How does recycling work exactly? #ExplainThis?

Question

What should I throw out? Which bins? Good question! The environment is important but what to do with our wastes? So in today's question we are asking about recycling!

Blog: http://bit.ly/1E7NFfY

Answer 1

A LOT depends on how your recycling company works. For many years, my municipal recycling co. only took plastics with certain PET (something like that) numbers on them, newspapers had to be bound by twine or in a paper grocery bag, glossy magazine (including those that came in the Sunday papers) went into a separate paper bag, all glass went into another, cans went into another. Now, we just dump them all into the bin and the recycling co. does the sorting. Food stuff goes into the compost bin (and you can also put plain, non-adulterated paper, paper egg cartons--anything that will compost. Everything else goes into landfill trash. At the plant, the recycling collected goes onto conveyor belts and the employees sort through real fast picking out plastics, picking out glass, etc. and making big piles (kind of forklift trucks come by when the piles get high and haul it away. If you rent a dumpster, you just dump anything (except toxins like paint or oils or acids or like that) in the box and the trash company sorts through it all, any clothing or housewears that are still usable get sent to charities, etc. Way back when we had to the sorting, the trash company would actually rebate money each month to the subscribers (we who paid for trash pick up), it wasn't more than a few bucks but it encouraged us. Now though, you pay for the trash bin pick up, the compost pick up, the recycling pick up--a minimum of 3 cans no matter what, even if you don't make any garbage you have to pay. Kind of monopoly and it feels very...Mafia. Of course, no one who decided about all this trash stuff didn't take into consideration that it increases the vermin problems. We've never had so many flies in the warmer weather. We also had to install doors so the raccoons, opossums and other critters. I think all this recycling is good and right, but someone(s) is making a lot of money off our backs and that feels all wrong.

Answer 2

Different cities have different plans. I know in my city glass is hard to recycle. Our recycle plan doesn't require sorting so much. They do that once it reaches the processing plant for recycled material. I just make sure the plastic is clean and the cans are smooth without lids and bundle all my paper.

I do find that my neighbors have a hard time with this as I have had to go through the recycle can left for us to use at my apartment complex to get rid of fast food containers with food still in them and the plastic grocery shopping bags.

You have to look at some plastics for the triangle with the little number printed in it to see what the plastic rating is for recycling.

I try not to eat out as much. Cooking at home is economical and friendly for the environment. I reuse as much as possible and for inner city people you can still compost in small cans. I just add it to planters in my complex.

Answer 3

　
♫
　 Oh... , A Red box, Blue box, Yellow box, Green,
　 　 　 Fill them up with trinkets, the likes you've never seen,
　 　 　 A Plastic one, a Paper one, and everything between,
　 　 　 We're all pitching in to keep the environment clean,
　
♫
　 Oh... , You can check the numbers in the cycle arrows,
　 　 　 Match the item with the color, and in it goes,
　 　 　 Later a truck will pick them up to be disposed,
　 　 　 That's a day in the afterlife of a recycled bottles woes,

　 　 　 　 Now just hold on, there's more you know,
　 　 　 　 With old oils to process,and compost to grow,
　 　 　 　 Just check with town hall as to where they go,
　 　 　 　 Mark it on your calendar for the next heave-ho,

♫
　 Oh... , Wood blocks and Paper, and ever old Clothes
　 　 　 Metal and tins, and that old Rubber hose,
　 　 　 Left-overs and peelings, but no nail clippings of toes,
　 　 　 That's about it in this recycling bin prose,
..

Answer 4

Recycling Makes Sense
According to El Universal newspaper of Caracas, Venezuela, recycling aluminum cans saves 90 percent of the energy used to make new cans. Recycling paper also makes ecological sense. Fifty percent less energy is used to recycle paper than is used to produce new paper, water pollution is reduced by 58 percent, and air pollution is cut by 74 percent. Glass fares even better because it can be recycled totally, over and over.
A Swedish study shows that the cost of the energy (from oil and other sources) needed to recycle basic materials is usually far less than the cost of the energy required to process them from raw materials in the first place. For example, the study said that with the same amount of energy one could recycle 50 percent more paper, twice as much steel, three times as much aluminum, and up to five times as much of some plastics. An American study confirmed the conclusions
For more information on this subject and others, please go to the source below click on "On Line Library"
Also for free downloads, publications, watch videos or read on line.

Answer 5

Recycling is simply reusing or repurposing things that you would have otherwise consigned to the waste stream. Whether it's plastic, metal, glass or paper, much of what goes into the waste stream and hence to landfills, can be reused or repurposed. A coffee can (plastic) can be used for hardware storage, a bottle can be heated and melted into a spoon cradle for the stove. Many metal things can be melted and recast as something else and paper can be transformed into toilet tissue or copy paper. The list of things you can reuse even extends to food wastes which can be composted to help grow additional food (provides nutrients!). Often times things you have no further use for can be used by others, check out ReStore or Thrift stores which often recycle things!

Answer 6

There has been massive recycling in Canada for almost 30 years. The kids are taught in school to recycle, from a young age. U.S. lags FAR behind. The don 't teach the kids squat and they don 't give a rats *ss whether we recycle or not. It only became available in our community a few months ago - pathetic. We could have paid $45 per month just for recycle picks in the last year or so but, that is abusive and I did not buy into. I think few people did because only recently, they realized people were not that stupid and stopped charging us. After all, they are paid when they sell it. The waste company (or city) supplies you with a box and they tell you what they accept for recycling. The basics are glass, paper, cardboard and tin cans (aluminum cans, etc), You put all that stuff in the recycle bin, as opposed to the garbage bin. They pick it up and they sell it to a recycling company that separates the glass from the paper, etc. They process it and we have done our part. Instead of glass going into a huge dumping ground, it is recycled into counter tops, bottles, jars, etc. Recycled paper goes back into paper products. It means fewer trees need to be cut down. Why fill up the ground with glass and paper, etc. when it can easily and profitably be recycled.

Answer 7

Recycling works by reusing or re processing what would otherwise be thrown away.
The idea is that it saves resources - raw materials.
It also saves land space used up by piles of rubbish that can never be gotten rid of, such as plastics.
It may or may not be of any benefit to the environment. Re processing does not necessarily mean pollution free.
Possibly, it can save money.
Possibly it can create jobs.

examples -
Along with many others around here, I built my own solar hot water system using old plastic soft drink bottles and bits of garden hose. It works good. I also power my outside lights by windmills made from old car parts. (And actually does help the environment, and saves me a significant amount of money)
One of my friends started by going through waste bins, then rubbish dumps, and is now a millionaire with an international business recycling plastic.
Another makes a good living recycling paper. He now employs 60 people in a factory.
Another has a small factory where they recycle broken glass into trendy arty stuff for sale to rich people.
A local computer shop has the whole family stripping the gold, platinum and other precious metals off old computers.(new computers are not so good) - then they sell the left over plastic and other stuff to another outfit.
Picking apart old cloth items and remaking into scarves, socks, hats, cushion covers, bags,etc and so on.
That one's an export too.
Even broken pottery can be ground up and reused to make something.
And don't forget broken building bricks/smashed concrete.

I recycle. I much prefer to spend my money on important things, like Whiskey and Mars Bars.

It takes practice.
The way to get into recycling is to start by recycling your own **** - by getting off it.

Answer 8

Ideally, when raw materials are turned into item (goods) for the consumer, the same item (goods) backtracks to the manufacturers for reprocessing into new item (goods). However, the process seems to be stuck at the beginning of the backtracking because it is not cost effective for manufacturers to reprocess those obsolete or broken goods into the next generation of goods and therefore recycling is not exactly working at the moment.

In reality, only aluminum cans and plastic bottles are effectively recycled. Some paper, some petroleum products (engine oil) and electronics are also done due to laws and regulations requirement, Things like tin, steel, glass are not effectively done. The rest such as fabrics, construction materials (wood), food waste and other type of plastics are mostly mixed and dumped into the hands of waste collection and management companies to do as they please.

Answer 9

Recycling is a pretty simple concept: take something that isn't useful anymore and make it into something new instead of just throwing it away. It can be anything from recycling old paper into new paper, to making an old hubcap into a decorative birdbath. In reality, recycling can get pretty complex -- how it interacts with our environment, our politics, our economy and even our own human behavior patterns will play a major role in the future of our planet
Cheers!!!!

Answer 10

We tried getting rid of plastic bags for groceries, but the plastic industry has spent millions getting signatures to make sure it goes on the ballot. We still have a good chance to win. Many food shoppers around here, myself included use cloth bags to put our groceries in, and we can all do our part regardless of what is available. I refuse to use the little produce bags to put my lettuce or celery in. Not necessary.
I am probably preaching to the choir here, but perhaps in conversation, a person might note how many of us want to save our environment and ways to do it…. don't buy new, unless it is absolutely necessary. I have also done a lot of bartering…..taking care of our environment pays off by making money go a looooooot farther, the environment is healthier, and I get a great feeling by doing my part. It is a great way of life…..a win win situation.

Different cities have different plans. I know in my city glass is hard to recycle. Our recycle plan doesn't require sorting so much. They do that once it reaches the processing plant for recycled material. I just make sure the plastic is clean and the cans are smooth without lids and bundle all my paper.

Answer 11

Recycling is such a simple concept, I can't really understand how we got to the point where we even needed to get re-focused on it again.

There is a renewed interest in reclaiming some of the old ways, so old clothing being worked into new useful items.. strips of fabric now being braided into rag rugs, squares of heavy fabrics going into patchwork quilts and lightweight fabric squares finding new use as light warm weather blankets.

Old tin cans held nails and bolts and screws in grandpa's garage, although grandma hardly ever had many new tin cans for him because she reused canning jars to put up produce every summer. And besides, she might be claiming the use of some of the few tin cans that were brought into the house to start tomato plants in. Or I might see a few young seedling plants springing up from the soil held in an old cup or two with missing handles. Nothing was thrown away, because it was still useful and a purpose could be assigned to it still.

Plastic containers and cardboard juice boxes and packaging didn't take up space in landfills because it barely existed. Foods & beverages that were for purchase came in glass if not those old tin cans. Or wrapped in paper, which then got used for something else or perhaps torn and used to help start a fire in the wood stove in the parlor.

Leftovers became a part of a future meal. Parings and plate scrapings were tossed over the back fence to the chickens, who'd come running, not knowing that a few of those bones they were pecking the last meat from had been one of their own just that morning.

I've been recalling my past memories of their way of life, and I just don't come up with any waste, of much of anything that was thrown out to be collected as trash. Everything seemed to have a "further use" and be given a new purpose.

I suppose if we lived a bit more like that again, it would take very little money to keep us quite well.

I do know a lady who saves all the paper wrappers her individual tea bags come in and uses them for grocery and To-Do lists, etc.