Top 7 Benefits of Recycling

Recycling is a process - a series of activities, if you will, that includes: the collection and sorting of waste materials, the processing of these materials to produce brand new products, and the purchase and use of these new products by consumers.
Recycling is more optimized and efficient if we practice the three R's of waste management: reduce, reuse, recycle.
Reducing waste that otherwise get's carted off to the recycling centers or landfills is achieved through an intentional decrease in our purchases and consumption,composting of organic waste, and flat refusal to use disposable items like polystyrene and plastic bags. Reusing materials serve to lengthen a particular item's usage. Examples of this are: repurposing glass bottles into artistic lamp shades, giving your old cell phones to family or friends for reuse, and upcycling street trash bins into community swimming tubs.
But, why recycle? Why go through all the trouble of recycling your garbage? How does recycling benefit us and the environment?
Let's review the benefits of recycling:

Recycling Helps Protect The Environment
Recycling sharply reduces the amount of waste that gets deposited in our landfills or burned in incinerator plants. Engineered landfills in most cities are designed to contain toxic chemicals leaking from decaying solid waste from reaching our water systems. But, for how long? Already, we're getting reports of dangerous chemicals contaminating water supplies in some cities. Burning solid waste for electricity may be efficient, but we pay the price in terms of increased carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.

Recycling Helps Conserve Limited Resources
To put this benefit in proper perspective, let's consider this statement from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection: "By recycling over 1 million tons of steel in 2004, Pennsylvanians saved 1.3 million tons of iron ore, 718,000 tons of coal, and 62,000 tons of limestone. Through recycling newsprint, office paper and mixed paper, we saved nearly over 8.2 million trees."
Resources like oil and precious metals (gold, silver, bauxite, copper, etc.) are all finite resources that will be exhausted, sooner or later. Cell phone and computer manufacturers, like Dell and Apple, recognize the need for a steady supply of raw materials - most are active in buy-back programs to recycle materials from used products.

Recycling Promotes Energy Efficiency
Recycling is far more efficient, in terms of energy consumption, than producing something out of fresh raw material. Done on a nationwide scale, this could lead to significant reduction in our energy costs. The energy required to extract , process, and transport metal from a mine to a refinery is obviously much greater than what's required to recycle metal from used products - it costs more energy to manufacture a brand new aluminum can from fresh material than to make 20 cans out of recycled materials!

Recycling Helps Build A Strong Economy
Every cost-reduction, energy efficiency, materials conservation, and job generation benefit of recycling adds up to help build a strong economy for our country. Recycling, done on a country-wide scale, has a huge positive impact on the economy. There was dip in the price of recyclables last year when the financial crisis started, but it is testimony to the resiliency of this industry that prices are now back to pre-crisis levels - a recovery that's well ahead than most other industries. Jobs are being generated and city and town governments are enjoying huge savings in electricity, garbage collection, and landfilling costs.

Recycling Creates Jobs
Recycling generates more jobs than landfilling or incinerating waste. That's a benefit we can't lose sight of, in this time of recession and high unemployment rate. Let's consider the disposal of 10,000 tons of solid waste: burning it for electricity will create 1 job; collecting and dumping this on a landfill will create 6 jobs; processing the waste for recyling will generate 36 jobs!

Recycling Builds Community
People band together and build communities around common causes, issues, and advocacies. Recycling is no different. In many neighborhoods and cities across the country, we see concerned citizens working together in recycling initiatives, environment lobby groups, and free recycling groups. If you're new to recycling or environmental advocacy, go find a local group to work with. Staying the course is more fun and rewarding when you have other enthusiasts cheering you on.

Recycling Can Be Financially Rewarding
If you just want to make money to get by in these hard times or start a home business, recycling is a profitable option. It's relatively easy and inexpensive to start a home-based recycling business. You just need to plan on what material (cell phone, paper, or metals, etc.) you intend to collect, plan storage, contact the recycling plant for pricing, and you're set to start collecting recyclables and reselling these to the recycling facility at a decent profit. The large recycling giants in the US all started as home businesses years ago - you can do it, too - those guys just recognized the huge potential of this business well ahead of the crowd.
The benefits of recycling to each of us, to society, and to the environment are our compelling reasons why we recycle. For many of us, recycling has become second nature - a way of life. It's a small but extremely vital component of environmental protection - without recycling, all our efforts to protect the planet will be less effective, even futile. Let's all continue recycling.

Michael Arms contributes articles on recycling and other topics to the Pacebutler Recycling and Environment blog. Pacebutler is a cell phone recycling and trading company in the United States. You can sell, donate, or recycle cell phones through Pacebutler.

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Trash Recycle Bins

If you are looking to live a "greener", more environmentally-friendly lifestyle, the first place you should start is with a trash recycle bin. Thankfully, many recycling companies have sprung up around the country that now accept all types of items that you normally throw into your trash as recycled material; in fact, some of them will even pay you for some recyclable items - like aluminum soda cans, for instance.

Common Items for Your Trash Recycle Bin
With a little bit of care, you can recycle most of the things that you use in your home that would ordinarily end up in the already overburdened landfill, including:
Plastics. Plastic recycling is growing rapidly across the globe, but you'll need to have a separate trash recycle bin for each plastics type. Plastics usually have cryptic markers on the product's bottom that indicate which recycling type (there are seven of them) that the container or item is. From yogurt containers to plastic grocery bags, every item recycled is one less left to rot in the landfill; most plastics in the landfill today will still be there 500 years from now because plastic takes many centuries to degrade and decompose.
Aluminum cans and foil. Check with local recycling centers to see if they buy these items and if they offer curbside pickup; many of them may require you to physically bring the aluminum items in to their center.
Glass containers and bottles. Although glass is not as widely used today as it was in the past, recycling glass rather than throwing it away is important; scientists estimate that glass takes a million years to decompose! Many states have regulations on glass containers and require a deposit on glass containers at the point of sale. Recycle glass food containers, beer and other beverage containers according to color - clear, brown, blue and green. There are some types of glass that some recycling programs refuse to take, like drinking glasses, light bulbs, and mirrors that may be coated with contaminants. Check with your recycler on what to do with these items.
Aseptic containers. Aseptic containers are those that are made from different layers like plastic, paper and metal; many kids drink boxes and soy milk containers are aseptic packages that can be recycled easily.
Paper. Nearly all paper can be recycled - and sorting paper from the trash is simple when you use a specific trash recycle bin for the task. While newspaper recycling has been practiced for many years, it is only in recent times that other paper recycling has taken off. Recycle your white office paper, corrugated cardboard, junk mail, used envelopes (plastic window envelopes are also accepted as paper), old phone books, and magazines alongside your newspapers to reduce your family's carbon footprint (and maybe save a tree in the process). It's important to note that paper sent out for recycling should be clean, dry, and free from soil or food contaminants. Paper that cannot be recycled includes sanitary products, toilet tissue, laminated fast food wrappers, thermal paper (like used for faxes) and pet food bags.

Choosing Your Trash Recycle Bin
When selecting a trash recycle bin for your family, take into consideration:
The amount of recycling that you produce within a week's time (or twice weekly, depending on your area's recycling pick-up schedule).
Durability. Purchasing a sturdy trash recycle bin is important because you want it to last for the maximum number of years possible.
Mobility. You should choose a trash recycle bin that has wheels if possible to make getting the bin to the curb easier.

Glenn Jostad is the author of the website Eco-Family Fun. A website devoted to "green" Fun Ideas and Activities for the whole family.

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Recycling Plastic - Facts You Need to Know

If you have heard about the Plastic Continent -- the floating island of plastic twice the size of Texas in the Pacific Ocean -- then you understand how crucial it is to recycle plastic. Right now, only 5% of plastics worldwide are recycled. Some of this is ignorance: most of the world still simply doesn't understand the danger plastics pose to our environment and our food chain.
But plastics themselves are complicated. Even if you want to recycle your plastics, and even if you dutifully separate plastics from the rest of your household waste and put it out on the curb in its blue or green recycle bin, your plastics might still end up in the Plastic Continent. Why is this?

Different Types of Plastic
Look at the underneath side of a plastic bottle or plastic container. Inside the familiar reduce, reuse, recycle triangle ("chasing arrows") logo is a number between one and seven. This number indicates what kind of plastic that container is made from. Some plastics are easy to recycle, but other plastics are much harder to recycle. As a result, most municipal recycling facilities only recycle the easiest plastics: plastics 1 and 2. What happens to plastics 3 through 7? At some recycling facilities, these are gathered until they have enough to send to a larger recycling facility that does recycle these types of plastics. But at other recycling facilities, the same thing happens to plastics 3 through 7 as what would have happened at your house if you didn't have that handy recycling bin: it goes to the landfill, or the Pacific's Plastic Continent.

Plastics #1 and #2
Plastic #1 is polyethelyne terephthalate (PET). This is the most commonly used plastic, and it's the easiest to recycle. Your plastic soda bottle, salad dressing bottle, and cooking oil bottle are probably all made from PET. More than 2.3 billion pounds of PET are recycled annually.
Plastic #2 is high density polyethelene (HDPE). Most milk jugs, detergent bottles, and many food containers are made from HDPE. Unfortunately, some plastics marked with a #2, such as yogurt cups, are not actually recyclable. This is because other chemicals have been added to the plastic in order to mold it into the desired shape. These additives make recycling some of these #2 items basically impossible.
Plastics #1 and #2 make up 96% of all the plastic bottles produced in the United States. Nevertheless, 80% of plastic bottles still wind up in a landfill, even though 80% of Americans have access to a method for recycling these bottles.

Plastic #3 through #7
The rest of the plastics make up pretty much everything that's not a plastic bottle. Just think of all the plastics in your home -- your toothbrush, cling wrap, plastic bowls, plastic cups, drinking straws, last night's leftovers, that almost-impossible-to-open package your new iPhone came in, your computer, your DVD cases... plastic is everywhere.
These plastics can all be categorized as the plastics #3 through #7. None of them are particularly easy to recycle, so even though your recycling guy will take it from your curb, that doesn't necessarily mean it will become tomorrow's soda bottle. However, by researching recycling facilities in your area, you can find places to recycle these less common plastics.

The Bottom Line When it Comes to Plastic Recycling
Plastic is much harder to recycle than other materials. Because it breaks down during the recycling process, it can only be recycled so many times -- this is why many recyclers prefer so-called "virgin plastics", or plastics that haven't been recycled before because they make a better product. That means that even if you do the best you can to recycle all your plastics, some of them might still wind up in the dump.
The clear conclusion we must draw is that even the most conscientious recycling is not enough when it comes to plastics: ultimately, we have to reduce our consumption. The process of producing plastics, many plastics themselves, and the aftermath of plastic use can all be described as toxic. Nearly all manufacturing processes for the different types of plastic listed above involve some degree of toxicity, and as these plastics disintegrate in landfills or in the ocean, these toxic chemicals find their ways back into our soils, our water, our food, and our bodies.
So please recycle plastic. But better yet, stop buying plastic wherever possible.

K. N. Singer writes about green living and healthy lifestyle choices at The Live Better Site. To read a more detailed version of this article, and to learn more about recycling plastics #3 through #7, click here: Recycling Plastic [http://thelivebettersite.com/recycling-plastic-facts-you-need-to-know/].

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How to Start Recycling Collection Programs

The site of the blue Rubbermaid recycling bin with the white universal recycling symbol (Mobious) creates awareness about recycling among people and also help them in starting recycling in their home, office, school or community. Although every recycling program needs a unique approach, one thing that is common to all recycling programs is easily recognized recycle bins. People need to be informed about the need of recycling and how their efforts can help the environment of our planet. The information in this article will help you start an effective recycling program at home, in a school or in an office.

Starting with some Home Recycling bins
The importance and need of a recycling program at home arises from the fact that a good portion of recyclable materials come from home. Home is also the best place to cultivate the habit of recycling in children and other house mates. To make it easier for everyone to participate in the process, make sure that the recycling bins are located at the right places. To make it even more effective have multiple recycle bins for different recyclables like plastic, paper, metal, etc. Using recycling decals to differentiate the bins is also recommended. Some of the most popular recycling bins for Homes are Curbside Bins (multi-purpose), rollout carts (make collection easy and convenient), Slim Jim waste receptacles (very space efficient and help in easy segregation of recyclables: papers, cans, and bottles),and Desksider/Apartment Recycle bins(a great fit in confined places like under sink, in closet or next to desk etc.).

Starting a Recycling Collection Program in School
One of the foremost things that needs to be done while starting a recycling program in a school is to locate a drop-off centre, recycling service company, and a waste transporter that provides excellent recycling services. The second important thing is to deploy appropriate recycle bins in various easily accessible areas of the school. Finally, the bins should be marked properly and students should be told the benefits of segregating the recyclable materials according to their types. Some of the most popular recycling bins for Schools are Curbside Bins (multi-purpose), CanTainers (recycling containers for aluminum cans), Stackable containers with or without lids (space efficient), and Desksider/ Apartment Recycle bins (a great fit in confined places like under sink, in closet or next to desk etc.).

Starting a Recycling Collection Program in an Office
Starting a recycling collection program at office involves proper planning and execution. The program would involve placing recycling containers at locations which are easily accessible; the employees should go naturally to the recycling bins rather than to the trash bins. Finally, the progress should be monitored at regular intervals to check if the waste materials are being deposited in the appropriate bins. Some of the most popular recycle bins for offices are Document containers (for secure and safe disposal of documents), Slim Jim waste receptacles (very space efficient and help in easy segregation of recyclables: papers, cans, and bottles), Desktop/Deskside bins (easy-on-pocket bins) and Office Receptacles (high quality bins for offices).
At recycling supply , you will find a wide variety of recycling bins which will help in making your recycling collection program a success. Recycling supply has some of the most well known recycling-bin brands available: Rubbermaid, Waste warrior, Ecolad, United Receptacles, Techstar, Witt and Safco.

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Different Types of Recycling Bins For Homes

Households are the biggest producers of recyclable waste materials like paper, plastic, aluminum or glass. For proper recycling, it is important to sort various waste materials at the time of disposing and the proper Recycled bin make are great reminders. Waste materials like newspapers, paper bags, cardboard, plastic bottles, aluminum cans and glass jars can easily be recycled at a recycling centre. However, some materials like plastic and batteries are harmful for the environment if thrown into regular garbage; therefore it is important to dispose and recycle them properly.
You can use Rubbermaid recycling bins, Waste Warrior recycling containers, Ecolad recycling bin, or United Receptacles recycling containers in homes as they are made of high quality durable material and are nicely finished. Here are some models of recycling bins that can be used in homes for waste collection.
o Rubbermaid recycling containers: Rubbermaid's name is synonymous with quality when it comes to manufacturing recycling bin. The small sized bins from Rubbermaid can be easily kept in the kitchen under the shelf or inside a cabinet to facilitate easy reach. You can also use designer recycling bins from Rubbermaid that will make your kitchen look stylish as well as serve the purpose of collection of recyclable material. Rubbermaid's atrium aluminum container, fiberglass waste containers, stainless steel containers are some of the popular designer recycling bin.
o Waste Warrior recycling bin: A recycling bins made by Waste Warrior is perfect for waste collection in kitchen, garden or garage. Waste Warrior recycling containers are made from heavy duty steel and available in various shapes, colors and sizes that can be used to match with the décor of your house. The indoor millennium warrior and multilevel warriors are ideal recycling bins for use in schools and offices as these provide great storage capacity.
o Witt recycling bin: Witt's range of Geocube recycling bin is constructed with space efficiency in mind. These bins are compact and provide exceptional storage. Geocube recycling bins are rugged and manufactured from fireproof material. You can easily sort the materials in Geocube bins as these bins come with differently shaped openings for glass, plastic and paper. Geocube recycling bin is perfect for homes and offices with limited space.
Using recycled bins to separate household waste not only helps in proper disposal of waste but also helps the environment when the waste material gets recycled. You must collect household waste materials using suitable recycling bin from the above mentioned manufacturers.

To buy best recycling bins, log on to http://www.recyclingsupply.com.
For more tips and information about recycling bins, check out: http://www.recyclingsupply.com/recobyte.html.

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How to Use Recycling Decals Effectively

An effective recycling decal encourages and reminds people to recycle. Well designed recycling decals can help to run successful recycling programs and increase the utility of the recycling containers by promoting the message of recycling. To achieve the best results, the message imprinted on the recycle decal should be clearly visible and interesting.
These decals should help in differentiating trash-bins, recycling-bins, and specific-purpose recycling bins from one another. There are a large variety of recycling decals available in the market in different shapes and sizes. Some also come with customization option and allow you to add your own message on them. You can also get your company name and logo imprinted on recycle decal for good corporate citizenship brand building. Here are some pointers that will help you use recycling decals effectively.
o Application of the Recycling Decals: The recycling decals should be applied on both sides of recycle bins. One thing that you should take care while pasting the recycle decals is that the surface of the recycle bin should be dry, clean, and free of dirt. The surface of the container should be smooth and adhesive should be of high quality in order to keep decal in place for a longer time.
o Size of the Recycling Decals: It is very important to choose the right sized recycling decal so that the message on the recycling bin is clearly visible. The shape and size of the recycle decal should be in accordance with the size of recycle bin. The printing on decals should be high quality so that they don't fade away quickly. Waterproof and weather resistant decals are excellent for outdoor recycling bins.
o Message on the Recycling Decal: Choose a decal with motivating and interesting words like "Let's Recycle", "Put glass in me", or "Make my day, put paper in me" to make recycling programs a success. For a successful recycling program in schools, go for recycle decals with pictures to guide students to dispose waste properly in recycling bins. To differentiate recycling bins from trash bins, decals with texts "Recyclables Only" and "Trash Only" are excellent.
o Language on Decals: According to the need, you can also use bi-lingual recycling decals with message written in two different languages. For example, if a place is visited by people who know both English and Spanish or either of the two languages, a bi-lingual recycle decal with text printed in both English and Spanish will increase the reach of the message.

At http://www.recyclingsupply.com, you can find a wide variety of recycling containers and recycling decals to run successful waste management programs.
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How to Start a Recycling Program at Work

Most of us recycle at home in one form or another but recycling in the office is another story. Many small businesses are not set up to recycle. It takes time and effort to arrange a recycling program but there are numerous benefits. Recycling helps companies save money by reducing garbage service pick-up, reduce's the organizations carbon foot-print, and helps improve employee morale. These days it feels good to do the right thing for the environment and the staff will most likely be excited about participating in this worthwhile effort.
Here are some tips for launching a recycling program in your office.

Step 1: Enlist Buy-In from Management.
The first step is to assign a 'recycling coordinator' who is committed and interested in spearheading the recycling program in your office. The recycling coordinator needs to enlist management's support before pursuing the program. Management's buy-in is key to the success of the program. Once management signs off on the program, the coordinator should enlist volunteers to form a 'Green Team.' Send out a memo to the company announcing the program. Explain the benefits of recycling: saves the company money by decreasing garbage service pick-up, helps reduce the company's carbon foot-print, and helps improve employee morale. Inspire employees to participate by assigning awards for those who embrace the new program, such as for those employees who initiate the process. Get creative about ways you can make it fun for the staff!

Step 2: Determine what items to recycle.
Take a walk through the facility and look at what recyclable materials are being thrown in the garbage. The most common items are paper, cardboard, plastic, cans and bottles. Keep in mind that packing material, toners, electronics and office equipment are potentially recyclable. Initially target your recycling program to include the largest volumes of waste being thrown in the garbage. If you work in an office, typically your largest amount of garbage will be from paper so start there. Once your recycling program is up and running, begin recycling other waste in your office such as cans and bottles. Continue to build on your successes as you progress.

Step 3: Hire a recycling company to pick-up materials.
Once you have decided which materials to recycle, ask your garbage company if they will pick-up and recycle these items. There are also independent recycling companies you can hire. Visit http://www.recyclestuff.org for a listing of recycling companies or call the Recycle Hotline at 1-800-533-8414.

Step 4: Determine where to place recycling bins.
Recycling bins should be located next to where the materials are generated, such as next to copiers and printers, and in work stations and near break rooms.
Recycling bins should be properly labeled and should be placed next to all waste baskets in your facility.

Step 5: Create a plan for collecting recyclables for pick-up.
Decide how waste will be moved out of the facility for pick-up by the garbage or recycling company. Communicate your plan with your cleaning staff as their support is integral to the success of your program. Explain to your cleaning crew that the implementation of a recycling program will most likely reduce the amount of garbage generated in your facility and thus will lighten their workload.
Here are some ideas used by other companies for collecting the recyclables in your facility. Discuss these with your cleaning staff and decide which works best for your facility and which adheres to any service contracts.
1) Employees are responsible to empty their individual recycling bins into a centralized bin (one centralized bin for every 10-15 employees). The cleaning service is then responsible for only collecting the recyclables from the centralized recycling bin in addition to emptying the regular garbage.
2) The cleaning staff empties both the recycling bin and the garbage can from each workstation according to their typical cleaning schedule.
3) Employees are responsible to empty both their individual recycling bins and their waste baskets into larger centralized bins. The cleaning staff is only responsible to empty these larger bins.
4) The cleaning staff collects recycling from each workstation and employees empty their regular waste bins into centralized bins. The cleaning staff only empties these larger bins.
Step 6: Educate Staff.
Share your new program with everyone at your company. Train them in each step of the process. Set-up a recycling training session and have every employee physically walk through the recycling process. Implement the recycling training into your new hire orientation program. Include your cleaning crew in the program. Create enthusiasm for the program by distributing awards for those who contribute the most and for those who initiate new ideas. Consistently send emails to the staff about the program and acknowledge employees who make great efforts. Continually ask for their ideas to improve the program.

Step 7: Follow-up and Measure Results.
Announce positive results about the program through emails and company newsletters. Continually monitor the progress of the program. Staying on track of the program will help you make necessary adjustments for improvement and maintain buy-in from management and staff. Measure your program's success by asking for volume reports or tonnage from your recycling companies or garbage service. Quantify the results by announcing the amount of resources saved, pollution prevented or money saved for the company. Important stat: for every ton of paper your company recycles, 17 trees are saved! Think about announcing the number of trees your company has saved over time - such as every 6 months or on an annual basis as a way to measure and acknowledge success.

Step 8: Encourage the creation of other Waste Reduction Programs.
Once the recycling program is running smoothly, encourage the staff to reduce waste in other ways. Ask the Green Team to implement a waste reduction program. There are a myriad of ways to save energy and reduce waste beyond recycling. Re-using materials, purchasing green office supplies, installing motion sensors, connecting your electronics to a power strip, printing documents on both sides, are just a few ideas. Much the same way you launched a recycling program, do the same with a waste reduction program by making it fun and creative and participatory for the staff. Remember to continually update your staff on the programs' successes and create innovative ways to reward your staff and encourage continual enthusiasm. Once you have a few green programs under way, maybe you will want to create a Green Olympics where staff competes against each other in terms of who can conserve the most energy and save the most money for the company! Have fun and good luck!

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A Brief Introduction to Recycling

Recycling
During the 1960s and '70s it was thought that emissions from factory chimneys and sewage pipes constituted the biggest environmental problem. But since then, due to new, worldwide "Eco-laws", these discharges have decreased considerably. Instead, the focus has switched to the environmental problems associated with the goods that are produced and consumed in modern society. Many of the most environmentally damaging substances are currently being supplied through glass bottles, newspapers, plastic bags, coke cans, cardboard boxes and sweet wrappers just to mention a few.
To tell you what recycling is and what the word actually embodies may seem strange to you. I am sure all of you think you know exactly what it entails. But in theory recycling involves the separation and collection of materials for processing and re-manufacturing old products into new products, and the use of these new products, completing the cycle.
Glass is one of the most common man-made materials. It is made from sand, limestone and sodium carbonate and silica. The ingredients are heated to a high temperature in a furnace until they melt together. The molten glass from the furnace cools to form sheets, or may be moulded to make objects. Actually glass is completely recyclable and making products from recycled glass rather than starting from scratch saves energy resources. Recycled glass is made into new beverage bottles, food jars, insulation and other construction materials. Usually, clear glass containers are recycled into new clear glass products, while coloured glass containers are recycled into new coloured glass products.
In fact, the recycling of glass as well other products, such as aluminum and steel cans, cardboard, car tyres, newspapers and certain plastics is a growing industry in most of the world today. In South Africa however, we don't have a very high level of recycling. There aren't enough people who take an active interest in the environment and try to do their bit in preserving nature, by for example, taking used bottles, aluminum cans or even leaves and other garden refuse to recycling sites. This is probably due to a lot of reasons. The first and foremost being that, in South Africa, we don't have many recycling centres and, lets face it, how many of us really sort our rubbish before throwing it in the rubbish bin?
Since it is now these products, and no longer industrial emissions, that accounts for most of the environmentally harmful substances being discharged in nature the conditions for environmental efforts have fundamentally changed. As the "release sites" or the polluters, have become so numerous, a totally new system for controlling and handling environmentally harmful wastes is needed.
One way could be to transfer the responsibility for this to the producer of goods, according to the established principle "the polluter pays."
However, I found this principle not be all that efficient in practise. To find out what is actually being done at the industrial level, I spoke with William Footman, one of the regional managers of Nampak, which is one of South Africa's 2 glass manufacturers. He told me that the reason we don't have a very developed glass recycling programme in this country, is due to the fact that we only have two factories where glass can be recycled back into beverage bottles. And as it is far too expensive for the companies to transport old bottles back to their factories for recycling, they would rather produce new, rather than re-use the old glass.
But, producers who put a product on the market should, quite simply, be responsible for taking back as much as is sold. What is important for environmental policy is the creation of a system in which each producer assumes his responsibility. But should all the responsibility lie on the producers? Every consumer who buys these products should make an asserted effort to help keep our planet clean.
I searched the Internet to find out exactly how poorly we as South Africans compare to the rest of the world in recycling. The country that has been in the forefront of recycling, particularly for household waste, is Sweden. Swedes have to carefully recycle and separate their own rubbish for the refuse collectors on a daily basis. Even in the middle of their very cold winters, in raging snowstorms, the Swedish people go to the recycling stations with their household trash to perform the daily ritual of separating cardboard from plastics and glass from biological waste.
Actually nearly all 1st world countries and many developing countries have developing or already highly developed recycling programmes, and South Africa desperately needs to jump on the 'recycling wagon'. A step in the right direction could be to build recycling plants all over the country. Every town should set up a sufficient number of collection stations and every household should share the responsibility and sort their rubbish to ensure that batteries and electrical appliances are not thrown in landfills, that glass, aluminium cans and plastic bags don't clutter the country-side. Working together with the producers, consumers should send items back to factories, to be recycled and thereby reused.
The process of recycling, for example paper, entails the conversion of waste paper to various types of finer grades of paper. First, careful sorting is required so that items such as plastic wrapping, paper clips and staples can be removed. Waste paper is divided into categories such as newsprint; typing and computer paper; and magazines, which have shiny paper and coloured inks and need special treatment. Next, the ink must be removed. This is done by soaking the paper and breaking it up into small pieces in giant washers, then treating it with chemicals that loosen the ink so that it can be rinsed away. Sometimes more than one such chemical must be used because many types of ink must be removed. Finally, the wet, shredded waste paper is blended with other materials according to the type of end product that is desired. Old pieces of cloth, which are used to produce the finest, most expensive grades of paper, may be mixed in. Wood pulp and other forms of cellulose such as straw may also be added in varying proportions. If white paper or paper for greeting cards or stationery is to be produced, bleach may also be added to lighten it; if newsprint is to be produced, a mixture of red and blue dyes is added to reduce the greyness of the final product. Chemical preservatives are also added at this point.
At this time, the fully treated material is a sort of liquid sludge that is ready to be made into paper. In most papermaking operations, the sludge passes through a machine called a beater, which is essentially a very heavy roller that presses the fibres in the sludge together and squeezes out the water. The paper is formed and held together by the natural interlocking of the long cellulose or cloth fibres as they are pressed and dried. No glue is used in the process and in fact, the natural glue in wood is removed chemically before the paper is made.
A refining machine brushes the roll of sludge to smooth out irregularities. The papermaking machine presses the sludge into thin slices, which are then further dried by pressing or by being placed in furnaces. Finally, the paper is polished or chemically treated to give it the proper finish and lastly packaged and sent to customers.
The papermaking process itself is pretty much the same whether one uses virgin materials, recycled materials, or a mixture of the two. The difference is in the preparation of the sludge. Recycled material requires careful sorting. This in turn means that the paper mills must have a place to store waste paper and the staff to sort it, as well as a means of disposing of waste paper that cannot be used. Removing ink from waste paper also requires special chemicals, equipment, and equipment operators. As a result, some paper mills are not set up to use any recycled materials. That's why the forests are getting smaller and smaller.
Also, not all paper products can be made with recycled paper. Brown grocery bags, for example, can be recycled into other types of paper, but they must be made, at least partially, out of virgin materials because only virgin materials have the long unbroken fibres that give the bags their necessary strength. Unlike glass bottles and aluminum cans, which can be recycled an infinite number of times, paper cannot be recycled indefinitely. Each time it is recycled, its quality degrades slightly because the fibres become more and more broken. At some point recycled paper has to be mixed in with virgin material, and eventually after repeated uses, it ends up in a landfill or and incinerator.
Obviously as recycling plants and collection sites have to be set up all over the country and for all the various types of materials we use in every day life, it is going to be a very expensive process to start, but it is vital that the wheels are set in motion before it is too late! In turn this will lead to many new jobs opening up for unskilled as well as skilled people in South Africa helping to keep our country cleaner as well as decreasing unemployment and thereby promoting the economy.
I know that to fully understand why recycling is important and to have a general feeling of responsibility and to want to keep the environment clean stems from having an education and understanding the concept of pollution. I also understand that it is not easy for the many people in our country without a proper education, to feel the need to recycle, as they may not understand they urgency of it. But if all of us in this room today already knew and understood what recycling is and how much damage is done to the ecosystem by not recycling, why do we not feel the need to take action and start taking care of our beautiful country!

References:
[http://www.recycle-tec.co.za/index.htm]

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Cell Phone Recycling - Reasons Why We Absolutely Must

Recycle cell phones? Absolutely!
Did you know that you can actually recycle your old or used cell phones? If you're like most people, you probably have one or two hidden in a drawer somewhere. In a few months or years, you'll rediscover these hidden phones and having no further use to you, these old units will most likely end up in your garbage bin and thence, in your city's landfill.
But there's a better, more environmentally-responsible, even more profitable way to dispose of your old mobile phones. Cell phone recycling is the answer.
There may be around 700 million used or old cellular phones in America today, with approximately 125 million discarded handsets added every year. According to a study done by a market intelligence firm iSuppli Corporation in 2007, 36.8 percent stored their phones in their drawers, 10.2 percent threw them away or declared these as lost or stolen, and only 9.4 percent recycled their used or old phones. In actual numbers, that's 10 million old mobile phones rotting away in our country's landfills and 37 million more gathering dust in the drawers of America - and that's from 2007 alone!

Why should you recycle your cell phones?
Like other electronic wastes, cellular phones in their circuit boards and batteries, contain such harmful heavy metals like lead, mercury, and cadmium. Dangerous chemicals like brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) are also found in the plastic casing of many mobile phones. According to Dr. Anne Marie Helmenstine, author and leading authority in biomedical sciences, lead has been found to cause development problems in children and diminishes brain functions even in adults. Cadmium exposure can lead to "liver and irreversible kidney problems (often fatal), respiratory and bone density problems. Compounds containing cadmium are also carcinogenic."
Most of our landfills today are scientifically designed to contain chemicals leaking from the solid waste, but will you gamble the health of your children and your's on the chance that the mobile phones and other electronic wastes we so carelessly throw to our landfills will not leach chemicals into our underground water systems? The likelihood of these dangerous and deadly chemicals seeping into our water systems is just too high. By dumping phones and other electronic wastes in our landfills, we are practically poisoning ourselves.
Is there money in cell phone recycling?
Yes. As a matter of fact, cell phone recycling can be quite lucrative. You can make money by selling your used or old cellular phones to recycling and refurbishing companies like Pacebutler Corporation in Edmond, OK who will pay as much as $50 for each unit you turn in and will even pay for the shipping of packages containing at least 4 units. The refurbishing company then turns around, and refurbishes these mobile phones to be marketed to wholesale buyers abroad, bringing communication capability to people from developing countries in South America and other areas.
On a much larger scale, recycling companies like Umicore in Belgium, who process unserviceable phones and e-waste, are able to extract such precious metals and other materials from them like gold, silver, platinum, copper, coltan, plastic and glass, etc. from these. Did you know that there's more gold found in one metric ton of cellular phone and other electronic waste than 17 tons of gold ore excavated and refined through the traditional mining process? The good news is, after the entire recycling process is over, less than half of 1% of the entire electronic waste processed, is deemed unfit to be returned to the production cycle and is then just burned for energy generation.
The amount of precious metals present in each cellular phone are basically just trace amounts, so its impractical and patently dangerous (because of the industrial chemicals necessary) for you to try and extract these minerals from your phone at home. It may seem like a joke, but it was in the news last month - a man who fancied himself as an "urban miner" got poisoned by the industrial chemicals he was using, while "mining" cellular phones. The giant recycling firms make money by processing tons and tons of phones and other electronic waste.

How do you recycle cell phones?
Give your old or used phones to friends or family. Perhaps the most practical and easiest way to recycle mobile phones is by extending the life cycle of old phones by giving these away to a friend or a family member. Most of the units we hide or throw away in exchange for a newer model or after we switched to a different provider are still perfectly usable. You can give it to a friend or a younger sister, and you're sure that the phone will have a year or two more of use before getting permanently retired. But then again, if you go by this route, you're merely extending the life cycle of your old phones. You can put in a word for the environment by asking the person you're giving your phone to, to recycle it properly when the time comes.
Recycle cell phones through the manufacturer or service provider. Did you know that you can actually return your old phones to the manufacturer? The leading US manufacturers and service providers like AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint all have mobile phone take-back programs, complete with free shipping and/or discounts in subsequent purchases. These companies will ensure that the phones are recycled or refurbished in a responsible and environmentally-sound process. It's a win-win solution, too. The companies win by having access to a steady stream of recycled materials for manufacturing of new items. You win by making sure the your old phones are recycled responsibly and by getting the discounts from your purchases.

Recycle your cell phones through your favorite charity. Many charitable and non-profit organizations today are able to raise funds for their respective charities and projects by collecting used and old mobile phones, and then selling them to recyclers and refurbishers. If you want to start such a project in your own city or neighborhood, you can network with other non-profit organizations and even ask for material support from the recycling companies. People, even kids, are doing it. If you live near a zoo, chances are you've seen cellular phone collection boxes near the zoo entrance. The fact is, by raising funds for a worthy cause by collecting and reselling old phones, you are putting to good use something that would have been useless, even harmful if disposed improperly.
Recycle cell phones through recycling and refurbishing companies. Selling your old or used mobile phones to companies like Pacebutler Corporation is a fast and convenient option. You can actually process everything online in a few minutes. All you need to do is access the company's website, check for the actual buying prices of your phones, and request for a shipping label. Once you have the pre-paid labels, you can box and send your old cellular phones to the company. The turn-around time is very fast for these online transactions, too. Generally, the company sends you your check within 4 business days after receiving your old phones.
To summarize, we have outlined here the paramount importance of recycling cellular phones, in the light of potential impact on the environment and people's health. There is still so much room for growth in our recycling efforts, as we've seen in the numbers above. But things are looking up, as more and more people become aware of the importance and the absolute necessity to recycle cell phones, we should be able to move forward in increasing the cell phone recycling rate nationwide.
Recycle your cell phones today. As the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says, it's an easy call to make.

Michael Arms contributes articles to the Pacebutler Recycling Blog and owns and maintains several Squidoo lenses dealing with recycling and other environmental issues and initiatives.
You can read more cell phone recycling articles by Michael at the Pacebutler Recycling Blog. Find out how to recycle cell phones in the fastest and most convenient way online with Pacebutler Corporation, today.

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The Eighteen-Gallon Recycling Bin

The 18-gallon recycling bins are a box shaped recycling bin, which is good for any type of material you want to recycle. You can get them with and without lids, which make them a stackable type of container.
When you are recycling paper, you want a different container for each type of paper. The magazines, glossy printed flyers, newspaper inserts, phone books, envelopes, computer paper, old letters and paper packaging can all go into the same recycling bin. Newspapers however require their own bin just as corrugated cardboard and plastic lined drink boxes both requires separate containers.
Plastic will not decompose in a landfill. Some plastic containers can be recycled into other products. Unlike aluminum cans, which can be recycled into another aluminum can. Recycled drink bottles will not come back as another drink bottle. It may come back as a shower stall, plastic bags, plastic toys, motor oil bottles and the list goes on. There are several different types of plastic, so you will have to check with your recycle center to see what types of plastic they are equipped to take. There are some recycle centers, which are known as "All Plastic Recycling Centers", which means they will take any type of plastic. Just to give you an idea, plastic goods are assigned a number to grade them for recycling. #1 and #2 are for containers, #4 is for bags, and #7 is for mixed plastics and is not recyclable.
Plastic bottles are a valuable recyclable material. Tops of the bottles should be removed and placed in with the other regular plastic items. Plastic grocery bags can be recycled. Many grocery stores will have a container at the front of the store for customers to place their used grocery store bags into. Polystyrene cups, food trays and egg cartons will not biodegrade. Some plastic recycling centers will not accept the polystyrene items, but some due. Try to reduce your use of this material.
Plastic #5 can be recycled, but it has very little market value when it has been recycled. You are better off reusing them at home. These are the containers you will find cottage cheese, sour cream, butter, yogurt, etc.
Each different type of plastic will go into a different 18-gallon recycling bin. Recycling centers prefer you not lump them all together.
Glass is recycled by the color of the glass container, clear, green and brown and the recycling centers prefer they are separated in those colors. Paper labels can be left on the containers. Glass product such as light bulbs, mirrors, sheet glass, and Pyrex must be placed in a container away from the bottles because they have a different glass composition than the bottles. Compact florescent bulbs can be recycled at your local IKEA store.
Food cans are not made of aluminum but should be recycled. Aluminum cans are a valuable recyclable. Aluminum foil and foil packaging are also just as important to recycle as the cans. They can be used to make small engine parts.
Paint can, aerosol cans can be recycled. These are also considered to be hazardous waste, so they must be separated from other metals. Retain the paper labels because it is necessary for the recycler to know the material, which was in the cans. Try to keep the lid with the can it belongs to.
Copper is one of the most recyclable of all the metals. The alloys used with the copper to make up the copper products are also recyclable. When recycling copper, it only takes less than 15% of the energy it took to mine, mill, smelt and refine the copper in the first place.
As you can see you will have plenty of uses for the 18-gallon recycling container. The number of containers you will need will depend entirely on the number of materials you will be recycling.

Charles Taft is a proud 63 year old grandpa of six wonderful grandchildren. He is an expert in the field of recycling and recycling supplies and appreciates the opportunity to provide information and equipment for those who seek to do the right thing for our planet today and for the future through various recycling efforts. Charles Taft is also the owner of Recycling Supply Company website, for more information about him please http://www.recyclingsupply.com

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Recycling

When people are not concerned with the environment it adds to the problem. There is a saying that goes something like "if you are not a part of the solution you are a part of the problem," this may no be true in all cases - but it is certainly try on the issue of recycling. Many people know how important it is to recycle. Others either do not understand or they do not care about the effects that their own decision to not recycle will make. The key for environmental enthusiasts (who are, at this time, rightly concerned) is to get the word out so that more and more people will really understand the problem.
Processing older products into new products is the basic idea. You can prevent the waste of material that is still useful just by routing it to a place that will break it down for re-processing and transforming into new, safe and usable items. The example that most people are familiar with is that of recycling aluminum cans, and glass materials. But there are more and more than that. It has been said that the third key component of the waste management hierarchy. It is definitely something we should all pay attention to.
Recyclable materials, or, as they are sometimes referred to: "recyclates" or "recyclables,' are everywhere. In our homes and in our trash cans, even when people do recycle - sometimes they throw certain things away not even being aware that the item is a recyclable one. So pay more attention to what you may or may not be doing to improve the environment. Reducing energy usage is very important, and I believe that everyone should contribute to the cause.
So, you may ask, how exactly is recycling done? It is actually pretty amazing, and a valuable resource for us to promote all over the country. If we had more recycling plants and a few less weaponry production facilities, perhaps (just as an example, of course) we may be able to preserve our amount of time left before the ozone deteriorates and begins to destroy the world we live in. As melodramatic as it sounds, the above statement is absolutely true. More and more people are finally getting it. But we need to avoid ignoring the problem from now on - for the sake of every living thing within the sanctity of this, our precious world.
Recyclates include glass, paper, aluminum, asphalt, iron, textiles and plastics. But there is more. There are many types of biodegradable waste, such as food waste or garden waste. This waste, believe it or not, is also recyclable through new technology utilizing the ability of micro-organisms through composting these materials, or by anaerobic digestion.
Go the extra mile. By this I finally come to my point, I mean that the more you know about how recycling is done, the more helpful you can be for the overall recycling process. First recyclable materials are sorted, of course. Then they must be cleansed of any residues or impurities left behind. Therefore, you can be of more assistance when you rinse out the aluminum can, glass bottle or, other item you would normally put aside for recycling before you do so.
This is a great idea to help not only increase the speed of recycling - but to make it more effective, i.e. to make the recycled materials we use more pure and long lasting. I have noticed that the recycling of paper is a wonderful thing. Reducing the contamination of the recyclables makes a more valuable, high quality, recycled product. As a matter of fact, because of its texture and purpose - I actually prefer writing on recycled paper than on regular paper.
The most important thing about this is that we can reduce the amount of trees we chop down for the purpose of lumber, cardboard and making other kinds of paper. One f the reasons are environment is suffering and that millions of species are wiped out because of the deteriorations of forests everywhere: all over t world. One of the most essential things we can do for our environment is to keep our rainforests as untouched as possible aside from the research that is absolutely beneficial.
Recycling is reducing "inputs" or, energy and raw materials to a production system, or re-using old materials effectively. As well as reducing the amount of waste that we, as a general population, produce and of which we must dispose. Materials that can be recycled are a broad category of things we used to dump carelessly out as garbage. Materials such as aluminum can be recycled indefinitely. So there is no reason to throw them out. The importance of recycling and the technology of recycling have come into more and more fruition. Recycling is more important to people right now than it has ever been because the necessity of conservation is always growing. This understanding is a great thing. It is a drive towards a healthier, safer, and more beautiful tomorrow.

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for websites on gardening, parenting, fashion, and home decor. Her background includes teaching, gardening, and fashion. For more of her useful articles on the environment, please visit solarhome.org, supplier of high quality Solar Lighting and Solar Heat Pumps.

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Why Everyone Should Recycle

Recycling is sort of like exercising: we all know we should do it, but not all of us do it as often as we should--and some of us don't do it at all. However, there are lots of reasons why you should make an effort to recycle as much as possible. If you haven't been diligent about recycling your garbage, here are seven good reasons why you should start.
It cuts back on global warming. Our planet is starting to feel the effects of global warming already--and we need to do whatever we can to lessen the impact. Production of certain materials from scratch can release significant amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Aluminum production is a prime example--producing new aluminum creates 95% more CO2 than recycling old aluminum cans. In addition, recycling paper saves trees--for each ton of paper recycled, 17 trees are saved. Each of these trees can extract around 250 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air in a year.
It makes us more energy-efficient. It often takes a great deal more energy to create something from scratch than to recycle it. For example, it takes twice as much energy to burn plastic as to recycle it; it takes 64% more energy to make paper than to recycle it; and recycling just one pound of steel can save enough energy to run a 60-watt bulb for one day.
It keeps our landfills from overflowing. We're fast running out of space for landfills--especially near cities. Seaside cities have been dumping trash into their oceans for decades to circumvent the problem, but with widespread marine ecological collapse, this is no longer a viable option. Worse yet, it's difficult to find land in suburban and rural areas whose residents will allow landfills to come into their areas without a fight. The squeeze for landfill land is only going to get worse in the future.
Recycling gives us some hope for this bleak scenario. Studies show that 60% to 75% of garbage in landfills can be recycled. That means that if everybody recycled, we'd have 60% to 75% less garbage in our landfills, and we'd need at least that much less land for garbage disposal.
It improves the quality of our groundwater. The garbage in landfills is usually not treated in any way--it's simply thrown in a big hole and buried over. Much of this garbage is not environmentally friendly or readily biodegradable--and it's no surprise that contaminants can get into our water. Rain and other runoff from landfills gets into our streams, rivers, lakes, and other waterways, damaging fragile ecosystems. It's also a major reason why it's not safe to drink from streams and rivers when you're hiking and camping--even when it looks like you're in a pristine environment. Recycling reduces the trash in landfills, and the more we recycle, the more our water systems can start becoming as pure as they look.
It reduces air pollution. Many factories that produce plastics, metals, and paper products release toxins into the air. Recycle these materials, and there will be less need for companies to manufacture new materials--saving on the amount of pollution dumped into our atmosphere. In addition, disposing of certain recyclable materials can also produce significant pollution. For example, plastics are often burned in incinerators. Plastics are made with oil, and that oil is released into the atmosphere when the plastic burns--creating serious greenhouse-gas emissions.
It creates jobs. From manufacturing to processing, from collection to invention--it's no secret that recycling is a growth industry, earning billions of dollars annually. Our need to recycle is only going to grow more urgent as populations grow and as technology changes. Recycling creates far more jobs than landfills do--enough jobs to make a big difference in a small town.
It adds to property value. It's obvious that a landfill near your home can decrease your property values significantly. Recycling reduces the amount of land needed for landfills. This reduces the number of houses near landfills, keeping property values up and homeowners happy. The more people recycle, the fewer landfills we need--and if enough people pitch in, recycling should pay off for everybody.
It's good business. Pitting business against the environment is a lose-lose situation: everybody suffers. And yet, that's how the debate has been framed in politics and the public sphere for years. This is a shame, because the truth is that recycling just makes good business sense. Industrial factories and processing plants save plenty of money on energy and extraction strategies when they use recycled materials instead of virgin resources. They also ensure that basic resources don't become a scarce commodity, keeping demand and prices down and ensuring that their business can continue for decades to come.
One person can make a difference. With so many good causes, it's easy to get discouraged--especially when the problem is so widespread that it's hard to see what difference your individual effort is making. Many people think this is true with recycling, too--but the truth is that small acts of recycling make a big difference. For example, recycling just one large newspaper would save around 75,000 trees. On average, each person in the U.S. produces around 1,600 lbs. of waste each year. If you recycled all of that, you could save around 1,100 lbs. of waste per year--that's over half a ton--just by yourself!
We hope that after reading this article, you'll be inspired to become a recycling advocate--or at least be certain to recycle in the future. Recycling benefits everybody, and takes only a little trash-sorting to put into effect. With our limited space for landfills and dwindling resources, it's a sure thing that recycling is here to stay.

David Beart is the owner of [http://www.professorshouse.com]. Our site covers such topics as household recycling [http://www.professorshouse.com/your-home/environmentally-friendly/environmentally-friendly-articles.aspx] as a family, children and gardening

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Stopping Rubbish Pollution - 4 Essentials to Increase Recycling

To stop rubbish pollution by recycling is much harder for society to achieve than the old methods of "use it once and throw it away". We all realise this but before we get carried away with the idea of "zero waste" and the end of landfills, let's think for a while about the four essentials of successful recycling.
Like it or not experience has shown that all four have to be in place, and working properly before a stable recycling system can work efficiently and allow investors confidence to lend their money to the entrepreneurs society needs so badly to pick up the challenge and make their green business work profitably for them and at lowest cost to the community.
Each element needs to work properly, if recycling is to happen. To re-state a well-worn truism, recycling is more than simply collecting and sorting waste - it needs to be processed and sold into a stable market for a profit to the operator, as well.
The rest of this article looks at each of these elements in turn.

1. Legislative Framework
A legislative framework of reasonable sophistication is needed to ensure that adequate drivers are present and sufficient stability exists within emerging markets in commodities hitherto thought of as rubbish within any economy. Without laws and regulations which are all about raising recycling rates and minimising landfill, it may not be possible to raise the credibility of many recycling markets being long-term and profitable sufficiently for them to become so. Such faith that government will back recyclers, is needed to kick-start recycling companies to form, and keep it going for long enough for the theory to become self fulfilling; and it seems that passing laws to make it happen is the only way.

2. Collection and Sorting
Until the mid-2000s, recycling was most often been associated with bottle bins and paper banks. These are the so-called 'bring' systems. These systems of banks or bins are certain to continue to play an important but proportionately diminishing role in recycling for the foreseeable future.
The number and diversity of recycling banks (from large Household Waste Recycling Centres to community skip bays) needs to and is increasing. This process has been repeating itself for at least the last 15 years. For example the glass manufacturers doubled the present number over the last approximately 5 years. The steel industry intends to have can banks for every person requiring a 5 times growth.
As well as the traditional materials of paper and glass, banks for textiles, plastic and metal cans new methods of working resulting from raised investment levels, are now common. The way forward for "bring' systems seems to be evolving as these centres take so many different materials and become micro-recycling centres, which provide smaller containers for a range of materials nearer to people's homes.
Since then, in the UK, kerbside collections (with separate containers supplied by the collection contractor) have been introduced in most areas along with alternating fortnightly collections of residual and green waste. The wastes collected in the recyclates bin cover a range of materials. These collections are described as source segregated clean materials.
As the number of recyclate streams has increased so has the complexity of rubbish pollution reduction by managing the business of getting the recycled materials streams to the market and transporting them to the user. Source segregated waste still arrives mixed with for example, paper and cans and plastic bottles, and must be further processed to separate those materials, before they can go to market.
Also, never forget that the residual waste will still contain much that can be recycled and in many districts public willingness to recycle will only be sufficient up to 2010 to meet the EU recycling and landfill diversion targets, which if not met will result in hefty fines for the UK government.
So, now the waste industry must start to introduce much more comprehensive processing of the residual (black bag) Municipal Solid Waste (MSW).
To meet that demand modern recycling requires large-scale centralised processing facilities dealing with unsorted waste. These will combine long standing favourites such as magnetic extraction of ferrous metals, separation of glass and other metals prior to composting (aerobic) and digestion (anaerobic - in the absence of air)or incineration for energy recovery.
The large investment required for centralised plants makes them difficult projects to undertake, but the benefit in terms of the volume of waste handled is correspondingly high.
An alternative choice to minimise centralised processing plant requirements is to instigate kerbside (on collection vehicle sorting) for kerbside door-to-door recycling collections. These so-called 'kerbside' recycling collection vehicles are also becoming more common, but require conscientious and well trained operators who must work outside in all weathers.
Kerbside collections for recycling materials has a lower cost than central processing, but may not be suitable for many low-density rural districts nor for high-density inner-city areas with concentrations of tower blocks.
In the end, no one model will be suitable throughout the country; and a combination of different collection and sorting methods will be used.

3. Processing
By definition, recycling involves not just collection, but processing of the material before it is re-used. So, for instance, a returnable milk bottle is re-used rather than recycled because there is no intermediate processing before the re-use.
It is therefore necessary to develop efficient, economic processing systems for recovered materials. The development of recycling processes is essentially a task for industry. But this cannot be divorced from the other parts of the chain.
At times, the solution to processing problems can lie in changing the collection or sorting procedures. As an example, the way forward for plastics recycling may be to develop processes which allow mixed plastics to be used for a wider range of applications.
On the other hand, the answer may well be to devise a means of separating the different polymers before they reach the factory where they are used.
Governments should really offer financial support to companies developing recycling technologies as this sort of general research will be high cost and rarely justifiable for one company to finance on a commercial basis.

Markets
Last, but by no means least, recycling needs markets. No markets, means no recycling.
The Government needs to help encourage new markets which will inherently be unstable when just getting started, due to (if nothing else) their low volume and initial large swings in supply and demand month by month.

Conclusion
Governments should not be seeking to reduce rubbish pollution by household rubbish recycling at all costs. But a target of recycling of up to 50% of domestic waste is achievable and environmentally justified to stop current high levels of rubbish pollution.
The level of recycling activity is increasing significantly throughout much of the world. Public willingness to participate in rubbish pollution reducing recycling schemes is undoubted. Indeed, separation by the householder for recycling is becoming a habit rather than a passing fad.
Mainstream manufacturing industry has been forced to accept that it has a greater responsibility for waste resulting from its products, than ever was the case before.
In the United Kingdom, and throughout Europe, plus in many other nations; the many government recycling incentives are beginning to have the desired effect.
With the four essentials listed here, in place and working, the public with help from local authorities, waste disposal contractors and industry can recycle most of their rubbish and stop rubbish pollution.

Thinking more about recycling? Steve Last is also web master for the fact filled "Landfill Site" web site where much more how to recycle and other recycling information is available.
Steve Last is also a regular contributor of dog breed related articles at The Dog Breeds Compendium.

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Recycling Facts - We're Getting Better!

If you look at the recycling facts, you will see that since 1990, the United States has improved dramatically in their recycling activities. Recycling facts report that fifteen years ago, the U.S. recycled roughly fifteen percent of our waste materials, which today has doubled to thirty percent! The following recycling facts are both interesting and fun bits of information to increase your knowledge on the art of recycling.

Recycling Facts For Fun:
o Over 40 percent of soft drink bottles are recycled as well as 40 percent of paper products.
o More than 50 percent of steel products and appliances are recycled.
o 20 years ago in the U.S. there was one curbside recycling program in the U.S. There are now over 10,000 with 12,000 drop of recycling sites.

How Are Recycled Materials Collected?
There are four ways to recycle: drop-off recycling centers, curbside recycling, buy back centers, and deposit/refund centers (such as those for glass bottles.) Did you know there are now over 450 recycling material recovery facilities that buy recyclable material, sort it, clean it, and sell it again to companies who then use it in production?

Where Can I Find Such Recycled Materials?
There are many uses for the recycled material in products that we use every day. Some of the more common ones are paper towels, aluminum, and newspaper. But a check of recycling facts uncovers some more unusual uses for recycled materials, using recovered plastic in carpeting and park benches, and using recovered glass for paving roads.
How Can I Recycle?
Recycling facts state that one of the most important parts in the recycling process is you-the consumer. As you buy recycled products and then recycle them again, you continue the cycle. We also need to keep introducing new materials into this cycle, because one of the lesser known recycling facts is that after a time some materials can no longer be recycled. According to the recycling facts, paper can only be recycled 7 times before the fibers get too small to use again. On the other hand, metal can be recycled over and over.

Special Recycling Resources
The EPA sponsors a program for businesses called "WasteWise". There is no charge to become a member and membership is voluntary. The program will give you ways to reduce your waste products and improve your bottom line while doing it. You can participate in the program as much or as little as you would like and you will become more aware of the recycling facts associated with your industry as well as other industries that you interact with. Local governments can get more information and recycling facts from the EPA in a publication called "Getting More for Less: Improving Collection Efficiency," which details what different communities can do to improve their waste collection services and increase their recycling programs.
We all need to become more aware of the part we play in the recycling process. If there is no current program, or if it is only minimal, you may want to find ways to encourage increased participation in conjunction with the local government.

Margarette Tustle writes ideas for home and family. Find more recycling [http://www.dailyrecycle.com/] resources at dailyrecycle.com.

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