All through history, recycling has been around in one guise or another. Even as long ago as 400 BC signs of earlier recycling are known to have occurred. Archaeological reports show that historical waste dumps contained fewer of what is known today as household waste, including pots, tools and ash, which demonstrates that people were, even back then, keen to reuse materials 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 may be argued that the old ‘rag-and-bone’ man was just an early recycler collectingdiscarded goods on his horse and cart, before reusing or turning the recovered items into something new. The 60′s TV series, Steptoe and Son, brought this very much in to the public eye and greater attention.
During periods such as the World War Years, recycling and re-use were common place as natural resources became considerably more difficult to find. Along with food being rationed, certain materials such as metal and fibre werenormally allowed only for use by the government in support of military operations, in order to meet manufacturing requirements often in the production of weaponry. There was a desperate need to support the military.
As a consequence of rising power costs, the requirement to recycle aluminium increased during the 1970′s.. As a material aluminium utilises a lesser amount of energy in the production process than various other materials. Also it was much coveted on account of its non rusting qualities. The need for aluminium saw the rise of scrap metal merchants who were prepared to pay cash in exchange for the best quality metal. Additionally, in the seventies in parts of the United states, the first vans were seen to be collecting waste with a separate trailer for gathering of recyclable materials being towed behind the vehicle.
To the late eighties, early 1990′s and as the importance of managing the global environmental state heightened amongst global authorities, the focus on recycling really started to get momentum. In the United Kingdom, the government imposed recycling targets upon Local Authorities along with the introduction of the fresh legal guidelines upon the waste sector, recycling initiatives really started to take off. The once commonly well known waste disposal corporations, began to call themselves waste management firms 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.
Currently, many hundreds of materials and products may be recycled, including paper, card, glass and plastics, to mobile phone handsets, electrical items, printer cartridges, textiles, clothing and concrete.
What Exactly is Recycling?
The term recycling describes the operation of converting second hand products into new or nearly new products to avoid the need for potentially useable materials or products to be discarded. Essentially it is diverting waste material away from landfill.
Recycling takes on an important role in a world where climate change is high on the green agenda. It reduces the need to unnecessarily send waste material and products to landfill or other waste disposal options. As a result this lessens the need or the reliance upon consuming fresh or new natural resources, cuts back energy usage and air and drinking 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 facilities now provided by local councils for household refuse and recycling collections and by advanced waste management companies who typically offer a full range of waste and recycling collection services.
Recently the recovery of cardboard recycling is becoming a major green development for the advantage of all people.
In the waste sector, the normal promotional activity surrounds the waste materials hierarchy – ‘reduce, reuse, recycle and recover’. This 4 R slogan is a basic message made for a far reaching audience. Think about ways to reduce your waste. Can the waste materials products or materials be reused? Could the waste product or material be recycled or retrieved? Many questions to think about.
The waste material hierarchy is usually a strategy that many waste material management organisations and local authorities think about when producing new waste management approaches. The system is intended to concentrate the thought process around preventing waste materials being produced at all. Think about 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.
So the emphasis is very much on the whole production process. The waste material hierarchy extends much wider than to waste material management companies and local authorities. Working groups have been set up to bring many sectors together to consider the whole waste cycle. For example, the producer of a product must think about how the product will be manufactured. Can parts be used which could later be recycled or reused? Could the volume of packaging which surrounds the item be reduced? When the product reaches the store, is it essential for the product to be located inside an outer package? If 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? Can it go back to a recycling plant, for onward shipment to a reprocessing plant, where the cycle begins yet again?
How are Materials Collected for Recycling?
Legislation now dictates that all waste needs to be processed to reduce the quantity of recyclables and unnecessary waste heading direct to landfill. Since 1996, the United Kingdom government has enforced a landfill levy on all waste material disposed of within landfill. The rate of levy has increased considerably recently rising from the initial 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 material streams, although there’s a reduced rate for inert products. Sending waste directly to landfill is an expensive choice and choosing suitable solutions to divert waste out of landfill is now important. For inert materials the rate is £2.50 per ton.
Thus, the message to everyone is obvious, sort your waste materials to cut back the volume of waste material going to landfill. Ordinarily, at home or at the office, as soon as you place waste into the bin , it is forgotten about. Someone else will collect it and take it away. Today, in your own home and at work, recycling is being encouraged via the supply of containers in which to place specific recyclable materials.
Some common materials to be seen being gathered for recycling are paper, card, glass, metals and plastics. But the possiblity to recycle many materials or products keep increasing. Although technically not seen as recycling, food waste and garden waste collections are increasing, where the food or garden waste materials is taken back to a plant for processing into a reusable or saleable compost product.
Many schools introduce glass recycling incentives as it is a substance which students take for granted, but can simply learn how to recycle.
The methods of collecting items or waste to be recycled is also increasing and ever more noticeable within local communities. Specialist collection sites, often referred to as bring bank sites, are popping up in supermarket car parks to motivate clientele of the superstore to return such objects as bottles, newspapers or cardboard to the containers on their way into the store.
Local Authority waste collection crews or their appointed personnel will collect refuse and recyclables from the roadside typically in front of your home. Collection from household premises typically remains the responsibility of the local authorities many have employed the provision of bags in which to collect specific recyclable materials or products.
In the business and commercial sector, waste management contractors offer separate containers in which the customer deposits the correct waste material stream or recyclable materials ready for collection. The bins will often be plainly branded as to which recyclable materials need to be placed inside that container or bin. Otherwise, the bins will probably be colour coded to distinguish which recyclable wastes need to be placed within which bins. Waste management companies also may have to deal with special requests from the customer.
The true secret to a successful recycling initiative is residents 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 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 products . Regardless of what collection method is used , the materials are taken to a materials recycling facility where they will be segregated from other waste products. This might be done manually or by using mechanical separators.
To start the recycling process from the collection perspective, the more recyclable material that can be segregated at origin, i.e. at home or in the workplace, the more efficient it will be for the waste collector. For this reason separate containers are supplied to the waste producer to encourage segregation at source. If card can be collected on a vehicle, which will collect no other waste materials, the card can be kept uncontaminated and for that reason could have a higher value when it actually reaches the processing plant. Likewise, dedicated glass collection vehicles are used to collect just glass. Apart from the obvious health and safety reasons and the weight of collected glass, it will have a greater value if the collected glass load is not mixed with other waste material. Uncontaminated recyclables will have a much higher value than contaminated products.
Once collected, the recyclable materials are generally taken direct to a reprocessing plant, if the load contains only that particular type of material. So a separate glass collection truck could take the load straight to a glass processing plant.
If blended recyclables are collected such as paper and card within the same container, it might be necessary for the collector to take the load to a drop off point to unload and permit the load to be sorted into separate paper and card bundles for onward transport to a paper or card processing plant. No matter what process is used, the recyclable material obtained will most likely be segregated or washed before traveling through to a reprocessing plant to be converted to a new resource and ultimately used as something new or in manufacturing.
Because of large density populations, the challenge of level of waste disposal requires extra clever solutions than the old land fill ideas. power in waste is just the kind of solution, turning waste products into energy.
The Increasing Importance of Recycling
In the UK around 35% of waste material collected from homes is recycled or composted. While within the business and industrial area, the volume of waste material delivered to landfill has declined considerably in recent years and the amount of waste now being diverted for recycling or reuse by this market has increased above the volumes going to landfill.
Landfill continues to play a vital role in the management of waste throughout the UK as not all waste items are able to be recycled plus some are more suited to landfill disposal than by some other means. Nonetheless, it is not just the increasing costs of getting rid of waste directly in landfill that is making recycling a far more appealing option for companies. Landfill is becoming scarce, with many authorities hinting that the amount of void in existence across all UK landfill sites, has less than ten years existence left before all sites are deemed to be full.
In recent years, waste management firms have had to switch their focus, and start to take into account and invest in technology, such as energy from waste facilities, anaerobic digestion plants and mechanised biological treatment plants, as alternatives to landfill. Local Authorities also have adapted their approaches by undertaking comprehensive strategic reviews as to how waste material under their jurisdiction should be taken care of. In some instances this has meant that unitary authorities are progressing plans to bring in long term agreements, usually around two-and-a-half decades long, through which to handle their waste management requirements. These deals will most likely include the need to create a facility through which to handle all waste material produced across the city by sorting all waste streams. The contracts might also incorporate the collection of all waste and recyclables from homes throughout the region. So the issue of waste management is beginning to change rapidly. The times of just throwing everything in the dustbin have disappeared and the arrival of new technologies are upon us. The introduction of new technologies will play a huge role in the future of waste management.
Summary
Recycling is now a way of life and is here to stay. It has evolved over the years from a thing that was carried out without any real thought behind it. The trusty rag and bone man was just trying to make a living. Today, many blue chip firms are setting out plans for a ‘zero to landfill’ waste policy, where the purpose is very obvious – reduce waste, reuse waste and recycle waste, but no waste must end up in landfill. Some companies have announced ambitious target dates by which to accomplish such plans.
Many homes across the country now have some kind of container in which to divide waste materials for recycling. The need to separate newspapers, aluminium cans and plastic bottles are almost common place. Whilst in industrial and commercial areas, there is an increasing list of items to take into account for recycling like printer cartridges, office paper, metal and electrical equipment. Even on street corners and airports you see bins to recycle such items as newspapers and drink cans.
Ideally the 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.
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