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Water (H20) is our 20th Century fuel -
Recycling
Recycling and waste
Taking action on waste is essential, since we are consuming natural resources at an unsustainable rate and contributing unnecessarily to climate change.
Each year we generate about 100 million tonnes of waste from households, commerce and industry combined. Most of this currently ends up in landfill, where biodegradable waste generates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. And much valuable energy is used up in making new products which are later disposed of, so also contributing to climate change.
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Common Recyclables
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Paper
Paper can be recycled by reducing it to pulp and combing it with pulp from newly harvested wood. As the recycling process causes the paper fibres to breakdown, each time paper is recycled its quality decreases. This means that either a higher percentage of new fibres must be added, or the paper down cycled into lower quality products. Any writing or coloration of the paper must first be removed by de inking, which also removes fillers, clays, and fibre fragments.
Almost all paper can be recycled today, but some types are harder to recycle than others. Papers coated with plastic or aluminium foil, and papers that are waxed, pasted, or gummed are usually not recycled because the process is too expensive. Gift wrap paper also cannot be recycled due to the its already low quality.
Sometimes recyclers ask for the removal of the glossy inserts from newspapers because they are a different type of paper. Glossy inserts have a heavy clay coating that some paper mills cannot accept. Most of the clay is removed from the recycled pulp as sludge which must be disposed. If the coated paper is 20% by weight clay, then each ton of glossy paper produces more than 200 kg of sludge and less than 800 kg of fibre.
Plastic
Plastic recycling is the process of recovering scrap or waste plastics and reprocessing
the material into useful products. Compared to glass or metallic materials, plastic
poses unique challenges–because of the massive number of types of plastic, they each
carry a resin identification code, and must be sorted before they can be recycled.
This can be costly–while metals can be sorted using electromagnets, no such ‘easy
sorting’ capability exists for plastics. In addition to this, while labels do not
need to be removed from bottles for recycling, lids are often made from a different
kind of non-
Textiles
When considering textile recycling one must understand what the material consists of. Most textiles are composites of cotton (biodegradable material) and synthetic plastics. The textile's composition will affect its durability and method of recycling.
Workers sort and separate collected textiles into good quality clothing and shoes which can be reused or worn. There is a trend of moving these facilities from developed countries to developing countries either for charity or sold at a cheaper price. Many international organisations collect used textiles from developed countries as a donation to those third world countries. This recycling practise is encouraged because it helps to reduce unwanted waste while providing clothing's to the needies. Damaged textiles are further sorted into grades to make industrial wiping cloths and for use in paper manufacture or material suitable for fibre reclamation and filling products. If textile preprocessors receive wet or soiled clothes however, these may still be disposed of in a landfill, as the washing and drying facilities are not present at sorting units.
Fibre reclamation mills sort textiles according to fibre type and colour. Colour
sorting eliminates the need to re-
Timber
Recycling timber has become popular due to its image as an environmentally friendly product, with consumers commonly believing that by purchasing recycled wood the demand for green timber will fall and ultimately benefit the environment. Greenpeace also view recycled timber as an environmentally friendly product, citing it as the most preferable timber source on their web site. The arrival of recycled timber as a construction product has been important in both raising industry and consumer awareness towards deforestation and promoting timber mills to adopt more environmentally friendly practices.
Wood recycling is a subject which has in recent years taken an ever greater role in our lives. The problem, however, is that although many local authorities like the idea of recycling, they do not fully support it. One of the countless examples, which has been in the news is the concept of actually recycling wood which is growing in the cities. Namely, recycling timber, trees and other sources.
Common Recyclables
Aggregates and concrete
Concrete aggregate collected from demolition sites, recycling depots is put through crushing machines, often with brick and rock. Smaller pieces of concrete are used in new construction projects.
Batteries
The large variation in size and type of batteries makes their recycling extremely difficult: they must first be sorted into similar kinds and each kind requires an individual recycling process. Additionally, older batteries contain mercury and cadmium, harmful materials which must be handled with care. Because of their potential environmental damage, proper disposal of used batteries is required by law in many areas. Unfortunately, this mandate has been difficult to enforce.
Lead-
Biodegradable Waste
Kitchen, garden and other green waste can be recycled into useful material by composting.
This process allows natural aerobic bacteria to break down the waste into fertile
topsoil. Much composting is done on a household scale, but municipal green-
Ferrous metals
Iron and steel are the world's most recycled materials, and among the easiest materials
to reprocess, as they can be separated magnetically from the waste stream. Recycling
is via a steelworks: scrap is either re melted in an Electric Arc Furnace (90-
Glass
Glass bottles and jars are gathered via curbside collection schemes and bottle banks, where the glass may be sorted into colour categories. The collected glass cullet is taken to a glass recycling plant where it is monitored for purity and contaminants are removed. The cullet is crushed and added to a raw material mix in a melting furnace.
It is then mechanically blown or moulded into new jars or bottles. Glass cullet is
also used in the construction industry for aggregate and glassphalt. Glassphalt is
a road-
Non-
Aluminium is shredded and ground into small pieces or crushed into bales. These pieces or bales are melted in an aluminium smelter to produce molten aluminium. By this stage the recycled aluminium is indistinguishable from virgin aluminium and further processing is identical for both. This process does not produce any change in the metal, so aluminium can be recycled indefinitely.
Recycling aluminium saves 95% of the energy cost of processing new aluminium.This is because the temperature necessary for melting recycled, nearly pure, aluminium is 600 °C, while to extract mined aluminium from its ore requires 900 °C. To reach this higher temperature, much more energy is needed, leading to the high environmental benefits of aluminium recycling.
Recycling in your garden.
There has been a huge up take in allotments within the UK, by people keen to grow their own fruit and vegetables again, returning to the days of self reliance.
Composting kitchen waste is a great way to give your garden plants a boosts with your own home made compost, with many local authorities providing compost bines a minimal cost.
At the same time, the UK has seen a a huge increase in families now keeping chickens, providing their own eggs and enhancing their quality of life. Many kitchen scraps and over ripe fruit and vegetables can be recycled through the hens, rather than being thrown in the municipal waste collection system.
Waste Strategy ( FOR ENGLAND )
The Government has set out its vision for sustainable waste management in Waste Strategy for England . The Government’s key objectives are to:
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get the most environmental benefit from that investment, through increased recycling of resources and recovery of energy from residual waste using a mix of technologies
Click here for further information.
SCOTLAND
Scotland exceeds recycling target
Scotland has exceeded its target of recycling 25 per cent of household waste by the end of 2006, according to figures published by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) today.
Across Scotland, 27.1 per cent of waste is now recycled, less waste is sent to landfill sites, and the amount of waste produced generally has fallen.
Aiming to improve on these figures, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment Richard Lochhead announced plans to host a "waste summit".
The event will take place on October 3 with representative from each of Scotland's local authorities expected to attend.
Mr Lochhead said:
"It is very encouraging that the 2006 target for recycling has been comfortably met.
"I am pleased that the amount of waste going to landfill has fallen and that the amount of municipal waste has also been reduced.
"But we want to push onwards and upwards. We aspire to a zero waste Scotland and are currently looking at ways in which we can make our recycling targets even more ambitious.
"We want to ensure all relevant parties -
"There will be a "waste summit" on October 3 in Edinburgh where we will discuss the future policy for Scotland.
"I would of course like to thank the Scottish people for continuing to acknowledge the importance of recycling their waste and making this nation more environmentally sustainable."
Key points of interest in the figures are:
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Click here for further information