It's a recycling fashion. Or a state of mind for many of us in 21st century. But let's look at the facts and figures, and then meet the real problem.
Here's an example: a tree absorbs between 7.5 to 13 kg CO2 per year. Of course no one could еstimate whether it is more, less or enough. But everyone could estimate the efficiency of a tree, if we mention the yearly CO2 footprint of a milk cow - about 5 000 kg CO2 eq. Hence my question: how many trees we need to plant, just to cover the yearly emission of one cow?
Well, recycling is good, isn't it?
Actually, it's not a matter of recycling the stuff you bought, but now you don't need. It's a matter of not buying that stuff at all. When we look back to the production and distribution chain, we will see why recycling of packages is not helping too much.
The industry is manufacturing products, while emitting enormous volumes of toxic waste (both liquid and solid) and green house gases. Then the product goes to the consumer and he fashionably recycles the packaging. The thing that should worry you as a consumer is that for every recycled garbage can, the industry produces 70! Yes, seventy garbage cans full of waste!
What about the industrial waste?
Industrial waste is the real problem that should be solved. The trend here is called "waste management", which is actually the only way to go on large scale. Waste management includes toxic gas sequestration, CO2 mitigation and utilization, wastewater treatment, solid waste recycling, etc.
A lot can be done, in utilization of, otherwise toxic, nitrogen oxides. There are plenty of biological species that can survive in variety of extreme environments. Examples of extreme environments are toxic industrial wastewaters, high temperature CO2 airflows, heavy metal rich solid waste, etc.
There is a biological solution for every problem that humankind have created so far. There are microalgae, able to survive in extreme concentrations of cadmium or chrome and bacteria that thrive in strong mineral acids and boiling liquids.
We could finally say, that there is a matter of consumer behaviour, that could help save our environment, but let's face it - the real problem is coming from the industrial waste. Industrial plants should realise their corporate responsibility and do the implementation of best available technologies in waste management.