Right through history, recycling has been around in some way or another. Even as long ago as 400 BC signs of early recycling are known to have happened. Archaeological studies show that historical waste dumps contained fewer of what is known today as household waste, such as pots, tools and ash, which shows that men and women were, even in those days, keen to reuse products during a period when natural resources weren’t so freely available. Little did they know that the things they were starting would play a huge role in shaping the world for future generations
Indeed it could be argued that the old ‘rag-and-bone’ man was just an early recycler collecting unwanted goods on his horse and cart, before reusing or turning the collected items into new stuff.
During periods like the World War Years, recycling and re-use were necessary as natural resources became a lot more difficult to find. Along with food being rationed, certain materials including metal and fibre werenormally permitted only for use by the government to support military operations, to fulfill manufacturing requirements often in the production of weaponry. There was a desperate need to support the military.
Thanks to rising power costs, the requirement to recycle aluminium increased during the seventies.. As a material aluminium uses much less energy within the production process than some other materials. Also it was much sought-after due to its non rusting qualities. The need for aluminium saw the rise of scrap metal dealers who were ready to pay money in return for the best quality metal. Additionally, in the 70′s in parts of the United States of America, the first vehicles were seen to be collecting waste with a separate trailer for collection of recyclable items being towed behind the vehicle. This was mainly for substantial bulky items including bedsteads and old carpets.
Towards the late eighties, early nineties and as the importance of handling the global environmental state accelerated amongst worldwide authorities, the debate upon recycling really began to get momentum. In the UK, the government imposed recycling targets upon Local Authorities and with the introduction of fresh new legislation upon the waste materials sector, recycling programmes really started to take off. The once commonly knownwaste disposal businesses, began to call themselves waste management specialists and demonstrated through the offer of waste collection and recyclable materials collection that waste needed to be handled more successfully.
Nowadays, many hundreds of materials and products tend to be recycled, ranging from paper, card, glass and plastics, to phones, 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 describes the operation of reprocessing used products into new or nearly new products avoiding the need for potentially valuable materials or products to be discarded. Essentially it is diverting waste from landfill.
Recycling takes on an important role in a world where climate change is high on the environmental agenda. It reduces the need to avoidably send waste products and products to landfill or other waste disposal options. As a result this diminishes the need and the reliance upon the consumption of fresh or new natural resources, cuts back energy usage and air and rain water pollution, all of which contribute to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Significant contributions to improving the natural environment.
Recycling would probably be most evident through the recycling facilities now provided by local authorities for domestic refuse and recycling collections and by innovative waste management firms who generally give a full range of waste and recycling collection services. Some firms, that have traditionally focused primarily on the collection of recyclable products, are extending their operations offering to collect general waste at the same time.
There seem to be many companies all around great britain who now offer paper recycling, cardboard recycling, glass recycling, energy from waste , collection services. But to be sure your waste is really going to be correctly recycled is it essential to find a well known and trusted company.
In the waste material sector, the most popular promotional activity is all around the waste material hierarchy – ‘reduce, reuse, recycle and recover’. This 4 R slogan is a basic message made for a far reaching audience. Look at some ways to eliminate waste. Could the waste materials products or materials be reused? Can the waste product or material be recycled or recovered? Many questions to think about.
The waste material hierarchy is a strategy which many waste material management companies and local authorities consider when producing new waste management strategies. The plan is designed to concentrate the thoughts around precluding waste material being generated at all. Take into account the options for reuse and recycling but ultimately minimise the amount of waste produced at the end of the cycle.
And so the emphasis is very much on the whole manufacturing process. The waste material hierarchy extends much wider than to waste material management businesses and local bodies. Working groups have been set up to bring many sectors together to look at the complete waste cycle. By way of example, the producer of a product has to take into account how the product is to be made. Can parts be used which could eventually be recycled or reused? Could the amount of packaging which surrounds the product be reduced? Once the item gets to the store, is it essential for the product to be placed inside an outer package? If the retailer sells the product, what will the buyer do with the excess elements of the purchase, i.e. the packaging? How will the packaging be stored and where will it go? Could it return to a recycling facility, for onward shipment to a reprocessing facility, in which the cycle starts yet again? The process must be simple to manage and implement.
How are Materials Collected for Recycling?
Legislation now dictates that all waste material needs to be processed to avoid the quantity of recyclables and unnecessary waste going direct to landfill. Since 1996, the UK government has enforced a landfill levy on all waste material disposed of 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 by the end of 2010/11. This fee applies to all general waste material streams, although there’s a lesser rate for inert materials. Sending waste straight to landfill is an expensive choice and finding appropriate ways to divert waste away from landfill has become a priority.
Thus, the message to everybody is obvious, segregate your waste to cut back the amount of waste material going to landfill. Ordinarily, both at home and at the office, the instant you place waste materials in the dustbin , it is forgotten about. Somebody else will collect it and take it away. These days, at home and at work, recycling is being stimulated by the provision of containers in which to place certain recyclable materials. At home, the children are often the keen recyclers.
Perhaps the most common materials to be seen being gathered for recycling are paper, card, glass, metals and plastics. But the possiblity to recycle a large amount of materials or products continues to grow.
Because of the enormous amounts of rubbish accumulating, the process of anaerobic digestion is a much more environmentally friendly method of transforming waste into a valuable resource.
The methods of collecting resources or waste to be recycled is also increasing and becoming more noticeable within local communities. Dedicated collection sites, often referred to as bring bank sites, are cropping up in superstore car parks to encourage clientele of the store to return such items as bottles, newspapers or card to the bins on their way into the store. Shoppers are therefore encouraged to bring back their recyclables.
Local Authority waste materials collection crews or their appointed contractors will collect refuse and recyclables from the kerbside normally in front of your property. Collection from domestic premises normally continues to be the responsibility of the local council many have employed the supply of bags in which to collect specific recyclable materials or products. The services do vary from council to council.
In the business and commercial sector, waste management businesses offer standalone storage units in which the customer deposits the applicable waste stream or recyclable material ready for collection. The containers will often be clearly labeled as to which recyclable materials should be put inside that container or bin. Alternatively, the bins will be colour coded to identify which recyclable materials should be placed within which bins.
The key to a successful recycling initiative is educating about what can be recycled and how. In the commercial world getting the co-operation of office 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 productivity of what employees should be doing in their work. The introduction of any recycling scheme should be kept simple.
The Recycling Process
Several collection systems exist for the collection of the recyclable products . Whichever collection system is used , the resources are taken to a drop off point where they will be segregated from other wastes.
To begin the recycling process from the collection point of view, the more recyclable materials that can be separated at origin, i.e. at home or in the workplace, the more effective it will be for the waste collector. That is why separate containers are provided to the waste producer to inspire segregation at source. If card can be collected on a vehicle, that will collect no other waste materials, the card can be kept clean and therefore could have a higher value when it gets to the processing plant. Similarly, specialist glass collection vehicles are used to collect solely 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.
Once collected, the recyclable resources can be taken direct to the reprocessing plant, if the load contains only that specific type of material. So a dedicated glass collection truck could take the load directly to a glass processing plant. It is more likely that the glass will have to be bulked up for onward shipment to the processor.
If blended recyclables are being collected like paper and card within the same compartment, it may be necessary for the collector to take the load to a materials recycling facility to unload and permit the load to be sorted into separate paper and card bundles for onward transport to a paper or card processing plant. Whichever method is employed, the recyclable material gathered will usually be segregated or washed before going through to a reprocessing facility to be processed to a new useful resource and eventually used as a new product or in manufacturing. Inert materials can be a useful by product at landfill, such as shredded tyres to aid grip on access roadways.
There are different ways to generate green energy within the home and now there are government schemes in the form of subsidies to help support these initiatives.
The Increasing Value of Recycling
In the UK around 35% of waste collected from homes is recycled or composted. While in the commercial and industrial market, the quantity of waste materials delivered to landfill has dropped substantially recently and the volume of waste materials now being diverted for recycling or reuse by this market has risen above the amounts going to landfill. But there is still much to be done to increase rates further within this sector.
Landfill continues to play a necessary role in the control of waste across the UK as not all waste materials are able to be recycled and several are more suited to landfill disposal than by some other means. Nonetheless, it is not just the increasing expense of disposing of waste directly in landfill which is making recycling an even more appealing option for companies. Landfill is now scarce, with some specialists indicating that the quantity of void available across all UK landfill sites, has less than 10 years existence left before all sites are considered to be filled. Such countries as Dubai have filled parts of the coastline with their waste and created useful land area to extend the boundaries of their state.
In recent times, waste material management companies have had to switch their focus, and begin to consider and invest in technology, like energy from waste plants, anaerobic digestion plants and mechanised biological treatment plants, as alternatives to landfill. Local Authorities have also changed their views by undertaking comprehensive strategic reviews as to how waste material under their jurisdiction needs to be dealt with. In some instances this has meant that unitary authorities are implementing plans to introduce long-term deals, usually around two-and-a-half decades in length, through which to manage their waste management demands. These agreements will often include the need to create a facility through which to handle all waste created throughout the region by sorting all waste material streams. The deals could also include the collection of all waste and recyclables from homes throughout the region. So the issue of waste management is beginning to change quickly. The days of simply throwing everything in the dustbin have gone and the advent of new technologies are upon us.
Summary
Recycling is now a lifestyle and is here to stay. It has evolved over time from a thing that was performed 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 plan, where the objective is very obvious – reduce waste, reuse waste and recycle waste, but no waste must finish up in landfill. Some companies have announced ambitious target dates by which to attain such policies.
Many households across the country now have some type of bin in which to isolate waste for recycling. The need to separate newspapers, aluminium cans and plastic bottles are almost the norm. Whilst in industrial and business sectors, there is an increasing selection of items to take into account for recycling such as printer cartridges, office paper, metal and electrical equipment.
Ideally the whole process would be a complete cycle such as it was in the days of the horse. However the advent of new technology will increase 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.