Analysis of Recycling Program: A Review of the Kline Article

This report provides a comprehensive review of an article by Jesse Kline discussing municipal recycling programs, specifically focusing on the Calgary case. The student analyzes Kline's thesis, which argues that municipal recycling programs can be harmful, and examines the arguments and paraphrases presented in the article. The review incorporates relevant facts from other research, such as the involvement of non-governmental organizations and companies in plastic recycling in Ontario, and the export of hazardous recyclable materials. The report also explores the validity of the arguments, considering the impact on energy resource efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions. The review highlights the potential negative impacts of blue bin programs, such as increased carbon dioxide emissions from waste collection and the accumulation of non-recyclable materials in landfills. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding the environmental consequences of waste management practices and the need for more effective strategies. The report cites the works of Ballingall and Libin to support its analysis.

Running head: REVIEW OF THE ARTICLE
Review of the Article
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1REVIEW OF THE ARTICLE
1. Subject of the article by Cline
Jesse Cline has described about the municipal recycling scam in one of the cities in
Canada- Calgary. They had begun the recycling program in the year 2009. This has been one of
the most fascinating things in the history of the Canadian cities. The waste management
programs have been the major concerns in this context. The efforts by Canadian Government
have not been that much effective indeed. It has done more negative things than the positive
ones. The people of Calgary had thought they were making a huge thing in helping the
environment but the situation had turned out that they had impacting the environment in the
negative manner. The problem had arisen that the Government had not been successful in finding
the buyers for the solid waste. The dumps increased and environment was affected badly indeed.
2. Thesis of Kline
The main thesis of Jesse Kline is on the factor of the solid waste management. He has
been trying to portray the negative impacts for the recycling programs by the municipality.
Therefore, the thesis states that- recycling programs by the municipalities have proven to be
harmful in turn for the common people.
3. Keane’s arguments and paraphrases
The author writes “..effectively nationalizing a
once-thriving private recycling industry overnight.”
(Kline).
The nationalization of the private recycling
industry has been a giant step in Canada (Kline).
The author writes “Often times, municipal
recycling programs do more harm than good.”
(Kline).
The process that the municipal recycling programs
follow is not at all very hygienic. (Kline).
The author writes “Calgary’s city managers should
have known that much of the municipal waste was
unlikely to be recycled.” (Kline).
This is a negative thing in respect to the
responsibilities of the city managers of Calgary.
(Kline).
The author writes “And not much has changed”.
(Kline).
The changing should have taken place much earlier
indeed. (Kline).
The author writes “All this begs the question as to
why the cities would continue, or in Calgary’s case
expand, programs that are not producing their
desired outcomes”. (Kline).
The municipal organizations should continue to do
their recycling programs properly indeed. (Kline).
The author writes ‘The big problem with household
recycling programs is that most of our waste has
little to no value”. (Kline).
The household wastes most times cannot be
recycled as well because there are not much metal
in those waste materials. (Kline).
4. Kline’s arguments
I am going to build this argument on and argue on the facts of municipal recycling
programs. I am investigating the objective of the claims that municipal recycling can be done

2REVIEW OF THE ARTICLE
5. Relevant facts from the research
The author writes, “business of recycling plastic in
Ontario is a valuable endeavor involving non-
governmental organizations and multimillion-dollar
companies competing for technological supremacy
and coveted municipal contracts” (Ballingall)
Non-governmental organizations and multi-million
dollar companies in Ontario are involved in the
business of recycling plastic to attain technological
domination and the very important municipal
contracts (Ballingall).
The author writes, “143 Canadian companies
exported “hazardous recyclable material” — which
includes plastics — to other countries in 2012, the
most recent year with available data” (Ballingall).
Huge amount of harmful recyclable wastes like
plastic are shipped to other countries, USA being
the top in the list in 2012 (Ballingall).
The author writes, “The process of recycling plastic
in Ontario starts at the city level. Municipalities
collect plastics through the blue-bin recycling
program, a $200-million-per-year venture managed
by the not-for-profit agency Stewardship Ontario”
(Ballingall).
Stewardship Ontario, a not-for-profit agency
spends $200 million each year to collect plastics for
the recycling process in Ontario. The process
begins at city level through the blue-bin recycling
program (Ballingall).
The author writes, “If symbolism, and the urge to
feel ecologically righteous, were the objective, then
the blue box program — part of the city’s
ambitious goal to divert 80% of trash from landfills
by 2020 — succeeded the moment it began. But if
the aim is to help the environment, Calgary,
ironically, may have been just as well off in the
Stone Age” (Libin).
The blue-bin program that aimed to dispose of 80%
of wastes from Calgary’s landfills has been
successful. However, the program failed to assist
the environment (Libin).
The author writes, “While a blue bin out front
makes us feel we’re helping the planet, recycling
most household materials has either minimal
environmental impact, or even a negative one”
(Libin).
Recycling big portions of household materials
through the blue bin program hardly effects the
environment.
The author writes, “All the glass collected this year
by Calgary’s new program ended up at the East
Calgary Landfill, where it is piling up for want of a
buyer” (Libin).
The new program did not succeed in disposing of
glass and it has been piled up in the Landfill of
Calgary waiting to be bought (Libin).
The author writes, “Citywide blue box programs
typically mean a whole new fleet of trucks: Calgary
now has 64 more diesel-burning rigs retracing the
same tracks its garbage trucks did just a few days
earlier, roughly doubling carbon dioxide emissions
and other pollutants” (Libin).
Increase in rigs for collecting garbage from blue
boxes two folded carbon dioxide emissions thus
contradicting the purpose for which it was started
(Libin).
The author writes, “there are easier, more
environmentally friendly options than immense,
mandatory blue box programs. First, cities should
drop the ridiculously high targets to recycle 70, 80
or 90% of waste. And instead, have homeowners
bundle their paper, cardboard and aluminum — the
worthwhile stuff — into special coloured bags
alongside their regular trash pickup” (Libin).
Numerous other options apart from the costly blue
bin program are there that can help the
environment. This includes reducing high targets
and focus on collecting garbage systematically with
the help of homeowners (Libin).

3REVIEW OF THE ARTICLE
6. Validity of the argument
The purpose of these recycling programs is to increase the energy resource efficiency
indeed. The greenhouse gas emission is one of the biggest concerns in the environment
nowadays. All the stakeholders should understand that the carbon dioxide emissions should be
very much harmful for the sustainability of the environment. The waste management procedure
will be hampered indeed.

4REVIEW OF THE ARTICLE
7. Works cited
Ballingall, Alex. "The Where And Why Of Recycling Plastic In Ontario | Toronto
Star". Thestar.Com, 2018,
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/02/17/the_where_and_why_of_recycling_plastic_in_ont
ario.html. Accessed 8 Mar 2018.
Libin, Kevin. "The Recycling Conundrum: How Your Blue Bin Hurts The
Environment". Nationalpost.Com, 2018, http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?
id=2305057. Accessed 8 Mar 2018.
nationalpost.com/opinion/jesse-kline-the-great-municipal-recycling-scam, P. (2018). Jesse Kline:
The great municipal recycling scam. [online] National Post. Available at:
http://nationalpost.com/opinion/jesse-kline-the-great-municipal-recycling-scam [Accessed 3
Mar. 2018].

5REVIEW OF THE ARTICLE