Recycling Tips

Recycling is the reprocessing of used materials that would otherwise become waste in order to break them down and remake them into new products. This is in contrast with reuse: collecting waste such as food containers to be cleaned, refilled and resold. Recycling prevents the waste being sent to a landfill or incinerator, reduces the consumption of new raw materials, and is advocated by supporters to require less energy than virgin production. Commonly recycled materials include glass, paper, aluminum, asphalt, steel, textiles and plastic. These materials can be derived either from pre-consumer waste (materials used in manufacturing) or post-consumer waste (materials discarded by the consumer). Recycling is a key concept of modern waste management and is the third component of the waste hierarchy.

One of the main benefits of recycling comes from reducing the amount of new material required. In theory, recycling allows a material to be continually reused for the same purpose, and in many cases this theory holds true, most notably in the recycling of metals and glass.

Since less raw material is required, recycling creates further benefits for materials where cost of the initial extraction or production is high—either economically, socially or environmentally. The recycling of aluminum, for example, saves 95% of the CO2 emissions—an environmentally harmful greenhouse gas—compared to refining new metal.

Ok all fine and good you may say but what can I do? Well for a starter separate the waste you produce in the following main groups: 1. Paper, 2. Glass, 3. Aluminum, 4. Organic Waste and 5. all the rest, well yes expose separate and in appropiate locations whatever contains dangerous pollutants like batteries for example. In many locations those products are collected or can be deposited in special containers in or near comunity centers, best ask local officials for more information wherever you live and if they dont know about recycling better elect other officials when the next elections come up. Ok here are also 10 Ideas for Waste Recycling and Reduction

50 top tips for cutting waste: Pollution comes from waste, so reducing waste reduces pollution. Try these tips from Friends of the Earth UK.

More Recycling Information can be found here at: recycling-revolution.com and here at the Waste and Recycling directory from Google.

Comparing recycling with normal extraction:

Aluminium	Recycling one kilogram of aluminium saves up to 8 kilograms of bauxite, four kilograms of chemical products and 14 kilowatt hours of electricity.	It takes 20 times more energy to make aluminum from bauxite ore than using recycled aluminum.
Glass	A 20% reduction in emissions from glass furnaces and up to 32% reduction in energy usage.	For every ton of recycled glass used, approx 315 kilos of Carbon dioxide and 1.2 tons of raw materials are spared.
Paper	A ton of paper from recycled material conserves about 7,000 gallons of water, 17-31 trees, 60 lb of air pollutants and 4,000 KWh of electricity.	Milling paper from recycled paper uses 20% less energy than it does to