Toxic Recycling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Toxic Recycling - Essay Example As new electronic products are introduced into the market older products are discarded by consumers resulting in increased electronic waste each year. With this increase in waste each year the recycling industry is expected to grow and the article highlights this growth by stating that in 2004 the recycling firms made over 10 million and employed over 1,000 inmates. Recycling, however, should be undertaken under proper conditions to avoid the release of heavy metals as dust into the environment, the article highlights that the recycling process undertaken by UNICOR using inmates as labour is undertaken under unhealthy conditions, inmates do not use equipment that is in line with OSHA standards, also they eat lunch in areas contaminated with heavy metals. The recycling firms, therefore, do not take into consideration the health of inmates and prison officers. With the recycling industry growing fast laws and regulations should be put in place in order to protect the environment and individuals who work in these recycling firms, the environmental agencies and occupational safety and health administration should inspect the recycling firms regularly to ensure that they follow set standards and those that violate these standards should pay heavy fines. The article from warfare to welfare by William Hartung and Jennifer Washburn discusses Lockheed Martin a company that is the largest weapon manufacturer, according to the article the company strategy by 2000 is to privatize social welfare by forming divisions in the company that will undertake welfare programs in the US, these programs include the distribution of food stamps and cash assistance. It is evident that in the year 2000 the company’s stock prices were declining and the company was in a financial crisis given that it had requested the Pentagon to offer an $855 million loan to pay for mergers.