The Necessity of Recycling for the Future

Throughout history, recycling has been around in one guise or another. Even as long ago as 400 BC indications of earlier recycling are known to have occurred. Archaeological reports show that ancient waste dumps contained less of what is known today as household waste, like pots, tools and ash, which shows that individuals were, even in those days, keen to reuse products during a period when natural resources were not so freely available. Little did they know that what they were starting would play such a huge role in shaping society for future generations

Indeed it could be argued how the old 'rag-and-bone' man was just an early recycler collecting unwanted goods on his horse and cart, before reusing or turning the accumulated items into something new.

During periods such as the World War Years, recycling and re-use were common place as natural resources became much more difficult to get. In addition to food being rationed, certain materials such as metal and fibre werenormally permitted just for use by the government to support military operations, to meet manufacturing requirements often in the production of weaponry.

As a consequence of rising power costs, the requirement to recycle aluminium increased in the seventies.. As a material aluminium utilises significantly less energy in the production process than many other materials. Plus it was much prized due to its non rusting properties. The demand for aluminium saw the rise of scrap metal merchants who were willing to pay money in return for good quality metal. Additionally, in the 70's in regions of the USA, the first trucks were seen to be collecting waste with a separate trailer for recovery of recyclable resources being towed behind the vehicle. This was mainly for substantial bulky things including bedsteads and old carpets.

Into the late eighties, early 1990's and as the importance of managing the intercontinental environmental state accelerated amongst global authorities, the attention on recycling really started to get impetus. In the United Kingdom, the authorities imposed recycling targets upon Local Authorities along with the introduction of the new legislation upon the waste market, recycling schemes really began to take off. The once widely knownwaste disposal businesses, began to call themselves waste management specialists and demonstrated through the offer of waste collection and recyclable material collection that waste had to be handled more efficiently. Local skip companies needed to become better at what they did.

Today, many hundreds of materials and products are easily recycled, which range from paper, card, glass and plastics, to mobile phone handsets, electrical items, printer cartridges, textiles, clothing and concrete. The demand for different types of collection receptacles has increased dramatically.

What Exactly is Recycling?

The word recycling identifies the operation of reprocessing second hand items into new or nearly new products and avoid the need for potentially valuable materials or products to be dumped. Essentially it is diverting waste material away from landfill.

Recycling plays an important role in a modern world where climate change is high on the green agenda. It removes the need to unnecessarily send waste materials and products to landfill or other waste disposal options. This in turn diminishes the demand or the reliance upon consuming fresh or new raw materials, reduces energy use and air and water supply pollution, all of which contribute to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Recycling is probably mostnoticeable through the recycling assistance now provided by local authorities for domestic refuse and recycling collections and also modern waste management firms who generally offer a full range of waste and recycling collection solutions. Some businesses, who have traditionally focused primarily on the collection of recyclable materials, are extending their service offering to collect general waste at the same time.

As there are now the applied science to transform our waste to energy , great savings may be made on the sources that are gradually running out and for that reason becoming much more expensive.

Within the waste material industry, the normal advertising activity is all around the waste material hierarchy - 'reduce, reuse, recycle and recover'. This 4 R slogan is a simple message designed for a far reaching target audience. Consider some ways to reduce your waste material. Can the waste materials products or materials be reused? Can the waste product or material be recycled or retrieved? Many questions to think about.

The waste material hierarchy is a strategy that various waste management organisations and local authorities consider when producing new waste management approaches. The system is meant to focus the intellect around precluding waste being generated at all. Consider the options for reuse and recycling but ultimately minimise the amount of waste produced at the end of the cycle.

So the focus is very much on the whole production process. The waste hierarchy expands much wider than to waste material management companies and local bodies. Working groups have been established to bring many industries together to consider the complete waste cycle. For example, the producer of a product needs to consider how a product will be designed. Can components be used that can eventually be recycled or reused? Can the volume of packaging which often surrounds the product be reduced? Once the item reaches the store, is it necessary for the product to be placed within an outer box? Once the retailer sells the merchandise, what will the purchaser do with the unwanted components of the purchase, i.e. the packaging? How will the packaging be recovered and where will it go? Will it go back to a recycling plant, for onward transfer to a reprocessing plant, in which the cycle begins again?

How are Materials Collected for Recycling?

Legislation now dictates that most waste material needs to be processed to divert the volume of recyclables and unnecessary waste material going direct to landfill. Since 1996, the UK government has applied a landfill tax on all waste material dumped within landfill. The rate of duty has increased considerably lately rising from the original level of £8 per ton, to today's rate of £40 per ton. The UK government has previously announced that this will increase further to £48 per ton from the end of 2010/11. This fee applies to all general waste material streams, although there exists a reduced rate for inert materials. Sending waste material straight to landfill is an expensive choice and locating appropriate solutions to divert waste away from landfill has become important. For inert materials the rate is £2.50 per ton.

Therefore, the message to everybody is clear, sort your waste to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. In the past, both at home and at the office, the instant you place waste into the container , it is forgotten about. Another individual will collect it and take it away. Today, in the home and at your workplace, recycling is being stimulated through the provision of containers in which to place certain recyclable materials. At home, the children are often the keen recyclers.

Perhaps the most common products to be seen being recovered for recycling are paper, card, glass, metals and plastics. However the possiblity to recycle a vast number of materials or products keep increasing.

Corporations like ours are fast supplying energy recovering facilities to sustain the continuous challenge of what to do with all the waste we, as a world, generate.

The methods of collecting resources or waste to be recycled is also increasing and becoming more apparent within local communities. Specialist collection sites, known as bring bank sites, are springing up in superstore car parks to inspire clientele of the store to return such objects as bottles, newspapers or card to the containers on their way into the supermarket.

Local Authority waste material collection crews or their appointed personnel will collect refuse and recyclables from the kerbside commonly at the front of your home. Collection from household premises generally remains the duty of the local authorities and several have now employed the provision of bags in which to collect specific recyclable materials or products.

In the industrial and commercial category, waste material management companies offer individual containers where the customer deposits the correct waste materials stream or recyclable resources ready for collection. The bins will often be clearly branded as to which recyclable materials need to be put inside that container or bin. Otherwise, the bins will be colour coded to identify which recyclable wastes should be placed within which bins. Waste management companies also may have to deal with special requests from the customer.

The true secret to a successful recycling initiative is homeowners about what can be recycled and how. In the commercial world getting the co-operation of factory employees is crucial. The introduction of any recycling scheme must ensure that in asking employees to separate waste for recycling, it does not become time consuming and affect the efficiency of what employees should be doing in their work. The introduction of any recycling scheme should be kept simple.

The Recycling Process

Various collection solutions exist for the collection of the recyclable material . No matter which collection method is employed , the resources are taken to a materials recycling facility where they will be segregated from other waste items. This can be done manually or through the use of mechanised separators.

To begin the recycling process from a collection point of view, the more recyclable material which can be segregated at source, i.e. at home or in the workplace, the more useful it will be for the waste collector. For this reason separate storage units are provided to the waste producer to stimulate separation at source. If card can be collected using a vehicle, that will collect no other waste materials, the card is going to be kept clean and as a consequence could have a greater value when it gets to the processing plant. Similarly, specialist glass collection vehicles are used to collect only glass. In addition to the obvious health and safety reasons and the weight of collected glass, it will have a much higher value if the collected glass load is not contaminated with other waste materials. Uncontaminated recyclables will have a better value than contaminated materials.

Once collected, the recyclable resources can be taken direct to a reprocessing plant, if the load contains only that particular type of material. So a separate glass collection vehicle could take the load straight to a glass processing plant.

If mixed recyclables have been collected like paper and card within the same container, it might be necessary for the collector to take the load to a drop off point to unload and permit the load to be segregated into distinct paper and card bundles for onward transport to a paper or card processing plant. Whatever process is used, the recyclable material obtained will most likely be sorted or cleaned before traveling through to a reprocessing plant to be converted to a new resource and eventually used as a new product or in manufacturing. Inert materials can be a useful by product at landfill, such as shredded car tyres to aid traction on access roadways.

Because of high density populations, the matter of level of waste disposal demands new innovative solutions than the old land fill systems. power in waste is just the kind of answer, turning waste products into electricity.

The Increasing Importance of Recycling

In the UK close to 35% of waste collected from households is recycled or composted. Whilst in the business and industrial community, the volume of waste materials sent to landfill has declined significantly in recent years and the amount of waste now being diverted for recycling or reuse by this market has increased over the amounts going to landfill.

Landfill continues to play a necessary role in the control of waste throughout the UK as not all wastes can be recycled and some are more suited to landfill disposal than by any other method. Nevertheless, it is not just the increasing expense of disposing of waste directly in landfill that is making recycling an even more appealing option for businesses. Landfill is now scarce, with certain specialists hinting that the quantity of space available across all UK landfill sites, has under 10 years existence left before all sites are reckoned to be filled.

In the past few years, waste material management companies have had to change their focal point, and begin to think about and put money into technology, such as energy from waste plants, anaerobic digestion facilities and mechanical biological treatment plants, as alternate options to landfill. Local Authorities have also changed their attitudes by commencing detailed strategic reviews as to how waste material under their jurisdiction should be handled. In some cases this has meant that unitary authorities are progressing plans to bring in long-term contracts, usually around two-and-a-half decades long, through which to control all of their waste management demands. These agreements will most likely include the need to build a facility through which to handle all waste materials produced across the city by sorting all waste material streams. The deals could also include the collection of all waste and recyclables from homes throughout the area. So the issue of waste management is evolving quickly. The times of simply throwing every little thing in the dustbin have vanished and the arrival of new technologies are upon us.

Conclusion

Recycling is now a way of life and is here to stay. It has evolved over the years from something which was undertaken without any real thought behind it. The trusty rag and bone man was just trying to make a living. Today, many blue chip organisations are setting out plans for a 'zero to landfill' waste policy, where the intention is very clear - reduce waste, reuse waste and recycle waste, but no waste must wind up in landfill.

Many households across the country now have some type of container in which to keep separate waste for recycling. The need to separate newspapers, aluminium cans and plastic bottles are almost common place. Whilst in industrial and commercial sectors, there is an increasing list of items to take into account for recycling such as printer cartridges, office paper, metal and electrical equipment. Even on street corners and airports you see bins to recycle such items as newspapers and drink cans.

Ideally the whole process would be a complete cycle such as it was in the time of the horse. However the advent of new technologies will accelerate further the way in which our waste is to be managed in the future, but it is highly unlikely that we will ever reach the ultimate waste free society. There will always be a need for waste to be disposed of somewhere, somehow.