Right through history, recycling has existed in some form or another. Even as long ago as 400 BC evidences of early recycling are known to have happened. Archaeological reports show that historical waste dumps contained fewer of what is known nowadays as household waste, including pots, tools and ash, which shows that individuals were, even back then, keen to reuse products during a period when natural resources were not so freely available.
Indeed it could be argued how the old ‘rag-and-bone’ man was just an early recycler collectingdiscarded goods on his horse and cart, before reusing or converting the recovered items into new things.
During periods such as the World War Years, recycling and re-use were common place as natural resources became much more difficult to get. As well as food being rationed, certain materials like metal and fibre were largely permitted only for use by the government to support military operations, to fulfill manufacturing requirements often in the production of weaponry.
Because of rising power costs, the requirement to recycle aluminium increased during the 1970’s.. As a material aluminium utilises much less energy within the production process than alternative materials. Plus it was much sought-after as a result of its non rusting attributes. The demand for aluminium saw the emergence of scrap metal dealers who were ready to pay cash in exchange for good quality metal. In addition, in the seventies in regions of the United states, the first vehicles were seen to be collecting waste with a separate trailer for gathering of recyclable materials being towed behind the vehicle.
Into the late eighties, early 1990’s and as the awareness of managing the global environmental state heightened amongst international governments, the attention upon recycling really started to gather energy. In the United Kingdom, the government imposed recycling targets upon Local Authorities along with the introduction of fresh new legislation upon the waste market, recycling programmes really started to take off. The once widely well known waste disposal firms, began to call themselves waste management specialists and demonstrated through the offer of waste collection and recyclable materials collection that waste had to be managed more effectively. Local skip companies needed to become better at what they did.
Today, many hundreds of materials and resources can be recycled, ranging from paper, card, glass and plastics, to mobile phones, electrical items, printer cartridges, textiles, clothing and concrete.
What Exactly is Recycling?
The term recycling identifies the process of converting used items into new or nearly new materials to avoid the need for potentially valuable materials or products to be thrown away. Essentially it is diverting waste away from landfill.
Recycling performs a vital role in a modern world where climate change is high on the green agenda. It reduces the requirement to unnecessarily send waste products and products to landfill or other waste disposal options. As a result this reduces the need or the reliance upon consuming fresh or new natural materials, cuts back energy usage and air and water pollution, that all contribute to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Significant contributions to improving the natural environment.
Recycling is probably most evident through the recycling assistance now provided by local councils for household refuse and recycling collections and by contemporary waste management companies who typically offer a full range of waste and recycling collection solutions.
Local bodies have now recognised the fact that paper recycling, cardboard recycling, glass recycling, energy from waste is good for the economy in addition to good for the environment.
Within the waste sector, the regular marketing activity is all around the waste hierarchy – ‘reduce, reuse, recycle and recover’. This four R slogan is a basic message made for a far reaching crowd. Look at ways to reduce your waste. Can the waste materials products or materials be reused? Could the waste product or material be recycled or recovered?
The waste hierarchy is often a strategy which a lot of waste management organisations and local authorities consider when creating new waste management procedures. The strategy is meant to focus the thought process around avoiding waste being generated to begin with. Consider the options for reuse and recycling but ultimately minimise the amount of waste produced at the end of the cycle. The slogan has been adopted particularly well in the public sector.
And so the focus is very much on the entire manufacturing process. The waste material hierarchy stretches much wider than to waste management firms and local authorities. Working groups have been established to bring many sectors together to look at the complete waste cycle. By way of example, the manufacturer of a product has to take into account the way the product will be constructed. Could parts be used which could eventually be recycled or reused? Can the quantity of packaging which often surrounds the item be decreased? When the product reaches the retailer, is it essential for the product to be placed inside an outer package? Once the retailer sells the item, what will the purchaser do with the unwanted elements of the acquisition, i.e. the packaging? How will the packaging be collected and where will it go? Could it go back to a recycling facility, for onward transfer to a reprocessing facility, in which the cycle will begin yet again? The process must be simple to manage and implement.
How are Materials Collected for Recycling?
Legislation now dictates that all waste material must be treated to avoid the quantity of recyclables and unnecessary waste going direct to landfill. Since 1996, the United Kingdom government has applied a landfill levy on all waste material dumped within landfill. The rate of levy has increased considerably recently rising from the original level of £8 per ton, to the current rate of £40 per ton. The UK government has previously declared that this will increase further to £48 per ton from the end of 2010/11. This cost applies to all general waste materials streams, although there’s a reduced rate for inert materials. Dispatching waste straight to landfill is an expensive choice and finding suitable ways to divert waste out of landfill has become a priority. For inert materials the rate is £2.50 per ton.
Therefore, the message to everybody is clear, segregate your waste materials to cut back the amount of waste materials going to landfill. Ordinarily, at home or at work, the instant you place waste material into the bin , it’s forgotten about. Someone else will collect it and take it away. These days, at home and at your workplace, recycling is being encouraged via the provision of containers in which to place specific recyclable materials.
Perhaps the most common products to be seen being gathered for recycling are paper, card, glass, metals and plastics. Even so the opportunity to recycle many materials or products keep increasing.
Inside large organisations, several recycling schemes can easily be created to collect used or unwanted recyclable materials.
The methods of collecting materials or waste materials to be recycled is also growing and ever more apparent within local communities. Dedicated collection sites, often referred to as bring bank sites, are popping up in superstore car parks to inspire customers of the supermarket to return such items as bottles, newspapers or cardboard to the bins on their way into the store.
Local Authority waste materials collection crews or their appointed personnel will collect refuse and recyclables from the roadside commonly in front of your property. Collection from household premises usually continues to be the responsibility of the local council many have now employed the supply of boxes in which to gather particular recyclable materials or products. The services do vary from council to council.
In the business and commercial sector, waste materials management businesses offer standalone storage units in which the customer deposits the appropriate waste stream or recyclable materials ready for collection. The particular bins will usually be clearly labeled as to which recyclable materials ought to be placed inside that container or bin. Otherwise, the bins will be colour coded to identify which recyclable wastes should be placed within which bins.
The real key to a successful recycling initiative is educating 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
Several collection solutions exist for the collection of the recyclable material . Whichever collection system is used , the materials are taken to a recycling centre where they’ll be segregated from other wastes. This might be done by hand or by making use of mechanical separators.
To begin the recycling process from a collection point of view, the more recyclable materials which can be segregated at source, i.e. at home or in the work place, the more effective it will be for the waste collector. That’s the reason individual storage units are provided to the waste producer to inspire separation at source. If card could be collected on a truck, that will collect no other waste material, the card will be kept uncontaminated and therefore could have a higher value when it actually reaches the processing plant. Similarly, dedicated glass collection vehicles are widely-used to collect solely glass. Apart from 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 mixed with other waste.
When collected, the recyclable resources may be taken direct to the reprocessing plant, if the load contains only that specific type of material. So a separate glass collection vehicle could take the load directly to a glass processing plant.
If compounded recyclables are being collected such as paper and card within the same container, it could be necessary for the collector to take the load to a recycling centre to unload and allow the load to be sorted into separate paper and card bundles for onward transfer to a paper or card processing plant. Whatever technique is used, the recyclable material gathered will most likely be sorted or washed before going through to a reprocessing plant to be processed to a new resource and ultimately used as a new product or in manufacturing.
During critical financial periods such as today, limiting food waste will make a considerable difference to the finances on a personal as well as a nationwide level.
The Increasing Value of Recycling
In the UK around 35% of waste materials collected from homes is recycled or composted. While in the business and industrial market, the volume of waste materials sent to landfill has declined considerably in recent years and the volume of waste now being diverted for recycling or reuse by this sector has grown above the quantities going to landfill.
Landfill continues to play a key role in the control of waste throughout the UK as not all waste materials are able to be recycled plus some are more suited to landfill disposal than by any other method. However, it is not just the increasing expense of disposing of waste directly in landfill which is making recycling a far more attractive option for companies. Landfill has started to become scarce, with some authorities suggesting that the amount of void accessible across all UK landfill sites, has less than ten years existence remaining before all sites are reckoned to be filled.
In recent times, waste materials management companies have had to change their focal point, and begin to take into consideration and invest in new technologies, like energy from waste facilities, anaerobic digestion facilities and mechanical biological treatment plants, as alternate options to landfill. Local Authorities also have adapted their approaches by commencing detailed strategic reviews as to how waste material under their jurisdiction must be dealt with. In some instances this has meant that unitary authorities are progressing plans to bring in long term deals, usually around 25 years in length, through which to regulate their entire waste materials management needs. These agreements will often include the need to create a facility through which to handle all waste produced throughout the region by segregating all waste streams. The contracts might also incorporate the collection of waste and recyclables from households throughout the area. So the issue of waste management has been evolving rapidly. The times of merely throwing anything in the dustbin have disappeared and the advent of new technologies are upon us.
Summary
Recycling is now a way of life and is maturing all the time. It has evolved over the years from something which was carried out with no real thought behind it. The trusty rag and bone man was just attempting 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.
Many properties across the country now have some form of container in which to keep separate waste materials for recycling. The requirement to split up newspapers, aluminium cans and plastic bottles are almost the norm. Whilst in industrial and commercial areas, there is an increasing list of items to think about for recycling like printer cartridges, office paper, metal and electrical equipment.
Ideally the entire process would be a complete cycle such as it was in the days of the horse. However the advent of new technologies will increase further the way in which our waste is to be managed in the future, but it is highly improbable that we will ever reach the ultimate waste free society. There will always be a need for waste to be disposed of somewhere, somehow.
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