advancing-sustainable-materials-management-facts-andfigures
Vital Waste Graphics (2014). Climate Change and Waste. Retrieved from
http://www.grida.no/publications/vg/waste/page/2871.aspx