Eric QuirozMrs. EnceEnglish-2010April 8, 2014Can this be wrong when it seems so good?We all care about our planet, even if it is just a tiny part inside us. The less effort we have to put into helping our environment, the more willing we are to actually help and the better we feel about ourselves. In fact, in the United States, more people recycle than vote; according to Samantha MacBride in her book Recycling Reconsidered. (MacBride 9) But what happens if good triumphs over evil? What if immediate results only delayed the worst problems? The City of Saint George has an excellent waste management program, a county landfill located within the city limits but well away from residential areas, and many respectable recycling centers. The city also offers recycling “binnies” at several locations throughout the city (WC). Waste management is almost perfect in Saint George. However, newly elected Mayor Jon Pike is seeking to implement a citywide curbside recycling program. “. . . [Mayor Pike] wants to continue a long-standing goal of bringing curbside recycling to the area, embracing a national trend toward sustainability and hoping to extend the life of the county landfill. reports David DeMille of The Spectrum. Yes, curbside recycling does have its benefits, but those benefits may not be as beneficial as they seem. The City of Saint George should not implement curbside recycling. To address this question, it is necessary to discuss the cost of selective collection, which exceeds any economic gain. Second, it must be made known that the recycling process wastes more natural resources than it saves. For these three reasons – economic, environmental and experiential – curbside collection should... middle of paper... in the United States which covers the cost. » (Jacoby, Get Excited)The Environmentally Conscious One person may say, "But the cost doesn't matter, as long as the environment benefits." » Yes, it is entirely true that the aim of selective collection is to reduce the harmful effects we have on the environment. However, recycling essentially releases dangerous chemicals and toxins into the environment. For example, recycling paper, according to the Clean Water Action Council of Wisconsin, this process creates dangerous byproducts: "Approximately 250 tons of PCBs - well-known cancer-causing chemicals - were dumped into the Fox River... by paper recycling industries. .” (Clean Water Council) Put in perspective: 250 tons is more than the total amount of waste produced in the United States in a year, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. (EPA).