Personal decisions and their impacts on energy use and the environment

With increasing frequency, individuals deliberately choose specific actions that they hope will lessen environmental impact. Given the complexity of modem society, it is not always easy to know how to minimize environmental harm without undue sacrifice. Government policies can have a role in helping individuals make decisions and encouraging them to act in certain ways. Recycling of solid waste materials is a personal choice made by many people in the USA guided by the belief that recycling is not only good for the environment but that it constitutes a major contribution to improving environmental quality. By using energy usage as a proxy for overall environmental impact. we show that the impact reduction achieved through recycling varies for different materials. It is small but significant for some materials, such as aluminum. and minimal for other materials, such as plastic, especially when compared to other choices that individuals have direct control over, such as the type of vehicle they drive or the amount they drive. While the recycling of certain materials, such as aluminum, does result in measurable energy savings, the net benefit of recycling is orders of magnitude smaller than the gains that can be achieved from switching to more fuel-efficient vehicles. Despite this, perception and policy in the USA have focused on recycling rather than personal vehicle choice and increased reliance on public transportation. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.