Recycling a bOOn

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PROJECT

ON

RECYCLING ³A BOON´



NAME- KHUSHBOO JHA

ROLL NO - 08/223

B.COM(H) FINAL YEAR

Z AKIR HUSSAIN COLLEGE



RECYCLING ³A BOON´

A project submitted

by

KHUSHBOO JHA

ROLL NO: 08/223

B.COM (H) FINAL YEAR

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

Dr. MASROOR AHMED BEG

ZAKIR HUSAIN COLLEGE

NEW DELHI- 110002



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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project entitled RECYCLING ³A BOON´,

submitted by KHUSHBOO JHA (08/223), B.COM (H) FINAL YEAR

from ZAKIR HUSAIN COLLEGE, Delhi, is a record of bonafide work

carried out by her under our supervision and guidance.

Dr. MASROOR AHMED BEG

Professor Department of Commerce New Delhi, 110002

Date: DEC 20, 2010



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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my profound gratitude to Dr. MASROOR

AHMED BEG. of our Department, ZAKIR HUSSAIN COLLEGE,

Delhi for suggesting me this interesting project and providing their expert guidance and

constant encouragement throughout the work, without which this part of the project could

not have reached to this current format.

I am thankful to Dr. MASROOR AHMED BEG for his support at mydifficult times.

KHUSHBOO JHA

DEC20,2010



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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE ..................................................................................................................... 4

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .....................................................................................................5

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................... 6

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 8

Chapter 2 HISTORY ........................................................................................................ 9

2.1.1 Early recycling .................................................................................................. 9

2.1.2 Wartime recycling............................................................................................. 9

2.1.3 Post-war recycling ........................................................................................... 9

2.2 Legislation ............................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

2.2.1 Supply ............................................................................................................ 10

2.2.2 Government-mandated demand ....................................................................... 10

2.3 Process .................................................................. 1Error! Bookmark not defined.

2.3.1 Collection ....................................................................................................... 11 2.3.2 Curbside collection ......................................................................................... 11

2.3.3 Sorting ........................................................................................................... 12

2.3.4 sorted Trade in recyclates ................................................................................ 12

2.4 Cost-benefit analysis ............................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

2.5 Criticism................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

2.6 Criticisms of many popular points usd for recycling ...... Error! Bookmark not defined.

2.6.1 Saves energy .................................................................................................. 15

2.6.2 Saves money ................................................... 1Error! Bookmark not defined.

2.6.3 Saves trees ..................................................................................................... 17

2.7 Possible income loss and social costs ...................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

2.8 Public participation in recycling programmes .......... Error! Bookmark not defined. Chapter 3 PLASTIC RECYCLING ............................................................................... 20

3.1 Challenges ........................................................................................................... 20

3.2 Processes .............................................................................................................. 21

3.2.1 Monomer recycling ...................................................................................... 21

3.2.2 Thermal depolymerization ........................................................................... 21

3.2.3 Heat compression ......................................................................................... 21

3.2.4 Other processes ........................................................................................... 22

3.3 Applications ......................................................................................................... 22

3.3.1 PET .............................................................................................................. 22

3.3.2 PVC ............................................................................................................. 22

3.3.3 HDPE .......................................................................................................... 22

3.3.4 Other plastics .............................................................................................. 23

3.4 Financial justification ........................................................................................... 23

3.5 Recycling rates ..................................................................................................... 23

3.6 Consumer education ............................................................................................. 24

3.6.1 United States .................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

3.6.2 United Kingdom ......................................................................................... 24

3.7 Plastic identification code .................................................................................... 25



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Chapter 4 PAPER RECYCLING ................................................................................... 27

4.1 Rationale for recycling ......................................................................................... 27

4.1.1 Energy .......................................................................................................... 28

4.1.2 Landfill use ................................................................................................... 28

4.1.3 Water and air pollution................................................................................... 28

4.2 Criticism .............................................................................................................. 29 4.3 Recycling facts and figures ................................................................................... 29

4.4 Paper recycling by region ..................................................................................... 30

4.4.1 European Union ........................................................................................... 30

4.4.2 Japan ........................................................................................................... 30

4.4.3 United States of America ............................................................................ 30

4.4.4 Mexico ....................................................................................................... 31

Chapter 5 GLASS RECYCLING .................................................................................. 33

5.1 Glass reuse .......................................................................................................... 33

5.2 Glass collection ................................................................................................... 34

5.3 Glass recycling by country ................................................................................... 34

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.3.1

Germany ..................................................................................................... 34

5.3.2 United Kingdom ........................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

5.3.2.1 Secondary uses for recycled glass ................................................................ 35

5.3.3 United States ............................................................................................... 36

Chapter 6 TEXTILE RECYCLING ............................................................................... 38

6.1 Textiles and leather recycling categories ............................................................ 38

6.2 Textile collection ................................................................................................ 38

6.3 Reuse ................................................................................................................... 39

6.3.1 Resale ......................................................................................................... 39

6.3.2 Conversion to rags ...................................................................................... 39

6.4 Recycling ............................................................................................................ 39

6.4.1 Obstacles .................................................................................................... 39

6.4.2 Process ....................................................................................................... 39 Chapter 7 ELECTRONIC WASTE RECYCLING ....................................................... 42

7.1 Definitions .......................................................................................................... 43

7.2 Problems .............................................................................................................. 43

7.3 Global trade issues ............................................................................................... 44

7.4 E-waste management .......................................................................................... 46

7.4.1 Recycling ..................................................................................................... 46

7.4.2 Consumer awareness efforts ........................................................................ 47

7.4.3 Processing techniques ................................................................................. 48

7.4.4 Benefits of Recycling .................................................................................. 49

7.5 Electronic waste substances ................................................................................. 49

7.5.1 Hazardous .................................................................................................... 50

7.5.2 Generally non-hazardous ............................................................................. 50

Chapter 8 FURTHER READING .................................................................................. 51

8.1 Reuse everyday items .......................................................................................... 52

8.2 Reusable Items ....................................................................................................... 52

8.3 Useful Tips .......................................................................................................... 53

8.4 Sites encouraging reuse ........................................................................................ 53



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1.0 INTRODUCTIONRecycling involves processing used materials (waste) into new products to prevent wasteof potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce

energy usage, reduce air pollution (from incineration) and water pollution (fromlandfilling) by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse gas emissions as compared to virgin production. Recycling is a keycomponent of modern waste reduction and is the third component of the "Reduce, Reuse,Recycle" waste hierarchy.

Recyclable materials include many kinds of glass, paper , metal, plastic, textiles, andelectronics. Although similar in effect, the composting or other reuse of biodegradablewaste ± such as food or garden waste ± is not typically considered recycling. Materials to

be recycled are either brought to a collection center or picked up from the curbside, thensorted, cleaned, and reprocessed into new materials bound for manufacturing.

In a strict sense, recycling of a material would produce a fresh supply of the samematerial²for example, used office paper would be converted into new office paper, or used foamed polystyrene into new polystyrene. However, this is often difficult or tooexpensive (compared with producing the same product from raw materials or other sources), so "recycling" of many products or materials involves their reuse in producingdifferent materials (e.g., paperboard) instead. Another form of recycling is the salvage of

certain materials from complex products, either due to their intrinsic value (e.g., lead from car batteries, or gold from computer components), or due to their hazardous nature(e.g., removal and reuse of mercury from various items). Critics dispute the net economicand environmental benefits of recycling over its costs, and suggest that proponents of recycling often make matters worse and suffer from confirmation bias. Specifically,critics argue that the costs and energy used in collection and transportation detract from(and outweigh) the costs and energy saved in the production process; also that the jobs produced by the recycling industry can be a poor trade for the jobs lost in logging,mining, and other industries associated with virgin production; and that materials such as paper pulp can only be recycled a few times before material degradation prevents further recycling. Proponents of recycling dispute each of these claims, and the validity of

arguments from both sides has led to enduring controversy.



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2.0 History

2.1.1 Early recycling

Recycling has been a common practice for most of human history, with recordedadvocates as far back as Plato in 400 BC. During periods when resources were scarce,archaeological studies of ancient waste dumps show less household waste (such as ash, broken tools and pottery)²implying more waste was being recycled in the absence of new material.

In pre-industrial times, there is evidence of scrap bronze and other metals being collectedin Europe and melted down for perpetual reuse. In Britain dust and ash from wood andcoal fires was collected by 'dustmen' and downcycled as a base material used in brick making. The main driver for these types of recycling was the economic advantage of obtaining recycled feedstock instead of acquiring virgin material, as well as a lack of

public waste removal in ever more densely populated areas. In 1813, Benjamin Law developed the process of turning rags into 'shoddy' and 'mungo' wool in Batley,Yorkshire. This material combined recycled fibres with virgin wool. The West Yorkshire shoddy industry in towns such as Batley and Dewsbury, lasted from the early 19thcentury to at least 1914.

2.1.2 Wartime recycling

Resource shortages caused by the world wars, and other such world-changingoccurrences greatly encouraged recycling. Massive government promotion campaignswere carried out in World War II in every country involved in the war, urging citizens to

donate metals and conserve fibre, as a matter of significant patriotic importance.Resource conservation programs established during the war were continued in somecountries without an abundance of natural resources, such as Japan, after the war ended.

2.1.3 Post-war recycling

The next big investment in recycling occurred in the 1970s, due to rising energy costs.Recycling aluminium uses only 5% of the energy required by virgin production; glass, paper and metals have less dramatic but very significant energy savings when recycledfeedstock is used.



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2.2 Legislation

2.2.1 Supply

For a recycling program to work, having a large, stable supply of recyclable material is

crucial. Three legislative options have been used to create such a supply: mandatoryrecycling collection, container deposit legislation, and refuse bans. Mandatory collectionlaws set recycling targets for cities to aim for, usually in the form that a certain percentage of a material must be diverted from the city's waste stream by a target date.The city is then responsible for working to meet this target.

Container deposit legislation involves offering a refund for the return of certaincontainers, typically glass, plastic, and metal. When a product in such a container is purchased, a small surcharge is added to the price. This surcharge can be reclaimed bythe consumer if the container is returned to a collection point. These programs have beenvery successful, often resulting in an 80% recycling rate. Despite such good results, the

shift in collection costs from local government to industry and consumers has createdstrong opposition to the creation of such programs in some areas.

A third method of increase supply of recyclates is to ban the disposal of certain materialsas waste, often including used oil, old batteries, tires and garden waste. One aim of thismethod is to create a viable economy for proper disposal of banned products. Care must be taken that enough of these recycling services exist, or such bans simply lead toincreased illegal dumping.

2.2.2 Government-mandated demand

Legislation has also been used to increase and maintain a demand for recycled materials.Four methods of such legislation exist: minimum recycled content mandates, utilizationrates, procurement policies, recycled product labeling.

Both minimum recycled content mandates and utilization rates increase demand directly by forcing manufacturers to include recycling in their operations. Content mandatesspecify that a certain percentage of a new product must consist of recycled material.Utilization rates are a more flexible option: industries are permitted to meet the recyclingtargets at any point of their operation or even contract recycling out in exchange for tradeable credits. Opponents to both of these methods point to the large increase inreporting requirements they impose, and claim that they rob industry of necessary

flexibility.

Governments have used their own purchasing power to increase recycling demandthrough what are called "procurement policies". These policies are either "set-asides",which earmark a certain amount of spending solely towards recycled products, or "price preference" programs which provide a larger budget when recycled items are purchased.Additional regulations can target specific cases: in the United States .



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2.3 Process

2.3.1 Collection

A number of different systems have been implemented to collect recyclates from the

general waste stream. These systems lie along the spectrum of trade-off between publicconvenience and government ease and expense. The three main categories of collectionare "drop-off centres", "buy-back centres" and "curbside collection".

Drop-off centres require the waste producer to carry the recyclates to a central location,either an installed or mobile collection station or the reprocessing plant itself. They arethe easiest type of collection to establish, but suffer from low and unpredictablethroughput. Buy-back centres differ in that the cleaned recyclates are purchased, thus providing a clear incentive for use and creating a stable supply. The post-processedmaterial can then be sold on, hopefully creating a profit. Unfortunately governmentsubsidies are necessary to make buy-back centres a viable enterprise, as according to the

United States Nation Solid Wastes Management Association it costs on average US$50 to process a ton of material, which can only be resold for US$30.

2.3.2 Curbside collection

Curbside collection encompasses many subtly different systems, which differ mostly onwhere in the process the recyclates are sorted and cleaned. The main categories are mixedwaste collection, commingled recyclables and source separation. A waste collectionvehicle generally picks up the waste.

At one end of the spectrum is mixed waste collection, in which all recyclates are

collected mixed in with the rest of the waste, and the desired material is then sorted outand cleaned at a central sorting facility. This results in a large amount of recyclablewaste, paper especially, being too soiled to reprocess, but has advantages as well: the cityneed not pay for a separate collection of recyclates and no public education is needed.Any changes to which materials are recyclable is easy to accommodate as all sortinghappens in a central location.

In a Commingled or single-stream system, all recyclables for collection are mixed butkept separate from other waste. This greatly reduces the need for post-collection cleaning but does require public education on what materials are recyclable.

Source separation is the other extreme, where each material is cleaned and sorted prior tocollection. This method requires the least post-collection sorting and produces the purestrecyclates, but incurs additional operating costs for collection of each separate material.An extensive public education program is also required, which must be successful if recyclate contamination is to be avoided.



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2.3.3 Sorting

Once commingled recyclates are collected and delivered to a central collection facility,the different types of materials must be sorted. This is done in a series of stages, many of which involve automated processes such that a truck-load of material can be fully sorted

in less than an hour. Some plants can now sort the materials automatically, known assingle-stream recycling. A 30 percent increase in recycling rates has been seen in theareas where these plants exist.

Initially, the commingled recyclates are removed from the collection vehicle and placedon a conveyor belt spread out in a single layer. Large pieces of corrugated fiberboard and plastic bags are removed by hand at this stage, as they can cause later machinery to jam.

Next, automated machinery separates the recyclates by weight, splitting lighter paper and plastic from heavier glass and metal. Cardboard is removed from the mixed paper, andthe most common types of plastic, PET (#1) and HDPE (#2), are collected. This

separation is usually done by hand, but has become automated in some sorting centers: aspectroscopic scanner is used to differentiate between different types of paper and plastic based on the absorbed wavelengths, and subsequently divert each material into the proper collection channel.

Strong magnets are used to separate out ferrous metals, such as iron, steel, and tin-platedsteel cans ("tin cans"). Non-ferrous metals are ejected by magnetic eddy currents inwhich a rotating magnetic field induces an electric current around the aluminium cans,which in turn creates a magnetic eddy current inside the cans. This magnetic eddy currentis repulsed by a large magnetic field, and the cans are ejected from the rest of therecyclate stream.

Finally, glass must be sorted by hand based on its color: brown, amber, green or clear.

2.3.4 Sorted Trade in recyclates

Certain countries trade in unprocessed recyclates. Some have complained that theultimate fate of recyclates sold to another country is unknown and they may end up inlandfills instead of reprocessed. According to one report, in America, 50-80% of computers destined for recycling are actually not recycled. There are reports of illegal-

waste imports to China being dismantled and recycled solely for monetary gain, withoutconsideration for workers' health or environmental damage. Though the Chinesegovernment has banned these practices, it has not been able to eradicate them. In 2008,the prices of recyclable waste plummeted before rebounding in 2009. Cardboardaveraged about £53/tonne from 2004 ±2008, dropped to £19/tonne, and then went up to£59/tonne in May 2009. PET plastic averaged about £156/tonne, dropped to £75/tonneand then moved up to £195/tonne in May 2009.



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2.4 Cost-benefit analysis

There is some debate over whether recycling is economically efficient. Municipalities often see fiscal benefits from implementing recycling programs, largely due to thereduced landfill costs. A study conducted by the Technical University of Denmark foundthat in 83% of cases, recycling is the most efficient method to dispose of householdwaste. However, a 2004 assessment by the Danish Environmental Assessment Instituteconcluded that incineration was the most effective method for disposing of drink containers, even aluminium ones.

Fiscal efficiency is separate from economic efficiency. Economic analysis of recyclingincludes what economists call externalities, which are unpriced costs and benefits thataccrue to individuals outside of private transactions. Examples include: decreased air pollution and greenhouse gases from incineration, reduced hazardous waste leachingfrom landfills, reduced energy consumption, and reduced waste and resource consumption, which leads to a reduction in environmentally damaging mining and timber activity. About 4,000 minerals have been identified, of these around 100 can be calledcommon, another several hundred are relatively common, and the rest are rare.

Without more recycling, zinc could be used up by 2037, both indium and hafnium couldrun out by 2017, and terbium could be gone before 2012. At current rates, reserves of phosphorus will be depleted in the next 50 to 100 years. Without mechanisms such astaxes or subsidies to internalize externalities, businesses will ignore them despite thecosts imposed on society. To make such non-fiscal benefits economically relevant,advocates have pushed for legislative action to increase the demand for recycledmaterials. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has concluded infavor of recycling, saying that recycling efforts reduced the country's carbon emissions by a net 49 million metric tonnes in 2005. In the United Kingdom, the Waste andResources Action Programme stated that Great Britain's recycling efforts reduce CO2 emissions by 10-15 million tonnes a year. Recycling is more efficient in densely populated areas, as there are economies of scale involved.

Environmental effects of recyclingMaterial Energy savings Air pollution savings

Aluminium 95% 95%

Cardboard 24% ²

Glass 5-30% 20%

Paper 40% 73%

Plastics 70% ²

Steel 60% ²



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2.5 Criticism

An Italian aluminium can recycling logo. The USA, UK and Italy have severalaluminium recycling schemes in operation.

A UK LDPE plastic bottle recycling logo. The UK openly encourages plastic recyclingschemes and has many under way already.

Much of the difficulty inherent in recycling comes from the fact that most products arenot designed with recycling in mind

The concept of sustainable design aims to solve this problem, and was laid out in the book "Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things" by architect WilliamMcDonough and chemist Michael Braungart. They suggest that every product (and all packaging they require) should have a complete "closed-loop" cycle mapped out for eachcomponent²a way in which every component will either return to the natural ecosystemthrough biodegradation or be recycled indefinitely.

As with environmental economics, care must be taken to ensure a complete view of the

costs and benefits involved. For example, cardboard packaging for food products is moreeasily recycled than plastic, but is heavier to ship and may result in more waste fromspoilage.



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2.6 Criticisms of many popular points used for recycling-

2.6.1 Saves energy

There is controversy on just how much energy is saved through recycling. The EnergyInformation Administration (EIA) states on its website that "a paper mill uses 40 percentless energy to make paper from recycled paper than it does to make paper from freshlumber. Critics often argue that in the overall processes, it can take more energy to produce recycled products than it does to dispose of them in traditional landfill methods.This argument is followed from the curbside collection of recyclables, which critics noteis often done by a second waste truck . Recycling proponents point out that a secondtimber or logging truck is eliminated when paper is collected for recycling.

It is difficult to determine the exact amount of energy consumed or produced in wastedisposal processes. How much energy is used in recycling depends largely on the type of material being recycled and the process used to do so. Aluminium is generally agreed touse far less energy when recycled rather than being produced from scratch. The EPAstates that "recycling aluminum cans, for example, saves 95 percent of the energyrequired to make the same amount of aluminum from its virgin source, bauxite.

Economist Steven Landsburg has suggested that the sole benefit of reducing landfillspace is trumped by the energy needed and resulting pollution from the recycling process.

Others, however, have calculated through life cycle assessment that producing recycled

paper uses less energy and water than harvesting, pulping, processing, and transportingvirgin trees. When less recycled paper is used, additional energy is needed to create andmaintain farmed forests until these forests are as self-sustainable as virgin forests.

Other studies have shown that recycling in itself is inefficient to perform the³decoupling´ of economic development from the depletion of non-renewable rawmaterials that is necessary for sustainable development.



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2.6.2 Saves money

A man rummaging through a skip at the back of an office building in Central London in2006. The wood could be used for urban lumberjacking and the cardboard could be

recycled.

The amount of money actually saved through recycling depends on the efficiency of therecycling program used to do it. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance argues that the costof recycling depends on various factors around a community that recycles, such aslandfill fees and the amount of disposal that the community recycles. It states thatcommunities start to save money when they treat recycling as a replacement for their traditional waste system rather than an add-on to it and by "redesigning their collectionschedules and/or trucks."

In many cases, the cost of recyclable materials also exceeds the cost of raw materials.

Virgin plastic resin costs40%

less than recycled resin. Additionally, a United StatesEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA) study that tracked the price of clear glass fromJuly 15 to August 2, 1991, found that the average cost per ton ranged from $40 to $60,[32] while a USGS report shows that the cost per ton of raw silica sand from years 1993 to1997 fell between $17.33 and $18.10.

In a 1996 article for The New York Times, John Tierney argued that it costs more moneyto recycle the trash of New York City than it does to dispose of it in a landfill. Tierneyargued that the recycling process employs people to do the additional waste disposal,sorting, inspecting, and many fees are often charged because the processing costs used tomake the end product are often more than the profit from its sale.[34] Tierney also

referenced a study conducted by the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) that found in the six communities involved in the study, "all but one of thecurbside recycling programs, and all the composting operations and waste-to-energy incinerators, increased the cost of waste disposal."



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Working conditions

Critics often argue that while recycling may create jobs, they are often jobs with lowwages and terrible working conditions. These jobs are sometimes considered to be make-work jobs that don't produce as much as the cost of wages to pay for those jobs. In areas

without many environmental regulations and/or worker protections, jobs involved inrecycling such as ship breaking can result in deplorable conditions for both workers andthe surrounding communities.

2.6.3 Saves trees

Economist Steven Landsburg, author of a paper entitled "Why I Am Not anEnvironmentalist," [37] has claimed that paper recycling actually reduces tree populations.He argues that because paper companies have incentives to replenish the forests theyown, large demands for paper lead to large forests. Conversely, reduced demand for paper leads to fewer "farmed" forests. Similar arguments were expressed in a 1995 articlefor The Free Market.

When foresting companies cut down trees, more are planted in their place. Most paper comes from pulp forests grown specifically for paper production.[35][39][40][41] Manyenvironmentalists point out, however, that "farmed" forests are inferior to virgin forestsin several ways. Farmed forests are not able to fix the soil as quickly as virgin forests,causing widespread soil erosion and often requiring large amounts of fertilizer tomaintain while containing little tree and wild-life biodiversity compared to virgin forests.Also, the new trees planted are not as big as the trees that were cut down, and theargument that there will be "more trees" is not compelling to forestry advocates whenthey are counting saplings.



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2.7 Possible income loss and social costs

In some prosperous and many less prosperous countries in the world, the traditional job

of recycling is performed by the entrepreneurial poor such as the karung guni, Zabaleen,the rag and bone man, waste picker , and junk man. With the creation of large recyclingorganizations that may be profitable, either by law or economies of scale, the poor aremore likely to be driven out of the recycling and the remanufacturing market. Tocompensate for this loss of income to the poor, a society may need to create additionalforms of societal programs to help support the poor. Like the parable of the brokenwindow, there is a net loss to the poor and possibly the whole of a society to makerecycling artificially profitable through law. However, as seen in Brazil and Argentina,waste pickers/informal recyclers are able to work alongside governments, in(semi)funded cooperatives, allowing informal recycling to be legitimized as a payinggovernment job. Because the social support of a country is likely less than the loss of

income to the poor doing recycling, there is a greater chance that the poor will come inconflict with the large recycling organizations. This means fewer people can decide if certain waste is more economically reusable in its current form rather than beingreprocessed. Contrasted to the recycling poor, the efficiency of their recycling mayactually be higher for some materials because individuals have greater control over whatis considered ³waste.´

One labor-intensive underused waste is electronic and computer waste. Because thiswaste may still be functional and wanted mostly by the poor, the poor may sell or use it ata greater efficiency than large recyclers.

Many recycling advocates believe that this laissez-faire individual-based recycling doesnot cover all of society¶s recycling needs. Thus, it does not negate the need for anorganized recycling program. Local government often consider the activities of therecycling poor as contributing to property blight.

2.8 Public participation in recycling programmes

Many studies have addressed recycling behaviour and strategies to encourage communityinvolvement in recycling programmes. It has been argued that recycling behaviour is not

natural because it requires a focus and appreciation for long term planning, whereashumans have evolved to be sensitive to short term survival goals; and that to overcomethis innate predisposition, the best solution would be to use social pressure to compel participation in recycling programmes. However, recent studies have concluded thatsocial pressure is unviable in this context.



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PLASTIC RECYCLING



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3.0 PLASTIC RECYCLING

Plastic recycling is the process of recovering scrap or waste plastics and reprocessing thematerial into useful products, sometimes completely different in form from their original

state. For instance, this could mean melting down soft drink bottles and then casting themas plastic chairs and tables. Typically a plastic is not recycled into the same type of plastic, and products made from recycled plastics are often not recyclable.

3.1 Challenges

When compared to other materials like glass and metal materials, plastic polymersrequire greater processing to be recycled. Plastics have a low entropy of mixing, which isdue to the high molecular weight of their large polymer chains. A macromolecule interacts with its environment along its entire length, so its enthalpy of mixing is largecompared to that of an organic molecule with a similar structure. Heating alone is notenough to dissolve such a large molecule; because of this, plastics must often be of nearlyidentical composition in order to mix efficiently.

When different types of plastics are melted together they tend to phase-separate, like oil

and water, and set in these layers. The phase boundaries cause structural weakness in theresulting material, meaning that polymer blends are only useful in limited applications.

Another barrier to recycling is the widespread use of dyes, fillers, and other additives in plastics. The polymer is generally too viscous to economically remove fillers, and would be damaged by many of the processes that could cheaply remove the added dyes.Additives are less widely used in beverage containers and plastic bags, allowing them to be recycled more frequently.

The use of biodegradable plastics is increasing. If some of these get mixed in the other plastics for recycling, the reclaimed plastic is not recyclable because the variance in properties and melt temperatures



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3.2 Processes

Before recycling, plastics are sorted according to their resin identification code, a methodof categorization of polymer types, which was developed by the Society of the PlasticsIndustry in 1988. Polyethylene terephthalate, commonly referred to as PET, for instance,

has a resin code of 1. They are also often separated by colour. The plastic recyclables arethen shredded. These shredded fragments then undergo processes to eliminate impuritieslike paper labels. This material is melted and often extruded into the form of pelletswhich are then used to manufacture other products.

3.2.1 Monomer recycling

Many recycling challenges can be resolved by using a more elaborate monomer recycling process, in which a condensation polymer essentially undergoes the inverse of the polymerization reaction used to manufacture it. This yields the same mix of chemicalsthat formed the original polymer, which can be purified and used to synthesize new polymer chains of the same type. Du Pont opened a pilot plant of this type in Cape Fear , North Carolina, USA, to recycle PET by a process of methanolysis, but it closed the plantdue to economic pressures.

3.2.2 Thermal depolymerization

Another process involves the conversion of assorted polymers into petroleum by a muchless precise thermal depolymerization process. Such a process would be able to acceptalmost any polymer or mix of polymers, including thermoset materials such asvulcanized rubber tires and the biopolymers in feathers and other agricultural waste. Likenatural petroleum, the chemicals produced can be made into fuels as well as polymers. A pilot plant of this type exists in Carthage, Missouri, USA, using turkey waste as inputmaterial. Gasification is a similar process, but is not technically recycling since polymersare not likely to become the result.

3.2.3 Heat compression

Yet another process that is gaining ground with startup companies (especially inAustralia, United States and Japan) is heat compression. The heat compression processtakes all unsorted, cleaned plastic in all forms, from soft plastic bags to hard industrialwaste, and mixes the load in tumblers (large rotating drums resembling giant clothesdryers). The most obvious benefit to this method is the fact that all plastic is recyclable,not just matching forms. However, criticism rises from the energy costs of rotating thedrums, and heating the post-melt pipes.



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3.2.4 Other processes

A process has also been developed in which many kinds of plastic can be used as acarbon source in the recycling of scrap steel.

3.3 Applications

3.3.1 PET

Post-consumer polyethylenes are sorted into different color fractions, cleaned, and prepared for processing. This sorted post-consumer PET waste is crushed, chopped intoflakes, pressed into bales, and offered for sale

One use for this recycled PET that has recently started to become popular is to createfabrics to be used in the clothing industry. The fabrics are created by spinning the PETflakes into thread and yarn. This is done just as easily as creating polyester from brandnew PET. The recycled PET thread or yarn can be used either alone or together withother fibers to create a very wide variety of fabrics. Traditionally these fabrics were usedto create strong, durable, rough, products, such as jackets, coat, shoes, bags, hats, andaccessories. However, these fabrics are usually too rough on the skin and could causeirritation. Therefore, they usually are not used on any clothing that may irritate the skin,or where comfort is required. But in today's new eco-friendly world there has been moreof a demand for ³green´ products. As a result, many clothing companies have startedlooking for ways to take advantage of this new market and new innovations in the use of recycled PET fabric are beginning to develop. These innovations included different waysto process the fabric to use the fabric, or blend the fabric with other materials. Some of the fabrics that are leading the industry in these innovations include Billabong's Eco-

Supreme Suede, Livity's Rip-Tide III, Wellman Inc's Eco-fi(formerly known asEcoSpun), and Reware's Rewoven. Some additional companies that take pride in usingrecycled PET in their products are Crazy Shirts and Playback

3.3.2 PVC

PVC- or Vinyl Recycling has historically been difficult to perfect on the industrial scale.But within the last decade several viable methods for recycling or upcycling PVC plastic have been developed.

3.3.3 HDPE

The most-often recycled plastic HDPE or number 2, is downcycled into plastic lumber ,tables, roadside curbs, benches, truck cargo liners, trash receptacles, stationery (e.g.rulers) and other durable plastic products and is usually in demand.



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3.3.4 Other plastics

The white plastic foam peanuts used as packing material are often accepted by shippingstores for reuse.

Successful trials in Israel have shown that plastic films recovered from mixed municipalwaste streams can be recycled into useful household products such as buckets.]

Similarly, agricultural plastics such as mulch film, drip tape and silage bags are beingdiverted from the waste stream and successfully recycled into much larger products for industrial applications such as plastic composite railroad ties. Historically, theseagricultural plastics have primarily been either landfilled or burned on-site in the fields of individual farms.

CNN reports that Dr. S. Madhu of the Kerala Highway Research Institute, India hasformulated a road surface that includes recycled plastic. Aggregate, bitumen (asphalt)

with plastic that has been shredded and melted at a temperature below 220 degrees C(428 °F) to avoid pollution. This road surface is claimed to be very durable and monsoonrain resistant. The plastic is sorted by hand, which is economical in India. The test roadused 60 kg of plastic for an approx. 500m long, 8m wide, two-lane road.

3.4 Financial justification

In 2008, the price of PET dropped from $370/ton in the US to $20 in November. PET prices had returned to their long term averages by May of 2009.

3.5 Recycling rates

Plastic recycling rates lag far behind those of other items, such as newspaper (about 80%)and corrugated fiberboard (about 70%). All plastic bottles were recycled at a rate of 24% in 2005.]

The quantity of post-consumer plastics recycled has increased every year since at least1990. In 2006 the amount of plastic bottles recycled reached a record high of 2.2 trillion pounds. The amount of PET bottles recycled in 2006 increased more than 102 million

pounds compared to 2005

. HDPE bottle recycling increased in 2005

to 928 million pounds.



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3.6 Consumer education

3.6.1 United States

Low national plastic recycling rates have been due to the complexity of sorting and processing, unfavorable economics, and consumer confusion about which plastics canactually be recycled. Part of the confusion has been due to the recycling symbol that isusually on all plastic items.This symbol is called a resin identification code. It is stampedor printed on the bottom of containers and surrounded by a triangle of arrows. (See thetable in Plastic.) The intent of these arrows was to make it easier to identify plastics for recycling. The recycling symbol doesn¶t necessarily mean that the item will be accepted by residential recycling programs.

3.6.2 United Kingdom

In the UK, the amount of post-consumer plastic being recycled is relatively low, due in part to a lack of recycling facilities.

The Plastics 2020 Challenge was founded in 2009 by the plastics industry with the aim of

engaging the British public in a nationwide debate about the use, reuse and disposal of plastics, hosts a series of online debates on its website framed around the waste hierarchy.



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3.7 Plastic identification code

Seven groups of plastic polymers, each with specific properties, are used worldwide for packaging applications (see table below). Each group of plastic polymer can be identified by its Plastic Identification code (PIC) - usually a number or a letter abbreviation. For

instance, Low-Density Polyethylene can be identified by the number 4 and/or the letters"LDPE". The PIC appears inside a three-chasing arrow recycling symbol. The symbol isused to indicate whether the plastic can be recycled into new products.

The PIC was introduced by the Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. which provides auniform system for the identification of different polymer types and helps recyclingcompanies to separate different plastics for reprocessing. Manufacturers of plastic products are required to use PIC labels in some countries/regions and can voluntarilymark their products with the PIC where there are no requirements. Consumers canidentify the plastic types based on the codes usually found at the base or at the side of the plastic products, including food/chemical packaging and containers. The PIC is usually

not present on packaging films, as it is not practical to collect and recycle most of thistype of waste.

Plastic

Identification

Code

Type of plastic

polymerProperties

Common Packaging

Applications

Polyethyleneterephthalate (PET, PETE)

Clarity, strength,toughness, barrier togas and moisture.

Soft drink, water and saladdressing bottles; peanut butter and jam jars

High-density polyethylene (HDPE)

Stiffness, strength,

toughness, resistanceto moisture, permeability to gas.

Water pipes, Hula-Hoop

(children's game) rings, Milk, juice and water bottles; theoccasional shampoo / toiletry bottle

Polyvinylchloride (PVC)

Versatility, clarity,ease of blending,strength, toughness.

Juice bottles; cling films; PVC piping

Low-density polyethylene (LDPE)

Ease of processing,strength, toughness,flexibility, ease of sealing, barrier to

moisture.

Frozen food bags; squeezable bottles, e.g. honey, mustard;cling films; flexible container lids.

Polypropylene (PP)

Strength, toughness,resistance to heat,chemicals, grease andoil, versatile, barrier to moisture.

Reusable microwaveable ware;kitchenware; yogurt containers;margarine tubs; microwaveabledisposable take-awaycontainers; disposable cups; plates.



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PAPER RECYCLING



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4.0 PAPER RECYCLING

Paper recycling is the process of recovering waste paper and remaking it into new paper products. There are three categories of paper that can be used as feedstocks for makingrecycled paper: mill broke, pre-consumer waste, and post-consumer waste. Mill broke is

paper trimmings and other paper scrap from the manufacture of paper, and is recycledinternally in a paper mill. Pre-consumer waste is material which left the paper mill,which has been discarded before it was ready for consumer use. Post-consumer waste ismaterial discarded after consumer use, such as old magazines, old newspapers, officewaste, old telephone directories, and residential mixed paper. Paper suitable for recyclingis called "scrap paper". The industrial process of removing printing ink from paperfibersof recycled paper to make deinked pulp is called deinking.

4.1 Rationale for recycling

Industrialized paper making has an effect on the environment both upstream (where rawmaterials are acquired and processed) and downstream (waste-disposal impacts).Recycling paper reduces this impact.

Today, 90% of paper pulp is made of wood. Paper production accounts for about 35% of felled trees, and represents 1.2% of the world's total economic output Recycling one tonof newsprint saves about 1 ton of wood while recycling 1 ton of printing or copier paper saves slightly more than 2 tons of wood. This is because kraft pulping requires twice asmuch wood since it removes lignin to produce higher quality fibres than mechanical pulping processes. Relating tons of paper recycled to the number of trees not cut ismeaningless, since tree size varies tremendously and is the major factor in how much

paper can be made from how many trees Trees raised specifically for pulp productionaccount for 16% of world pulp production, old growth forests 9% and second- and third-and more generation forests account for the balance Most pulp mill operators practicereforestation to ensure a continuing supply of trees. The Programme for the Endorsementof Forest Certification (PEFC) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certify paper made from trees harvested according to guidelines meant to ensure good forestry practices. It has been estimated that recycling half the world¶s paper would avoid theharvesting of 20 million acres (81,000 km ) of forestland.



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4.1.1 Energy

Energy consumption is reduced by recycling, although there is debate concerning theactual energy savings realized. The Energy Information Administration claims a 40% reduction in energy when paper is recycled versus paper made with unrecycled pulp,

while the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) claims a 64% reduction. Somecalculations show that recycling one ton of newspaper saves about 4,000 kW·h (14 GJ) of electricity, although this may be too high (see comments below on unrecycled pulp). Thisis enough electricity to power a 3-bedroom European house for an entire year, or enoughenergy to heat and air-condition the average North American home for almost six monthsRecycling paper to make pulp may actually consume more fossil fuels than making new pulp via the kraft process; however, since these mills generate all of their energy from burning waste wood (bark, roots) and byproduct lignin. Pulp mills producing newmechanical pulp use large amounts of energy; a very rough estimate of the electricalenergy needed is 10 gigajoules per tonne of pulp (2500 kW·h per short ton), usually fromhydroelectric generating plants. Recycling mills purchase most of their energy from local

power companies, and since recycling mills tend to be in urban areas, it is likely that theelectricity is generated by burning fossil fuels.[

4.1.2 Landfill use

About 35% of municipal solid waste (before recycling) by weight is paper and paper products. Recycling 1 ton of newspaper eliminates 3 cubic meters of landfill.

Incineration of waste paper is usually preferable to landfilling since useful energy is

generated. Organic materials, including paper, decompose in landfills, albeit sometimesslowly, releasing methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Many larger landfills now collectthis methane for use as a biogas fuel. In highly urbanized areas, such as the northeasternUS and most of Europe, land suitable for landfills is scarce and must be used carefully.

4.1.3 Water and air pollution

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found that recyclingcauses 35% less water pollution and 74% less air pollution than making virgin paper.Pulp mills can be sources of both air and water pollution, especially if they are producing bleached pulp. Modern mills produce considerably less pollution than those of a few

decades ago. Recycling paper decreases the demand for virgin pulp and thus reduces theoverall amount of air and water pollution associated with paper manufacture. Recycled pulp can be bleached with the same chemicals used to bleach virgin pulp, but hydrogen peroxide and sodium hydrosulfite are the most common bleaching agents. Recycled pulp,or paper made from it, is known as PCF (process chlorine free) if no chlorine-containingcompounds were used in the recycling process. However, recycling mills may have polluting by-products, such as sludge. De-inking at Cross Pointe's Miami, Ohio millresults in sludge weighing 22% of the weight of wastepaper recycled.



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4.2 Criticism

Some of the claimed benefits of paper recycling have fallen under criticism, such as the

claim that recycling saves trees, reduces energy consumption, reduces pollution, createsdesirable jobs, and saves money. 4.3 Recycling facts and figures

In the mid-19th century, there was an increased demand for books and writing material.Up to that time, paper manufacturers had used discarded linen rags for paper, but supplycould not keep up with the increased demand. Books were bought at auctions for the purpose of recycling fiber content into new paper, at least in the United Kingdom, by the

beginning of the 19th century.

Some statistics on paper consumption:

y The average per capita paper use worldwide was 110 pounds (50 kg). It isestimated that 95% of business information is still stored on paper. [Source:

International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) Discussion Paper (IIED, London, September 1996)]

y Recycling 1 short ton (0.91 t) of paper saves 17 mature trees, 7 thousand USgallons (26 m3) of water, 3 cubic yards (2.3 m3) of landfill space, 2 barrels of oil(84 US gal or 320 l), and 4,100 kilowatt-hours (15 GJ) of electricity ² enough

energy to power the average American home for six months.y Although paper is traditionally identified with reading and writing,

communications has now been replaced by packaging as the single largestcategory of paper use at 41% of all paper used

y 115 billion sheets of paper are used annually for personal computers.y The average web user prints 28 pages daily.y Most corrugated fiberboard boxes have over 25% recycled fibersy Some are 100% recycled fiber.



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4.4 Paper recycling by region

4.4.1 European Union

Paper recovery in Europe has a long history and has grown into a mature organization.

The European papermakers and converters work together to meet the requirements of theEuropean Commission and national governments. Their aim is the reduction of theenvironmental impact of waste during manufacturing, converting/printing, collecting,sorting and recycling processes to ensure the optimal and environmentally soundrecycling of used paper and board products. In 2004 the paper recycling rate in Europewas 54.6% or 45.5 million short tons (41.3 Mt). The recycling rate in Europe reached64.5% in 2007, which confirms that the industry is on the path to meeting its voluntarytarget of 66% by 2010.

4.4.2 Japan

Municipal collections of paper for recycling are in place. However, according to theYomiuri Shimbun, in 2008, eight paper manufacturers in Japan have admitted tointentionally mislabeling recycled paper products, exaggerating the amount of recycled paper used.

4.4.3 United States of America

Recycling has long been practiced in the United States. The history of paper recyclinghas several dates of importance:

y 1690: The first paper mill to use recycled linen was established by theRittenhouse family.

y 1896: The first major recycling center was started by the Benedetto family in New York City, where they collected rags, newspaper, and trash with a pushcart.

y 1993: The first year when more paper was recycled than was buried in landfills

Today, over half of the material used to make paper is recovered waste. Paper productsare the largest component of municipal solid waste, making up more than 40% of thecomposition of landfills. In 2006, a record 53.4% of the paper used in the US (or 53.5 million tons) was recovered for recycling. This is up from a 1990 recovery rate of 33.5%.The US paper industry has set a goal to recover 55 percent of all the paper used inthe US by 2012. Paper packaging recovery, specific to paper products used by the packaging industry, was responsible for about 77% of packaging materials recycled withmore than 24 million pounds recovered in 2005.



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By 1998, some 9,000 curbside programs and 12,000 recyclable drop-off centers hadsprouted up across the US for recycles collection. As of 1999, 480 materials recoveryfacilities had been established to process the collected materials.

In 2008, the global financial crisis resulted in the price of old newspapers to drop in the

US from $130 to $40 per short ton ($1

40/t to $

45/t) in October.

4.4.4 Mexico

In Mexico, recycled paper, rather than wood pulp, is the principal feedstock in papermillsaccounting for about 75% of raw materials.



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GLASS RECYCLING



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5.0 GLASS RECYCLING

Glass recycling is the process of turning waste glass into usable products. Glass wasteshould be separated by chemical composition, and then, depending on the end use andlocal processing capabilities, might also have to be separated into different colors. Many

recyclers collect different colors of glass separately since glass retains its color after recycling. The most common types used for consumer containers are colorless glass,green glass, and brown/amber glass.

Glass makes up a large component of household and industrial waste due to its weightand density. The glass component in municipal waste is usually made up of bottles, broken glassware, light bulbs and other items. Adding to this waste is the fact that manymanual methods of creating glass objects have a defect rate of around forty percent. Glassrecycling uses less energy than manufacturing glass from sand, lime and soda. Everymetric ton of waste glass recycled into new items saves 315 additional kilograms of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere during the creation of new glass.

Glass that is crushed and ready to be remelted is called cullet.

5.1 Glass reuse

Reuse of glass containers is preferable to recycling according to the waste hierarchy.Refillable bottles are used extensively in many European countries, Canada and untilrelatively recently, in the United States. In Denmark 98% of bottles are refillable and98% of those are returned by consumers. A similarly high number is reported for beer

bottles in Canada.These systems are typically supported by container deposit laws andother regulations. In some developing nations like India and Brazil, the cost of new bottles often forces manufacturers to collect and refill old glass bottles for sellingcarbonated and other drinks.

5.2 Glass collection



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Vehicle emptying a glass bank in Europe

Glass collection points, known as Bottle Banks are very common near shopping centres,at civic amenity sites and in local neighborhoods in the United Kingdom. The first BottleBank was introduced by Stanley Race CBE, then president of the Glass Manufacturers¶Federation and Ron England in Barnsley on 6 June 1977

Bottle Banks commonly stand beside collection points for other recyclable waste like paper , metals and plastics. Local, municipal waste collectors usually have one central point for all types of waste in which large glass containers are located. There are nowover 50,000 bottle banks in the United Kingdom.

Most collection points have separate bins for clear, green and amber/brown glass. Glassreprocessors require separation by colour as the different colours of glass are usuallychemically incompatible. Heat-resistant glass like Pyrex or borosilicate glass should not be disposed of in the glass container as even a single piece of such material will alter theviscosity of the fluid in the furnace at remelt.

5.3 Glass recycling by country

5.3.1 Germany

In 2004, Germany recycled 2,116,000 tons of glass. Reusable glass or plastic (PET) bottles are available for many drinks, especially beer and carbonated water as well as

softdrinks (Mehrwegflaschen). The deposit per bottle (Pfand) is ¼0.08-¼0.15, comparedto ¼0.25 for recyclable but not reusable plastic bottles. There is no deposit for glass bottles which do not get refilled.

5.3.2 United Kingdom



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The 600 ml beer bottle is the standard reused bottle in Brazil. It was extended from beer to popular carbonated drinks.

752,000 tons of glass are now recycled annually in the United Kingdom.[

Glass is an idealmaterial for recycling and where it is used for new glass container manufacture it isvirtually infinitely recyclable. The use of recycled glass in new containers helps saveenergy. It helps in brick and ceramic manufacture, and it conserves raw materials,reduces energy consumption, and reduces the volume of waste sent to landfill.

5.3.2.1 Secondary uses for recycled glass

In the United Kingdom, the waste recycling industry cannot consume all of the recycled

container glass that will become available over the coming years, mainly due to thecolour imbalance between that which is manufactured and that which is consumed. TheUK imports much more green glass in the form of wine bottles than it uses, leading to asurplus amount for recycling.

The resulting surplus of green glass from imported bottles may be exported to producingcountries, or used locally in the growing diversity of secondary end uses for recycledglass.

Cory Environmental are presently shipping glass cullet from the UK to Portugal.

The use of the recycled glass as aggregate in concrete has become popular in moderntimes, with large scale research being carried out at Columbia University in New York.This greatly enhances the aesthetic appeal of the concrete. Recent research findings haveshown that concrete made with recycled glass aggregates have shown better long termstrength and better thermal insulation due to its better thermal properties of the glassaggregates. Secondary markets for glass recycling may include:



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y Glass in ceramic sanitary ware productiony Glass as a flux agent in brick manufacture y Glass in astroturf and related applications (e.g. top dressing, root zone) material or

golf bunker sandy Glass in recycled glass countertops y Glass as water filtration media y Glass as an abrasive

Mixed glass waste streams can also be recycled and converted into an aggregate. Mixedwaste streams may be collected from materials recovery facilities or mechanical biological treatment systems. Some facilities can sort out mixed waste streams intodifferent colours using electro-optical sorting units.

5.3.3 United States

Rates of recycling and methods of waste collection vary substantially across the UnitedStates because laws are written on the state or local level and large municipalities oftenhave their own, unique systems. Many cities do curb-side recycling meaning that theycollect household recyclable waste on a weekly or bi-weekly basis that residents set outin special containers in front of their homes.

Apartment dwellers usually use shared containers that may be collected by the city or by private recycling companies which can have their own recycling rules. In some cases,glass is specifically separated into its own container because broken glass is a hazard tothe people who later manually sort the co-mingled recyclables. Sorted recyclables arelater sold to companies

In 1971 the state of Oregon passed a law requiring buyers of carbonated beverages (suchas beer and soda) to pay five cents per container as a deposit which would be refunded toanyone who returned the container for recycling. This law has since been copied in nineother states including New York and California. The abbreviations of states with depositlaws are printed on all qualifying bottles and cans. In states with these container depositlaws, most supermarkets automate the deposit refund process by providing machineswhich will count containers as they are inserted and then print credit vouchers that can beredeemed at the store for the number of containers returned.



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TEXTILE RECYCLING



38

6.0 TEXTILE RECYCLING

Textile recycling is the method of reusing or reprocessing used clothing, fibrous materialand clothing scraps from the manufacturing process. Textiles in municipal solid waste are

found mainly in discarded clothing, although other sources include furniture, carpets,tires, footwear, and nondurable goods such as sheets and towels.

6.1 Textiles and leather recycling categories

This section requires expansion.

y Cotton Recyclingy Wool Recyclingy Burlap, Jute and Sisal Recyclingy Polyurethane Foam Recyclingy Polyester and Polyester Fiber Recyclingy Nylon and Nylon Fiber Recyclingy Other Synthetic Fiber Recyclingy Carpet Recyclingy Rags and Wipersy Used and Recycled Bagsy Used Clothingy Used Footwear y Leather Recyclingy Textile Recycling Employmenty Other Textile Waste

6.2 Textile collection

For consumers the most common way of recycling textiles is reuse through reselling or

donating to charity (Goodwill Industries, Salvation Army, etc.) However certaincommunities in the United States have been accepting textiles in curbside pickup since1990. The textiles must be clean and dry for them to be accepted being recycled.

Some companies, such as Patagonia, an outdoor clothing and gear company, accept their product back for recycling.



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6.3 Reuse

Textile reuse is not classified as "recycling" by the United States EnvironmentalProtection Agency because the reused garments and wiper rags re-enter the waste streameventually, so these techniques are classified as a diversion and not recovery for recycling

estimates.

6.3.1 Resale

After collection of the textiles, workers sort and separate collected textiles into goodquality clothing and shoes which can be reused or worn.

6.3.2 Conversion to rags

Damaged textiles are sorted to make industrial wiping cloths

6.4 Recycling

6.4.1 Obstacles

If textile re-processors receive wet or soiled clothes however, these may still end up being disposed of in landfill, as the washing and drying facilities are not present at sortingunits.

6.4.2 Process

Clothing fabric generally consists of composites of cotton (biodegradable material) and

synthetic plastics. The textile's composition will affect its durability and method of recycling.

Fiber reclamation mills grade incoming material into type and color. The color sortingmeans no re-dying has to take place, saving energy and pollutants. The textiles are



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shredded into "shoddy" fibers and blended with other selected fibers, depending on theintended end use of the recycled yarn.

The blended mixture is carded to clean and mix the fibers and spun ready for weaving or knitting. The fibers can also be compressed for mattress production. Textiles sent to the

flocking industry are shredded to make filling material for car insulation, roofing felts,loudspeaker cones, panel linings and furniture padding.

For specialized polyester based materials the recycling process is significantly different.The first step is to remove the buttons and zippers then to cut the garments into small pieces. The shredded fabric is then granulated and formed into small pellets.

The pellets are broken down polymerized and turned into polyester chips. The chips aremelted and spun into new filament fiber used to make new polyester fabrics.

Some companies are creating new pieces of clothing from scraps of old clothes. Bycombining and making new additions, the eclectic garments are marketed as a type of style.



41

ELECTRONIC WASTE RECYCLING



42

7.0 ELECTRONIC WASTE RECYCLING

Defective and obsolete electronic equipment.

Electronic waste, e-waste, e-scrap, or Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) describes loosely discarded, surplus, obsolete, or broken electrical or electronic

devices. Environmental groups claim that the informal processing of electronic waste indeveloping countries causes serious health and pollution problems. Some electronic scrapcomponents, such as CRTs, contain contaminants such as lead, cadmium, beryllium,mercury, and brominated flame retardants.

Activists claim that even in developed countries recycling and disposal of e-waste mayinvolve significant risk to workers and communities and great care must be taken to avoid

unsafe exposure in recycling operations and leaching of material such as heavy metalsfrom landfills and incinerator ashes. Scrap industry and USA EPA officials agree thatmaterials should be managed with caution, but that environmental dangers of unusedelectronics have been exaggerated by groups which benefit from increased regulation.



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7.1 Definitions

"Electronic waste" may be defined as all secondary computers, entertainment device

electronics, mobile phones, and other items such as television sets and refrigerators,whether sold, donated, or discarded by their original owners. This definition includesused electronics which are destined for reuse, resale, salvage, recycling, or disposal.Others define the re-usables (working and repairable electronics) and secondary scrap(copper , steel, plastic, etc.) to be "commodities", and reserve the term "waste" for residueor material which was represented as working or repairable but which is dumped or disposed or discarded by the buyer rather than recycled, including residue from reuse andrecycling operations. Because loads of surplus electronics are frequently commingled(good, recyclable, and non-recyclable), several public policy advocates apply the term "e-waste" broadly to all surplus electronics. The United States Environmental ProtectionAgency (EPA) includes discarded CRT monitors in its category of "hazardous household

waste".[ but considers CRTs set aside for testing to be commodities if they are notdiscarded, speculatively accumulated, or left unprotected from weather and other damage.

Debate continues over the distinction between "commodity" and "waste" electronicsdefinitions. Reusable laptops, computers, and components like RAM) can help pay thecost of transportation for a large number of worthless "electronic commodities

7.2 ProblemsRapid changes in technology, low initial cost, and planned obsolescence have resulted ina fast-growing surplus of electronic waste around the globe. Dave Kruch, CEO of CashFor Laptops, regards electronic waste as a "rapidly expanding" issue. Technical solutionsare available, but in most cases a legal framework, a collection system, logistics, andother services need to be implemented before a technical solution can be applied. Anestimated 50 million tons of E-waste is produced each year

The USA discards 30 million computers each year and 100 million phones are disposedof in Europe each year. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that only 15-20% of e-waste is recycled, the rest of these electronics go directly into landfills andincinerators.

In the United States, an estimated 70% of heavy metals in landfills comes from discardedelectronics.



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7.3 Global trade issues

Electronic waste is often exported to developing countries.4.5-Volt, D, C, AA, AAA, 9-Volt, SR41/AG3, SR44/AG13 cells are all recyclable inmost countries.

Increased regulation of electronic waste and concern over the environmental harm whichcan result from toxic electronic waste has raised disposal costs. The regulation creates an

economic disincentive to remove residues prior to export. Critics of trade in usedelectronics maintain that it is too easy for brokers calling themselves recyclers to exportunscreened electronic waste to developing countries, such as China, India and parts of Africa, thus avoiding the expense of removing items like bad cathode ray tubes (the processing of which is expensive and difficult).

The developing countries are becoming big dump yards of e-waste due to their weak laws. Proponents of international trade point to the success of fair trade programs in other industries, where cooperation has led creation of sustainable jobs, and can bringaffordable technology in countries where repair and reuse rates are higher.

Defenders of the trade in used electronics say that extraction of metals from virginmining has also been shifted to developing countries. Hard-rock mining of copper, silver,gold and other materials extracted from electronics is considered far moreenvironmentally damaging than the recycling of those materials.

They also state that repair and reuse of computers and televisions has become a "lost art"in wealthier nations, and that refurbishing has traditionally been a path to development.South Korea, Taiwan, and southern China all excelled in finding "retained value" in usedgoods, and in some cases have set up billion-dollar industries in refurbishing used ink

cartridges, single-use cameras, and working CRTs. Refurbishing has traditionally been athreat to established manufacturing, and simple protectionism explains some criticism of the trade. Works like "The Waste Makers" by Vance Packard explain some of thecriticism of exports of working product, for example the ban on import of tested workingPentium 4 laptops to China, or the bans on export of used surplus working electronics byJapan.



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Opponents of surplus electronics exports argue that lower environmental and labor standards, cheap labor, and the relatively high value of recovered raw materials leads to atransfer of pollution-generating activities, such as burning of copper wire. In China,Malaysia, India, Kenya, and various African countries, electronic waste is being sent tothese countries for processing, sometimes illegally. Many surplus laptops are routed to

developing nations as "dumping grounds for e-waste" Because the United States has notratified the Basel Convention or its Ban Amendment, and has no domestic lawsforbidding the export of toxic waste, the Basel Action Network estimates that about 80% of the electronic waste directed to recycling in the U.S. does not get recycled there at all, but is put on container ships and sent to countries such as China.

This figure is disputed as an exaggeration by the EPA, the Institute for Scrap RecyclingIndustries, and the World Reuse, Repair and Recycling Association. Independentresearch by Arizona State University showed that 87-88% of imported used computers

had a higher value than the best value of the constituent materials they contained, and that"the official trade in end-of-life computers is thus drive by reuse as opposed torecycling."

Guiyu in the Shantou region of China, Delhi and Bangalore in India as well as theAgbogbloshie site near Accra, Ghana have electronic waste processing areas.Uncontrolled burning, disassembly, and disposal can cause a variety of environmental problems such as groundwater contamination, atmospheric pollution, or even water pollution either by immediate discharge or due to surface runoff (especially near coastal

areas), as well as health problems including occupational safety and health effects amongthose directly involved, due to the methods of processing the waste.

Thousands of men, women, and children are employed in highly polluting, primitiverecycling technologies, extracting the metals, toners, and plastics from computers andother electronic waste. Recent studies show that 7 out of 10 children in this region havetoo much lead in their blood.

Proponents of the trade say growth of internet access is a stronger correlation to tradethan poverty. Haiti is poor and closer to the port of New York than southeast Asia, but far more electronic waste is exported from New York to Asia than to Haiti.



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7.4 E-waste management

7.4.1 Recycling

Computer monitors are typically packed into low stacks on wooden pallets for recycling

and then shrink-wrapped.See also: Computer recycling

Today the electronic waste recycling business is in all areas of the developed world alarge and rapidly consolidating business. Electronic waste processing systems havematured in recent years, following increased regulatory, public, and commercial scrutiny,and a commensurate increase in entrepreneurial interest. Part of this evolution hasinvolved greater diversion of electronic waste from energy-intensive downcycling processes (e.g., conventional recycling), where equipment is reverted to a raw materialform. This diversion is achieved through reuse and refurbishing. The environmental andsocial benefits of reuse include diminished demand for new products and virgin raw

materials (with their own environmental issues); larger quantities of pure water andelectricity for associated manufacturing; less packaging per unit; availability of technology to wider swaths of society due to greater affordability of products; anddiminished use of landfills.

Audiovisual components, televisions, VCRs, stereo equipment, mobile phones, other handheld devices, and computer components contain valuable elements and substancessuitable for reclamation, including lead, copper , and gold.

One of the major challenges is recycling the printed circuit boards from the electronicwastes. The circuit boards contain such precious metals as gold, silver, platinum, etc. and

such base metals as copper, iron, aluminum, etc. Conventional method employed ismechanical shredding and separation but the recycling efficiency is low. Alternativemethods such as cryogenic decomposition have been studied for printed circuit boardrecycling,and some other methods are still under investigation.



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7.4.2 Consumer awareness efforts

y AddressTheMess.com is a Comedy Central pro-social campaign that seeks to

increase awareness of the dangers of electronic waste and to encourage recycling.Partners in the effort include Earth911.org, ECOInternational.com, and the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency. Many Comedy Central viewers are earlyadopters of new electronics, and produce a commensurate amount of waste thatcan be directed towards recycling efforts. The station is also taking steps to reduceits own environmental impact, in partnership with NativeEnergy.com, a companythat specializes in renewable energy and carbon offsets.

y The Electronics TakeBack Coalition is a campaign aimed at protecting human

health and limiting environmental effects where electronics are being produced,used, and discarded. The ETBC aims to place responsibility for disposal of technology products on electronic manufacturers and brand owners, primarilythrough community promotions and legal enforcement initiatives. It providesrecommendations for consumer recycling and a list of recyclers judgedenvironmentally responsible.

y The grassroots Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (svtc.org) focuses on promotinghuman health and addresses environmental justice problems resulting from toxins

in technologies.

y Basel Action Network (BAN.org) is uniquely focused on addressing globalenvironmental injustices and economic inefficiency of global "toxic trade". Itworks for human rights and the environment by preventing disproportionatedumping on a large scale. It promotes sustainable solutions and attempts to banwaste trade.

y Texas Campaign for the Environment (texasenvironment.org) works to buildgrassroots support for e-waste recycling and uses community organizing to pressure electronics manufacturers and elected officials to enact producer takeback recycling policies and commit to responsible recycling programs.



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7.4.3 Processing techniques

Recycling the lead from batteries.

In developed countries, electronic waste processing usually first involves dismantling theequipment into various parts (metal frames, power supplies, circuit boards, plastics),often by hand. The advantages of this process are the human's ability to recognize andsave working and repairable parts, including chips, transistors, RAM, etc. Thedisadvantage is that the labor is often cheapest in countries with the lowest health andsafety standards.

In an alternative bulk system, a hopper conveys material for shredding into asophisticated mechanical separator, with screening and granulating machines to separateconstituent metal and plastic fractions, which are sold to smelters or plastics recyclers.Such recycling machinery is enclosed and employs a dust collection system. Most of theemissions are caught by scrubbers and screens. Magnets, eddy currents, and trommel screens are employed to separate glass, plastic, and ferrous and nonferrous metals, whichcan then be further separated at a smelter . Leaded glass from CRTs is reused in car batteries, ammunition, and lead wheel weights, or sold to foundries as a fluxing agent in processing raw lead ore. Copper, gold, palladium, silver, and tin are valuable metals soldto smelters for recycling. Hazardous smoke and gases are captured, contained, and treatedto mitigate environmental threat. These methods allow for safe reclamation of allvaluable computer construction materials. Hewlett-Packard product recycling solutionsmanager Renee St. Denis describes its process as: "We move them through giantshredders about 30 feet tall and it shreds everything into pieces about the size of aquarter. Once your disk drive is shredded into pieces about this big, it's hard to get thedata off."

An ideal electronic waste recycling plant combines dismantling for component recoverywith increased cost-effective processing of bulk electronic waste.

Reuse is an option to recycling because it extends the lifespan of a device. Devices stillneed eventual recycling, but by allowing others to purchase used electronics, recyclingcan be postponed and value gained from device use.



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7.4.4 Benefits of Recycling

Recycling raw materials from end-of-life electronics is the most effective solution to the

growing e-waste problem. Most electronic devices contain a variety of materials,including metals that can be recovered for future uses. By dismantling and providingreuse possibilities, intact natural resources are conserved and air and water pollutioncaused by hazardous disposal is avoided. Additionally, recycling reduces the amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused by the manufacturing of new products. It simply makesgood sense and is efficient to recycle and to do our part to keep the environment green.

7.5 Electronic waste substances

Several sizes of button and coin cell with 2 9v batteries as a size comparison. Enlarge tosee the button and coin cells¶ size code markings. They are all recyclable in both the UK and Ireland since they contain toxic metals like lead, mercury and cadmium.

Some computer components can be reused in assembling new computer products, whileothers are reduced to metals that can be reused in applications as varied as construction,flatware, and jewelry.

Substances found in large quantities include epoxy resins, fiberglass, PCBs, PVC (polyvinyl chlorides), thermosetting plastics, lead, tin, copper , silicon, beryllium, carbon,iron and aluminium.

Elements found in small amounts include cadmium, mercury, and thallium.

Elements found in trace amounts include americium, antimony, arsenic, barium,

bismuth, boron, cobalt, europium, gallium, germanium, gold, indium, lithium,manganese, nickel, niobium, palladium, platinum, rhodium, ruthenium, selenium, silver ,tantalum, terbium, thorium, titanium, vanadium, and yttrium.

Almost all electronics contain lead and tin (as solder) and copper (as wire and printedcircuit board tracks), though the use of lead-free solder is now spreading rapidly. Thefollowing are ordinary applications:



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7.5.1 Hazardous

y Americium: smoke alarms (radioactive source).y Mercury: fluorescent tubes (numerous applications), tilt switches (pinball games,

mechanical doorbells, thermostats). There are no liquid mercury switches in

ordinary computers, and the elimination of mercury batteries in many new-modelcomputers is taking place.

y Sulphur : lead-acid batteries.y PBBs: Predecessor of PCBs. Also used as flame retardant. Banned from 1973-

1977 on.y PCBs: prior to ban, almost all 1930s±1970s equipment, including capacitors,

transformers, wiring insulation, paints, inks, and flexible sealants. Banned duringthe 1980s.

y Cadmium: light-sensitive resistors, corrosion-resistant alloys for marine andaviation environments, nickel-cadmium batteries.

y Lead: solder , CRT monitor glass, lead-acid batteries, some formulations of

PVC.

[29]

A typical 15-inch cathode ray tube may contain 1.5 pounds of lead, butother CRTs have been estimated as having up to 8 pounds of lead.y Beryllium oxide: filler in some thermal interface materials such as thermal grease

used on heatsinks for CPUs and power transistors,[30] magnetrons, X-ray-transparent ceramic windows, heat transfer fins in vacuum tubes, and gas lasers.

y Polyvinyl chloride Third most widely produced plastic, contains additionalchemicals to change the chemical consistency of the product. Some of theseadditional chemicals called additives can leach out of vinyl products. Plasticizersthat must be added to make PVC flexible have been additives of particular concern. Burning PVC in connection with humidity in the air creates HydrogenChloride (HCl), an acid.

7.5.2 Generally non-hazardous

y Tin: solder, coatings on component leads.y Copper : copper wire, printed circuit board tracks, component leads.y Aluminium: nearly all electronic goods using more than a few watts of power

(heatsinks), electrolytic capacitors.

y Iron: steel chassis, cases, and fixings.y Germanium: 1950s±1960s transistorized electronics ( bipolar junction transistors).y Silicon: glass, transistors, ICs, printed circuit boards.y Nickel: nickel-cadmium batteries.y Lithium: lithium-ion batteries.y Zinc: plating for steel parts.y Gold: connector plating, primarily in computer equipment.



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8.0 FURTHER READING

Recycling is the process of turning used products into raw materials that can be used to

make new products. Its purpose is to conserve natural resources and reduce pollution.Recycling reduces energy consumption, since it generally takes less energy to recycle a product than to make a new one. Similarly, recycling causes less pollution thanmanufacturing a new product, and conserves raw materials. It also decreases the amountof waste sent to landfills or incinerators. Although people have always reused things,recycling as we know it today emerged as part of the modern environmental movement.

During World War II, Americans experimented with conservation and recycling as amatter of national security. Afterward, 1950s middle class life unapologetically adoptedthe ethics of expansion and newness. As more and more middle-class Americans began toexpress environmental attitudes, the wastefulness of modern consumption became

obvious to more and more consumers.

More Americans than ever before became willing to integrate such practices into their lives as part of a commitment to the environment. For instance, most children born after the 1980s assume the "recycle, reduce, and re-use" mantra has been part of the U.S. sinceits founding. In actuality, it serves as a continuation of the cultural and social impact of Earth Day 1970 and the effort of Americans to begin to live within limits.

Belittled by many environmentalists, recycling often seems like busy-work for kids withlittle actual environmental benefit. However, such a minor shift in human behavior suggests the significant alteration made to many humans' view of their place in nature by

the late 1900s. This change in worldview, caused by many political, social, andintellectual shifts, forced humans in developed nations to question their lack of restraint.In particular, the culture of consumption of post-World War II America re-enforcedcarelessness, waste, and a drive for newness.

Environmental concerns contributed to a new "ethic" within American culture that beganto value restraint, re-use, and living within limits. This ethic of restraint, fed by over-usedlandfills and excessive litter, gave communities a new mandate in maintaining the wasteof their population. Re-using products or creating useful byproducts from waste offeredapplication of this new ethic while also offering new opportunity for economic profit anddevelopment.

Non-profit recycling centers began opening around the country, followed by municipalrecycling programs. Today, most U.S. communities have such programs. A typical program asks people to separate their recyclables from their trash before placing them atthe curb for collection. To encourage recycling, some communities also charge residentsfor the quantity of trash put out for collection. The most commonly recycled householditems are paper and cardboard; metal, glass, and plastic containers and packaging; andyard waste. Recycling the recovered materials is simple for metals and glass; they can be



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melted down, reformed, and reused. Yard waste can be composted with little or noequipment. Paper, the most important recycled material, must be mixed with water, andsometimes de-inked, to form a pulp that can be used in papermaking. Plastics recyclingrequires an expensive process of separation of different resins.

Metropolitan leads e-waste recycling initiative Metropolitan group signed an MOU with the Central Environmental Authority to recycleall workplace related electronic waste (e-waste). Under this programme which is alreadyimplemented by the Metropolitan Group, all items from computers, copiers, printers,cartridges, toners, drums, telephoning units, scanners, paper, fax machines and all other related workplace items are being recycled in part

8.1 Reuse everyday items

Many items found around the home can be used for different purposes. So before youthrow those items away, think about how they can be reused. Below are some suggestionsof how to reuse those everyday bits and pieces.

8.2 Reusable Items

Carrier bags and twist ties. Carrier bags can be reused in the shops or as bin bags around the house. Paper bags make useful wrapping paper and twist ties can

be used to secure loose items together, such as computer wires.

Envelopes By sticking labels over the address you can reuse envelopes.Alternatively, old envelopes can be used as scrap paper to make notes on.

Jars and pots. By cleaning glass jars and small pots, you can use them as smallcontainers to store odds and ends.

Newspaper, cardboard and bubble wrap Make useful packing material whenmoving house or to store items.

Old clothes ± can be made into other textile items such as cushion covers or teapot cosies.

Packaging Such as foil and egg cartons can be donated to schools and nurseries,where they can be use in art and craft projects.



8.3 Useful Tips

Old Electrical Equipment Donate old electrical equipment to schools or community centers so that others can reuse them.

Donate Old Clothes and Books Other people can reuse your unwanted clothesand books when you donate them to charity shops.

Car-boot Sale Have a car-boot sale and get rid of some unwanted items. Other people may find a use for them, plus it gives you the opportunity to earn someextra cash.

Rechargeable Batteries Rechargeable batteries can be reused many times before they need throwing away, opposed to regular batteries that createunnecessary waste.

Build a Compost Bin You can reuse many waste items, such as eggshells andold tea bags, using a compost bin. This waste then degrades and turns into

compost that can be used to help your garden grow.

Grass Cycling After mowing your lawn, instead of throwing the grass cuttingsaway, leave them in your garden. The nutrients from the cuttings go back into thesoil and act as a fertiliser.

8.4 Sites encouraging reuse

Don¶tDumpThat provides a quick, easy, and free way to get rid of items you don¶t want.

So if your junk still has some reusable life in it, don¶t throw it out with the rubbish:someone, somewhere can probably find a use for it.

Simple and easy to use, all you have to do is visit the website, find your nearest forum onthe map and register with your email address. You can then place an offer (you can add photos) then wait for someone to ask, arrange a time for them to pick up ± and it¶s done.If you¶re looking for something you can send your own message to ask.

Free to join, no fees or commissions. No emails to clutter your inbox, no spam or advertising and everything is family-friendly, legal, honest and decent.

Reduce the amount of waste going to landfill by using Don¶tDumpThat.

Recycling a bOOn

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