Throughout history, recycling has existed in some way or another. Even as long ago as 400 BC indications of early recycling are known to have happened. Archaeological studies show that historical waste dumps contained less of what is known today as household waste, such as pots, tools and ash, which demonstrates that men and women were, even back then, keen to reuse materials at a time 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 new stuff.
During periods such as the World War Years, recycling and re-use were necessary as natural materials became considerably more difficult to get. As well as food being rationed, certain materials such as metal and fibre were largely permitted just for use by the government to support military operations, to fulfill manufacturing requirements often in the production of weaponry.
Because of rising energy costs, the requirement to recycle aluminium increased during the seventies.. As a material aluminium uses much less energy within the production process than some other materials. Plus it was much sought-after because of its non rusting properties. The demand for aluminium saw the emergence of scrap metal dealers who were willing to pay cash in exchange for the best quality metal. Additionally, in the 70’s in parts of the United states, the first vehicles were seen to be collecting waste with a separate trailer for collection of recyclable items being towed behind the vehicle.
Towards the late eighties, early nineties and as the importance of handling the worldwide environmental state increased amongst global authorities, the focus upon recycling really started to gather momentum. In the United Kingdom, the authorities imposed recycling targets upon Local Authorities and with the introduction of fresh legislation upon the waste materials sector, recycling schemes really started to take off. The once commonly 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 effectively. Local skip companies needed to become better at what they did.
Nowadays, many hundreds of materials and resources can be recycled, including 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 is Recycling?
The term recycling describes the process of converting second-hand items into new or nearly new materials to avoid the need for potentially useable materials or products to be dumped.
Recycling takes on a vital role in a world where climate change is high on the green agenda. It reduces the requirement to avoidably send waste materials and products to landfill or other waste disposal options. This in turn lessens the demand and the reliance upon the consumption of fresh or new natural resources, reduces energy use and air and water supply pollution, that all contribute to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Significant contributions to improving the environment.
Recycling is probably mostnoticeable through the recycling solutions now provided by local authorities for domestic refuse and recycling collections and also modern waste management companies who commonly give a full range of waste and recycling collection solutions.
In recent years the recovery of energy from waste company has become a significant environmental development for the benefit of all of us.
In the waste market, the normal promotional activity is all around the waste hierarchy - ‘reduce, reuse, recycle and recover’. This 4 R slogan is a simple message designed for a far reaching crowd. Think about how you can reduce your waste. Could the waste material products or materials be reused? Can the waste product or material be recycled or retrieved?
The waste materials hierarchy is often a strategy which many waste material management organisations and local authorities consider when producing new waste management approaches. The strategy is designed to focus the intellect around preventing waste being produced at all. Think about the options for reuse and recycling but ultimately minimise the amount of waste produced at the end of the cycle.
And so the emphasis is very much on the whole production process. The waste material hierarchy expands much wider than to waste material management businesses and local bodies. Working groups have already been set up to bring many sectors together to look at the complete waste cycle. For example, the producer of a product must take into account how a product is to be fabricated. Can parts be used that can later be recycled or reused? Can the amount of packaging that surrounds the item be cut down? When the product reaches the shop, is it essential for the product to be located within an outer box? Once the retailer sells the product, what will the purchaser do with the unwanted components of the acquisition, i.e. the packaging? How will the packaging be stored and where will it go? Does it go back to a recycling facility, for onward shipment to a reprocessing facility, in which the cycle starts again?
How are Materials Collected for Recycling?
Legislation now dictates that all waste material should be treated to divert the quantity of recyclables and unnecessary waste heading direct to landfill. Since 1996, the United Kingdom government has enforced a landfill tax on all waste materials dumped within landfill. The rate of tax has increased considerably lately 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 fee applies to all general waste material streams, although there’s a lesser rate for inert materials. Dispatching waste materials straight to landfill is an expensive option and selecting appropriate solutions to divert waste away from landfill has become a priority.
So, the message to everyone is clear, sort your waste material to scale back the volume of waste material going to landfill. In the past, both at home and at work, as soon as you place waste materials in the bin , it’s forgotten about. Somebody else will collect it and take it away. Today, at home and at work, recycling is being encouraged with the provision 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 collected for recycling are paper, card, glass, metals and plastics. But the opportunity to recycle many materials or products keeps growing.
There is a vast choice of recycling containers could be situated at high usage points for instance next to photocopying equipment to get unwanted papers.
The means of collecting items or waste materials to be recycled is also increasing and ever more noticeable within local communities. Specialist collection sites, known as bring bank sites, are popping up in supermarket car parks to motivate clientele of the store to return such objects as bottles, newspapers or card to the containers on their way into the store. Shoppers are therefore encouraged to return with their recyclables.
Local Authority waste materials collection crews or their appointed contractors will collect refuse and recyclables from the roadside normally in front of your house. Collection from household premises normally remains the duty of the local council and many have employed the supply of boxes in which to gather specific recyclable materials or products. The services do vary from council to council.
In the business and commercial field, waste material management businesses offer different containers in which the customer deposits the correct waste stream or recyclable resources ready for collection. The bins will usually be clearly branded as to which recyclable product ought to be placed inside that container or bin. Otherwise, the bins will be colour coded to identify which recyclable wastes ought to be placed within which bins. Waste management companies also may have to deal with special requests from the customer.
One of the keys 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 factory 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 efficiency of what employees should be doing in their work.
The Recycling Process
Numerous collection solutions exist for the collection of the recyclable products . Whichever collection system is utilised , the resources are taken to a recycling centre where they will be segregated from other waste products. This may be done manually or by using mechanised separators.
To begin the recycling process from the collection perspective, the more recyclable material which can be separated at source, i.e. at home or in the work place, the more useful it will be for the waste collector. That’s the reason separate storage units are supplied to the waste producer to promote separation at source. If card could be collected on a truck, that will collect no other waste material, the card is going to be kept clean and therefore could have a greater value when it gets to the processing plant. Likewise, dedicated glass collection vehicles are employed to collect solely glass. In addition to 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. Uncontaminated recyclables will present a much higher value than contaminated materials.
When collected, the recyclable materials can be taken direct to a reprocessing plant, if the load contains only that specific type of material. So a dedicated glass collection truck could take the load straight 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 compounded recyclables are being collected like paper and card within the same compartment, it could be a necessity for the collector to take the load to a recycling centre to unload and permit the load to be sorted into separate paper and card bundles for onward transfer to a paper or card processing plant. Whatever approach is employed, the recyclable material collected will often be sorted or cleaned before traveling through to a reprocessing facility to be converted to a new resource and eventually used as a new product or in manufacturing. Inert materials can be a useful by product at landfill, such as shredded car tyres to aid traction on access roadways.
Many households all over the UK are now choosing to turn to green energy for their own needs like light and heating. Eventhough it may be costly to set up at this stage, in the long term it will save on costs.
The Increasing Significance of Recycling
In the UK close to 35% of waste collected from homes is recycled or composted. Whilst within the business and industrial area, the amount of waste material delivered to landfill has declined substantially recently and also the volume of waste material now being diverted for recycling or reuse by this market has increased over the amounts going to landfill.
Landfill continues to play a significant role in the control of waste throughout the UK as not all waste items can be recycled plus some are more suited to landfill disposal than by any other method. Nevertheless, it’s not only the increasing expense of getting rid of waste directly in landfill that is making recycling a more appealing option for businesses. Landfill has started to become scarce, with some experts hinting that the volume of space readily available across all UK landfill sites, has under 10 years existence left before all sites are reckoned 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 state.
In recent years, waste material management companies have had to vary their focus, and start to take into account and put money into technology, such as energy from waste facilities, anaerobic digestion plants and mechanised biological treatment plants, as alternatives to landfill. Local Authorities also have changed their views by undertaking detailed strategic reviews as to how waste material under their jurisdiction must be taken care of. In some instances this means unitary authorities are progressing plans to introduce long term contracts, usually around two-and-a-half decades in length, through which to regulate their entire waste materials management requirements. These deals will often include the need to build a facility through which to handle all waste material produced across the county by segregating all waste materials streams. The deals could also include the collection of all waste and recyclables from households throughout the region. So the issue of waste management is changing quickly. The times of just throwing every little thing in the dustbin have gone and the advent of new technologies are upon us. The introduction of new technologies will play a huge role in the future of waste management.
Conclusion
Recycling has become a way of life and is not going anywhere soon. It has evolved through the years from something which was carried out without any real thought behind it. The trusty rag and bone man was just trying to make a living. Today, many blue chip companies are setting out plans for a ‘zero to landfill’ waste policy, where the intention is very straightforward - reduce waste, reuse waste and recycle waste, but no waste must wind up in landfill. Some companies have announced ambitious target dates by which to accomplish such plans.
Many houses across the country now have some kind of container in which to divide waste materials for recycling. The need 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 consider 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 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. There will always be a need for waste to be disposed of somewhere, somehow.