Jonathan Whitley
Professor Sarah Orme
English 2010
24 March 2012
Annotated Bibliography
Benjamin, Daniel K. “Recycling Myths: Smothered in Garbage vs. More Landfill Capacity than
Ever.” 15 November 2003. EcoWorld, ecoworld.com. 03 Mar, 2012.
This article is meant as an opposing viewpoint to recycling. Daniel K. Benjamin provides 8 myths about the benefits of recycling and the cons of not recycling. The article goes into detail about how these myths came about, and why they are fallacious arguments.
Benjamin makes three main points in his article. Frist, landfills are efficient waste management solutions and are not hazardous. Second, recycling is not always beneficial to our environment, society, or economy. And third, recycling is not necessary to preserve natural resources. Benjamin’s major source of information is the EPA which is a very credible institution. There are many points in the article, however, that are uncited.
I feel that this article does an excellent job of deflating common misperceptions about recycling and landfills. Although some observations made by Benjamin can’t be taken as evidence because of the lack of citation, most of his myths have credible sources of information. Through other research I have found that many of Benjamin’s non-cited observations do have credibility. I will be paraphrasing these myths in my final paper because of their power to change misconceived perceptions about recycling.
Cothran, Helen. Garbage and Recycling: Opposing Viewpoints. Greenhaven Press, 2006,
Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale
This book is part of a series that attempts to summarize a collection of scholarly articles in opposing viewpoints. The book has four chapters and each chapter has multiple citations to scholarly articles that are both for and against the chapter subject. The chapters are: “Is Garbage a Serious Problem?”, “Is Recycling Effective”, “Is Toxic Waste Disposal a Serious Problem?”, and “What Innovations Will...