Throughout history, recycling has existed in one guise or another. Even as long ago as 400 BC signs of earlier recycling are recognized to have happened. Archaeological studies show that ancient waste dumps contained less of what is known nowadays as household waste, like pots, utensils and ash, which demonstrates that people were, even in those days, keen to reuse products at a time when natural resources were not so freely available. Little did they know that what they were starting would play a huge role in shaping society for future generations
Indeed it could be argued that the old ‘rag-and-bone’ man was just an early recycler collecting unwanted goods on his horse and cart, before reusing or transforming the accumulated items into new things.
During periods such as the World War Years, recycling and re-use were crucial as natural materials became a lot more difficult to come by. Along with food being rationed, certain materials such as metal and fibre were largely allowed just for use by the government in support of military operations, in order to meet manufacturing requirements often in the production of weaponry.
As a result of rising energy costs, the demand to recycle aluminium increased during the seventies.. As a material aluminium uses a lesser amount of energy within the production process than alternative materials. Plus it was much prized due to its non rusting qualities. The need for aluminium saw the rise of scrap metal dealers who were willing to pay good money in exchange for the best quality metal. Also, in the 70’s in regions of the United States of America, the first vehicles were seen to be collecting waste with a separate trailer for the recovery of recyclable items being towed behind the vehicle. This was mainly for large bulky objects such as bedsteads and old carpets.
Towards the late eighties, early 1990’s and as the awareness of handling the intercontinental environmental state accelerated amongst world-wide authorities, the debate on recycling really began to get energy. In the United Kingdom, the authorities imposed recycling targets upon Local Authorities along with the introduction of the fresh new legislation upon the waste products sector, recycling initiatives really started to take off. The once widely knownwaste disposal companies, began to call themselves waste management firms and demonstrated by the offer of waste collection and recyclable materials collection that waste had to be handled more successfully. Local skip companies needed to become better at what they did.
Today, many hundreds of materials and resources are easily recycled, including paper, card, glass and plastics, to mobile phones, electrical items, printer cartridges, textiles, clothing and concrete. The demand for different types of collection receptacles has increased dramatically.
What Exactly is Recycling?
The term recycling identifies the operation of converting second-hand products into new or nearly new materials to avoid the need for potentially valuable materials or products to be thrown away. Essentially it is diverting waste materials from landfill.
Recycling performs an integral role in a modern world where climate change is high on the green agenda. It helps to reduce the requirement to unnecessarily send waste materials and products to landfill or other waste disposal options. This in turn lessens the need and the reliance upon the consumption of fresh or new natural resources, reduces energy use and air and water supply pollution, all of which contribute to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Recycling would probably be mostnoticeable through the recycling services now provided by local authorities for domestic refuse and recycling collections and by contemporary waste management firms who generally provide a full range of waste and recycling collection services.
Recently the recovery of energy from waste is becoming an important green development for the advantage of everyone.
In the waste materials market, the normal advertising activity surrounds the waste hierarchy – ‘reduce, reuse, recycle and recover’. This four R slogan is a basic message created for a far reaching crowd. Think about how you can get rid of your waste material. Could the waste materials products or materials be reused? Could the waste product or material be recycled or retrieved?
The waste material hierarchy is usually a strategy which a lot of waste material management organisations and local authorities consider when producing new waste management approaches. The strategy is meant to concentrate the thoughts around preventing waste materials being generated to begin with. Consider the options for reuse and recycling but ultimately minimise the amount of waste produced at the end of the cycle.
And so the focus is very much on the entire manufacturing process. The waste hierarchy extends much wider than to waste materials management companies and local bodies. Working groups have been set up to bring many industries together to consider the whole waste cycle. For instance, the manufacturer of a product must take into account how a product will be manufactured. Could parts be used which can later be recycled or reused? Could the quantity of packaging which surrounds the product be decreased? Once the item reaches the store, is it required for the product to be located within an outer package? If the retailer sells the merchandise, what will the consumer do with the unwanted components of the acquisition, i.e. the packaging? How will the packaging be stored and where will it go? Can it go back to a recycling plant, for onward transfer to a reprocessing facility, where the cycle begins again? The process must be simple to manage and implement.
How are Materials Collected for Recycling?
Legislation now dictates that all waste must be processed to avoid the volume of recyclables and unnecessary waste materials heading direct to landfill. Since 1996, the United Kingdom government has applied a landfill levy on all waste material disposed of within landfill. The rate of tax has increased considerably lately rising from the original level of £8 per ton, to the current rate of £40 per ton. The UK government has recently declared that this will increase further to £48 per ton from the end of 2010/11. This fee applies to all general waste material streams, although there is a lower rate for inert materials. Dispatching waste materials straight to landfill is an expensive choice and finding appropriate processes to divert waste out of landfill is now important.
Thus, the message to everyone is obvious, segregate your waste materials to reduce the amount of waste material going to landfill. Typically, both at home and at work, as soon as you place waste into the bin , it’s forgotten about. Another person will collect it and take it away. Nowadays, in your own home and at work, recycling is being stimulated via the provision of containers in which to place specific recyclable materials.
Perhaps the most common resources to be seen being gathered for recycling are paper, card, glass, metals and plastics. But the opportunity to recycle many materials or products continues to grow. Although technically not seen as recycling, food waste and garden waste collections are increasing, where the food or garden waste materials is taken back to a plant for processing into a reusable or saleable compost product.
One of several methods to make certain we won’t vanish under a mountain of waste materials is to construct extra energy recovering facilities to ensure that our waste turns into a valuableresource.
The means of collecting materials or waste material to be recycled is also escalating and becoming more noticeable within local communities. Dedicated collection sites, often referred to as bring bank sites, are springing up in superstore car parks to inspire clientele of the store to return such objects as bottles, newspapers or cardboard to the containers on their way into the store.
Local Authority waste material collection crews or their appointed contractors will collect refuse and recyclables from the roadside normally at the front of your home. Collection from domestic premises typically continues to be the responsibility of the local authorities many have now employed the provision of boxes in which to collect specified recyclable materials or products.
In the industrial and commercial market, waste materials management businesses offer different storage containers in which the customer deposits the applicable waste material stream or recyclable material ready for collection. The containers will often be plainly branded as to which recyclable materials need to be placed within that container or bin. Alternatively, the bins will probably be colour coded to identify which recyclable materials need to be placed within which bins. Waste management companies also may have to deal with special requests from the customer.
The key to a successful recycling initiative is informing the public about what can be recycled and how. In the commercial world getting the co-operation of shop floor employees is crucial. The introduction of any recycling scheme must ensure that in asking staff to separate waste for recycling, it does not become time consuming and affect the productivity of what employees should be doing in their work.
The Recycling Process
Various collection solutions exist for the collection of the recyclable material . Regardless of what collection method is utilised , the materials are taken to a drop off point where they’ll be segregated from other wastes. This may be done by hand or by employing mechanised separators.
To begin the recycling process from the collection point of view, the more recyclable materials that can be segregated at source, i.e. at home or in the work place, the more useful it will be for the waste collector. That is why separate storage units are provided to the waste producer to promote segregation at source. If card could be collected using a truck, which will collect no other waste material, the card is going to be kept uncontaminated and for that reason could have a greater value when it actually reaches the processing plant. Similarly, specialist glass collection vehicles are employed to collect only glass. Aside from the obvious health and safety factors and the weight of collected glass, it’ll have a much higher value if the collected glass load is not contaminated with other waste. Uncontaminated recyclables will have a much higher value than contaminated materials.
Once collected, the recyclable materials may be taken direct to a reprocessing plant, if the load contains only that particular type of material. So a dedicated glass collection truck could take the load on to a glass processing plant.
If compounded recyclables have been collected like paper and card within the same compartment, it may be required for the collector to take the load to a drop off point to unload and permit the load to be sorted into distinct paper and card bundles for onward transport to a paper or card processing plant. No matter which approach is used, the recyclable material obtained will most likely be segregated or washed before going through to a reprocessing facility to be converted to a new useful resource and eventually used as a new product or in manufacturing.
In acute financial conditions such as today, bringing down food waste will make a large difference to the finances on a private as well as a national level.
The Increasing Significance of Recycling
In the UK close to 35% of waste materials collected from homes is recycled or composted. While within the commercial and industrial area, the volume of waste materials sent to landfill has dropped significantly recently and also the volume of waste materials now being diverted for recycling or reuse by this sector has risen above the quantities going to landfill.
Landfill continues to play a vital role in the management of waste across the UK as not all waste materials can be recycled and some are more suited to landfill disposal than by any other means. However, it’s not only the increasing expense of disposing of waste directly in landfill which is making recycling a more appealing option for businesses. Landfill has started to become scarce, with certain specialists hinting that the amount of void available across all UK landfill sites, has less than 10 years existence left before all sites are reckoned to be filled.
In recent years, waste material management firms have had to switch their focal point, and begin to consider and put money into new technologies, like energy from waste facilities, anaerobic digestion facilities and mechanised biological treatment plants, as alternatives to landfill. Local Authorities have adapted their attitudes by commencing detailed strategic reviews as to how waste materials under their jurisdiction should be handled. In some cases this has meant that unitary authorities are implementing plans to introduce extended contracts, usually around 25 years long, through which to manage all of their waste materials management demands. These deals will often include the need to create a facility through which to handle all waste material created across the region by segregating all waste streams. The contracts may also include the collection of all waste and recyclables from households across the region. So the face of waste management is changing rapidly. The days of just throwing every little thing in the dustbin have gone and the development of new technologies are upon us.
Summary
Recycling is now a lifestyle and is here to stay. It has evolved through the years from something that was performed without any real thought behind it. The trusty rag and bone man was just working to make a living. Today, many blue chip organisations are setting out plans for a ‘zero to landfill’ waste policy, where the objective is very obvious – reduce waste, reuse waste and recycle waste, but no waste must finish up in landfill. Some companies have announced ambitious target dates by which to accomplish such policies.
Many households across the country now have some kind of container in which to isolate waste for recycling. The requirement to separate newspapers, aluminium cans and plastic bottles are almost the norm. Whilst in industrial and commercial sectors, there is an increasing list of items to take into account for recycling such as printer cartridges, office paper, metal and electrical equipment.
Ideally the whole process would be a complete cycle such as it was in the days of the horse. However the advent of new technologies will accelerate further the way in which our waste is to be managed in the future, but it is highly improbable that we will ever reach the ultimate waste free society. There will always be a need for waste to be disposed of somewhere, somehow.
