Diverting Waste by Recycling
All the way through history, recycling has been around in some guise or another. Even as long ago as 400 BC evidences of earlier recycling are recognized to have happened. Archaeological reports show that ancient waste dumps contained less of what is known today as household waste, such as pots, utensils and ash, which shows that people were, even back then, keen to reuse materials during a period when natural resources were not so freely available.
Indeed it could be argued that the old ‘rag-and-bone’ man was just an early recycler collectingdiscarded goods on his horse and cart, before reusing or converting the collected items into something new.
During periods like the World War Years, recycling and re-use were vital as natural resources became much more difficult to get. As well as food being rationed, certain materials including metal and fibre were largely permitted just for use by the government in support of military operations, to fulfill manufacturing requirements often in the production of weaponry. There was a desperate need to support the military.
As a result of rising energy costs, the demand to recycle aluminium increased during the 1970′s.. As a material aluminium uses a lesser amount of energy during the production process than many other materials. Also it was much sought after because of its non rusting properties. The need for aluminium saw the rise of scrap metal merchants who were prepared to pay good money in exchange for the best quality metal. Additionally, in the seventies in regions of the United states, the first vehicles were seen to be collecting waste with a separate trailer for gathering of recyclable resources being towed behind the vehicle. This was mainly for substantial bulky objects like bedsteads and old carpets.
Into the late eighties, early 1990′s and as the importance of handling the intercontinental environmental state heightened amongst world-wide governing bodies, the attention on recycling really began to get energy. In the UK, the authorities imposed recycling targets upon Local Authorities and with the introduction of fresh legal guidelines upon the waste product industry, recycling programmes really began to take off. The once widely knownwaste disposal corporations, began to call themselves waste management firms and demonstrated by the offer of waste collection and recyclable material collection that waste needed to be handled more successfully.
These days, many hundreds of materials and products may be recycled, starting from paper, card, glass and plastics, to 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 word recycling describes the operation of reprocessing used materials into new or nearly new products avoiding the need for potentially useful materials or products to be thrown away. Essentially it is diverting waste material away from landfill.
Recycling plays a vital role in a modern world where climate change is high on the green agenda. It removes the requirement to avoidably send waste material and products to landfill or other waste disposal options. As a result this lessens the need and the reliance upon the consumption of fresh or new natural resources, lowers energy use and air and drinking water pollution, all of which contribute to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Recycling would probably be mostnoticeable through the recycling assistance now provided by local councils for domestic refuse and recycling collections and also innovative waste management companies who typically offer a full range of waste and recycling collection solutions. Some businesses, that have traditionally focused solely on the collection of recyclable materials, are extending their operations offering to collect general waste material at the same time.
Some factories will produce hazardous waste, so visit www.biffa.co.uk and bring in the experts to be sure of safe disposal and compliance with the regulations.
In the waste sector, the common marketing activity is all around the waste material hierarchy – ‘reduce, reuse, recycle and recover’. This four R slogan is a straightforward message designed for a far reaching target audience. Think about how you can reduce your waste materials. Could the waste material products or materials be reused? Could the waste product or material be recycled or recovered?
The waste materials hierarchy is a strategy that a lot of waste management organisations and local authorities look at when creating new waste management procedures. The strategy is intended to concentrate the thoughts around preventing waste being produced at all. 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 materials hierarchy extends much wider than to waste materials management companies and local bodies. Working groups have already been set up to bring many industries together to consider the entire waste cycle. For instance, the manufacturer of a product needs to consider how a product will be designed. Can components be used which can eventually be recycled or reused? Can the amount of packaging that surrounds the product be cut down? Once the item reaches the store, is it required for the product to be placed inside an outer box? Once the retailer sells the merchandise, what will the buyer do with the excess elements of the purchase, i.e. the packaging? How will the packaging be stored and where will it go? Should it go back to a recycling facility, for onward transfer to a reprocessing plant, in which the cycle begins yet again? The process must be simple to manage and implement.
How are Materials Collected for Recycling?
Legislation now dictates that most waste material should be treated to reduce the volume of recyclables and unnecessary waste materials going direct to landfill. Since 1996, the UK government has applied a landfill tax on all waste dumped within landfill. The rate of levy has increased considerably in recent years 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 by the end of 2010/11. This cost applies to all general waste material streams, although there exists a lower rate for inert products. Dispatching waste straight to landfill is an expensive choice and finding appropriate solutions to divert waste out of landfill has become important. For inert materials the rate is £2.50 per ton.
Thus, the message to everyone is crystal clear, sort your waste material to reduce the volume of waste material going to landfill. Ordinarily, both at home and at work, as soon as you place waste material into the bin , it’s forgotten about. Someone else will collect it and take it away. Today, in the home and at the office, recycling is being encouraged with the supply of bins in which to place certain recyclable materials.
Perhaps the most common materials to be seen being collected for recycling are paper, card, glass, metals and plastics. However the opportunity to recycle many materials or products keeps growing.
Within substantial organisations, various recycling schemes can simply be created to gather used or unwanted recyclable items.
The systems of collecting items or waste to be recycled is also escalating and ever more visible within local communities. Specialist collection sites, known as bring bank sites, are cropping up in supermarket car parks to inspire customers of the supermarket to return such items as bottles, newspapers or cardboard to the bins on their way into the supermarket.
Local Authority waste collection crews or their appointed contractors will collect refuse and recyclables from the roadside typically at the front of your home. Collection from household premises generally continues to be the duty of the local council and several have employed the provision of bins in which to collect specified recyclable materials or products.
In the industrial and commercial sector, waste material management businesses offer individual storage containers in which the customer deposits the applicable waste stream or recyclable materials ready for collection. The particular containers will often be plainly labeled as to which recyclable materials need to be put inside that container or bin. Alternatively, the bins will be colour coded to distinguish which recyclable wastes need to be placed within which bins. Waste management companies also may have to deal with special requests from the customer.
The key to a successful recycling initiative is homeowners 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 efficiency of what employees should be doing in their work. The introduction of any recycling scheme should be kept simple.
The Recycling Process
A variety of collection solutions exist for the collection of the recyclable material . Regardless of what collection system is utilised , the resources are taken to a recycling centre where they’ll be segregated from other waste items.
To start the recycling process from the collection viewpoint, the more recyclable material which can be segregated at source, i.e. at home or in the workplace, the more efficient it will be for the waste collector. That’s the reason individual storage units are provided to the waste producer to inspire segregation at source. If card can 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 an increased value when it actually reaches the processing plant. Likewise, specialist glass collection vehicles are used to collect solely glass. Aside from the obvious health and safety reasons and the weight of collected glass, it’ll have a much higher value if the collected glass load is not contaminated with other waste material. Uncontaminated recyclables will have a better value than contaminated materials.
When collected, the recyclable resources may be taken direct to a reprocessing plant, if the load contains only that particular type of material. So a separate glass collection truck could take the load directly to a glass processing plant. It is more likely that the glass will have to be bulked up for onward shipment to the processor.
If mixed recyclables have been collected such as paper and card within the same compartment, it could be a necessity for the collector to take the load to a drop off point to unload and permit the load to be segregated into separate paper and card bundles for onward transport to a paper or card processing plant. Whichever approach is used, the recyclable material obtained will often be segregated or washed before going through to a reprocessing facility to be converted to a new resource and eventually used as something new or in manufacturing.
Recycling has now become a way of life and it is comparatively simple to establish waste recycling systems at home or indeed in a business or work place.
The Increasing Value of Recycling
In the UK close to 35% of waste materials collected from homes is recycled or composted. Whilst in the business and industrial sector, the quantity of waste material sent to landfill has declined significantly in recent years as well as the volume of waste materials now being diverted for recycling or reuse by this market has risen above the amounts going to landfill. But there is still much to be done to increase rates even more in this sector.
Landfill continues to play a key role in the management of waste throughout the UK as not all waste products are able to be recycled plus some are more suited to landfill disposal than by any other method. Nevertheless, it is not just the increasing costs of getting rid of waste directly in landfill which is making recycling an even more attractive option for corporations. Landfill is now scarce, with some authorities suggesting that the amount of void accessible across all UK landfill sites, has under ten years existence left before all sites are deemed to be full. Such countries as Dubai have filled parts of the coastline with their waste and created useful land area to extend the boundaries of their kingdom.
In recent times, waste materials management companies have had to vary their focal point, and start to take into consideration and spend money on technology, such as energy from waste plants, anaerobic digestion facilities and mechanised biological treatment plants, as alternatives to landfill. Local Authorities have changed their approaches by undertaking comprehensive strategic reviews as to how waste materials under their jurisdiction must be taken care of. In some instances this means unitary authorities are implementing plans to introduce long-term deals, usually around 25 years in length, through which to manage all of their waste material management needs. These deals will often include the need to create a facility through which to take care of all waste produced across the city by sorting all waste materials streams. The contracts might also incorporate the collection of all waste and recyclables from households across the area. So the issue of waste management is changing quickly. The times of merely throwing anything in the dustbin have disappeared and the development of new technologies are upon us. The introduction of new technologies will play a huge role in the future of waste management.
Summary
Recycling is now a lifestyle and is here to stay. It has evolved over the years from something that was carried out with no real thought behind it. The trusty rag and bone man was just attempting to make a living. Today, many blue chip companies are setting out plans for a ‘zero to landfill’ waste plan, where the intention is very straightforward – reduce waste, reuse waste and recycle waste, but no waste must wind up in landfill.
Many houses across the country now have some type of container in which to keep separate waste materials for recycling. The need to split up newspapers, aluminium cans and plastic bottles are almost common place. Whilst in industrial and commercial sectors, there is an increasing list of items to think about for recycling like printer cartridges, office paper, metal and electrical equipment.
Ideally the entire process would be a complete cycle such as it was in the time of the horse. However the advent of new technology will increase further the way in which our waste is to be managed in the future, but it is highly unlikely that we will ever reach the ultimate waste free society.