Right through history, recycling has been around in some form or another. Even as long ago as 400 BC indications of earlier recycling are known to have occurred. Archaeological studies show that historical waste dumps contained less of what’s known nowadays as household waste, including pots, tools and ash, which demonstrates that people were, even back then, keen to reuse materials at a time when natural resources weren’t so freely available.
Indeed it could be argued how the old ‘rag-and-bone’ man was just an early recycler collectingdiscarded goods on his horse and cart, before reusing or transforming the collected items into something new. The 60′s TV series, Steptoe and Son, brought this very much in to the public eye and greater attention.
During periods such as the World War Years, recycling and re-use were common place as natural materials became much more difficult to find. In addition to food being rationed, certain materials such as metal and fibre werenormally permitted just for use by the government to support military operations, in order to meet manufacturing requirements often in the production of weaponry.
As a result of rising power costs, the requirement to recycle aluminium increased during the seventies.. As a material aluminium uses a reduced amount of energy in the production process than many other materials. Also it was much sought after on account of its non rusting properties. The demand for aluminium saw the emergence of scrap metal dealers who were willing to pay money in exchange for good quality metal. Additionally, in the seventies in areas of the USA, the first vehicles were seen to be collecting waste with a separate trailer for recovery of recyclable items being towed behind the vehicle. This was mainly for large bulky objects including bedsteads and old carpets.
Towards the late eighties, early 1990′s and as the awareness of managing the intercontinental environmental state accelerated amongst worldwide governing bodies, the attention upon recycling really began to gather momentum. In the United Kingdom, the authorities imposed recycling targets upon Local Authorities and with the introduction of the new legal guidelines upon the waste materials sector, recycling programmes really started to take off. The once widely knownwaste disposal companies, began to call themselves waste management businesses and demonstrated by the offer of waste collection and recyclable materials collection that waste had to be managed more efficiently. Local skip companies needed to become better at what they did.
Currently, many hundreds of materials and resources may be recycled, which range from paper, card, glass and plastics, to mobile phones, electrical items, printer cartridges, textiles, clothing and concrete.
What is Recycling?
The term recycling describes the process of reprocessing second hand resources into new or nearly new materials and avoid the need for potentially valuable materials or products to be dumped. Essentially it is diverting waste away from landfill.
Recycling takes on a key role in a world where climate change is high on the green agenda. It helps to reduce the need to unnecessarily send waste products and products to landfill or other waste disposal options. Consequently this lessens the need or the reliance upon the consumption of fresh or new raw resources, lowers energy use and air and water supply pollution, that all contribute to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Recycling would probably be mostnoticeable through the recycling assistance now provided by local authorities for household refuse and recycling collections and by advanced waste management companies who commonly offer a full range of waste and recycling collection solutions.
To help look after the environment a raft of regulation exists, our website has the necessary information to lead you so that your needs are managed in accordance with what the law states.
Within the waste material sector, the regular marketing activity is all around the waste hierarchy – ‘reduce, reuse, recycle and recover’. This 4 R slogan is a straightforward message designed for a far reaching audience. Consider some ways to reduce your waste. Could the waste material products or materials be reused? Could the waste product or material be recycled or retrieved? Many questions to take into consideration.
The waste hierarchy is usually a strategy that a lot of waste management companies and local authorities think about when developing new waste management approaches. The system is intended to focus the thought process around avoiding waste material 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. The slogan has been adopted particularly well in the public sector.
So the focus is very much on the overall production process. The waste hierarchy stretches much wider than to waste management companies and local bodies. Working groups have been established to bring many sectors together to look at the entire waste cycle. For instance, the manufacturer of a product must consider how the product will be constructed. Could components be used that can later be recycled or reused? Could the amount of packaging which surrounds the product be decreased? Once the product gets to the store, is it essential for the product to be left inside an outer box? Once the retailer sells the item, what will the purchaser do with the unwanted components of the purchase, i.e. the packaging? How will the packaging be handled and where will it go? Does it go back to a recycling facility, for onward shipment to a reprocessing facility, where the cycle begins yet again?
How are Materials Collected for Recycling?
Legislation now dictates that most waste material must be treated to divert the amount of recyclables and unnecessary waste material going direct to landfill. Since 1996, the United Kingdom government has applied a landfill levy on all waste discarded within landfill. The rate of tax has increased considerably recently rising from the original level of £8 per ton, to today’s rate of £40 per ton. The UK government has previously announced that this will increase further to £48 per ton from the end of 2010/11. This cost applies to all general waste material streams, although there exists a lower rate for inert materials. Sending waste directly to landfill is an expensive option and finding acceptable processes to divert waste out of landfill is now important. For inert materials the rate is £2.50 per ton.
Therefore, the message to everybody is crystal clear, segregate your waste material to scale back the amount of waste material going to landfill. Ordinarily, both at home and at work, the instant you place waste in the bin , it is forgotten about. Someone else will collect it and take it away. Nowadays, in the home and at your workplace, recycling is being stimulated via the supply of containers in which to place certain recyclable materials. At home, the children are often the keen recyclers.
Some common products to be seen being gathered for recycling are paper, card, glass, metals and plastics. However the possiblity to recycle a large amount of materials or products keep increasing. 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 facility for processing into a reusable or saleable compost product.
There is a large assortment of paper recycling receptacles should be located at high usage points such as next to photocopying machines to gather unwanted papers.
The means of collecting materials or waste to be recycled is also escalating and becoming more noticeable within local communities. Specialist collection sites, often referred to as bring bank sites, are popping up in supermarket car parks to inspire customers of the store to return such items as bottles, newspapers or cardboard to the containers on their way into the store.
Local Authority waste material collection crews or their appointed personnel will collect refuse and recyclables from the kerbside normally at the front of your home. Collection from domestic premises typically continues to be the responsibility of the local council and several have employed the supply of bags in which to collect particular recyclable materials or products.
In the industrial and commercial category, waste materials management businesses offer individual containers in which the customer deposits the applicable waste materials stream or recyclable material ready for collection. The particular bins will often be plainly labeled as to which recyclable materials ought to be placed inside that container or bin. Alternatively, the bins will be colour coded to identify which recyclable products ought to be placed within which bins. Waste management companies also may have to deal with special requests from the customer.
The true secret to a successful recycling initiative is homeowners about what can be recycled and how. In the commercial world getting the co-operation of office employees is crucial. The introduction of any recycling scheme must ensure that in asking employees 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 introduction of any recycling scheme should be kept simple.
The Recycling Process
Various collection systems exist for the collection of the recyclable material . No matter which collection method is employed , the resources are taken to a recycling centre where they’ll be segregated from other waste products.
To begin the recycling process from the collection point of view, the more recyclable material that can be separated at source, i.e. at home or in the work place, the more effective it will be for the waste collector. That’s the reason individual storage units are provided to the waste producer to inspire separation at source. If card could be collected on a vehicle, that will collect no other waste materials, the card can be kept uncontaminated and therefore will have a greater value when it 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 will have a much higher value if the collected glass load is not contaminated with other waste material.
When collected, the recyclable materials can be taken direct to a reprocessing plant, if the load contains only that particular type of material. So a dedicated glass collection vehicle could take the load straight to a glass processing plant.
If blended recyclables are collected like paper and card within the same container, it may be required for the collector to take the load to a drop off point to unload and allow the load to be sorted into separate paper and card bundles for onward transport to a paper or card processing plant. Whichever method is used, the recyclable material collected will usually be segregated or washed before going through to a reprocessing plant to be processed to a new useful resource and eventually used as a new product or in manufacturing. Inert materials can be a useful by product at landfill, for example shredded car tyres to aid traction on access roads.
All corporations, large or small can be urged to introduce waste recycling systems within their organisations.
The Increasing Importance of Recycling
In the UK around 35% of waste materials collected from households is recycled or composted. While within the business and industrial area, the volume of waste material sent to landfill has dropped considerably in recent years plus the volume of waste materials now being diverted for recycling or reuse by this market has increased over the volumes going to landfill.
Landfill continues to play a key role in the management of waste throughout the UK as not all wastes are able to be recycled and some are more suited to landfill disposal than by any other method. However, it is not just the increasing expense of disposing of waste directly in landfill that is making recycling an even more appealing option for corporations. Landfill is becoming scarce, with some authorities hinting that the amount of void readily available across all UK landfill sites, has less than ten years existence left before all sites are reckoned to be filled.
In recent years, waste materials management companies have had to change their focal point, and begin to consider and put money into technology, such as energy from waste facilities, anaerobic digestion facilities and mechanical biological treatment plants, as alternate options to landfill. Local Authorities have also adapted their views by undertaking comprehensive strategic reviews as to how waste under their jurisdiction should be dealt with. In some cases this has meant that unitary authorities are implementing plans to bring in long-term agreements, usually around two-and-a-half decades long, through which to manage their waste material management demands. These deals will most likely include the need to build a facility through which to deal with all waste materials created across the region by segregating all waste material streams. The contracts may also include the collection of waste and recyclables from households across the region. So the face of waste management is evolving rapidly. The days of just throwing anything in the dustbin have gone and the advent of new technologies are upon us.
Conclusion
Recycling is now a way of life and is not going anywhere soon. It has evolved over the years from a thing that was undertaken without any 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 purpose is very clear – reduce waste, reuse waste and recycle waste, but no waste must finish up in landfill.
Many households across the country now have some kind of bin in which to separate waste for recycling. The requirement to split up 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. Even on street corners and airports you see bins to recycle such items as newspapers and drink cans.
Ideally the entire process would be a complete cycle such as it was in the days of the horse. However the advent of new technologies will increase 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.
