Prompt: Some people claim that not enough of the waste from homes is recycled. They say that the only way to increase recycling is for governments to make it a legal requirement. To what extent do you think laws are needed to make people recycle more of their waste? the recycling policy

It is true that we are throwing away more than we recycled. Some people think that the only approach to this problem is to make recycling mandatory, but I believe that we could and should take further actions to reverse this trend. Ċ In my opinion, environmental laws against those who fail to recycle is a good solution to the problem. By introducing such regulations, people would be discouraged from irresponsibly dumping their refuse. For example, if the government impose heavy penalties on people who do not sort their waste as demanded, everybody will try their best not to be fined by obeying the sorting rules. As a result, there will be less waste not being recycled. Looking at the argument in this light, some may claim that laws are all we need to solve the problem. Ċ However, I do not agree that punishing people is the only solution we have. For one reason, it would be impossible to catch every law offender; so, such a punishment system is rather unrealistic. For example, households in my country throw their waste directly into a public bin, which makes it very difficult to determine who failed to obey the recycling regulations. Another reason is that it would be more effective if the government put education at the heart of its policy. For instance, children can learn about plastic waste at school, and how simple things such as canvas bags can reduce the amount of waste not being recycled. Such measures can help generate good recycling habits among the future generation, something that laws alone can hardly achieve. Ċ In conclusion, maybe we need to make recycling strictly required by laws, but this would not be the only way to cut down the volume of not recycled waste.