Recycling The term recycling does not generally include reuse, in which existing items are used for a new pupose. Recyclates are sorted and separated into material types. Contamination of the recylates with other materials must be prevented to increase the recyclates' value and facilitate easier reprocessing for the ultimate recycling facility. This sorting can be performed either by the producer of the waste or within semi- or fully-automated materials recovery facilities.
There are two common household methods of recycling. In curbside collection, consumers leave presorted recyclable materials in front of their property to be collected by a recycling vehicle. With a "bring" or carry-in system, the householder takes the materials to collection points, such as transfer stations or civic amenity sites. Recycling Paper Paper recycling is reprocessing waste paper fibers back into a usable paper product. Paper suitable for reuse or recycling is called scrap paper. Today, 90% of paper pulp is made of wood. Paper manufacture is estimated to account for nearly 13 percent of total wood use, and represents one percent of the world's total economic output. Recycling 1 ton (1t = 1000 kg) of newspaper saves about 12 trees (as opposed to 17 trees, a figure based on a much-quoted report to the U.S. Congress in the 1970s, although the process of papermaking has become more efficient since then). Recycling 1 ton of printing and writing paper saves 24 trees (a mixture of softwoods and hardwoods 40 feet tall and 6-8 inches in diameter) because this paper, made via the kraft chemical (or "freesheet") pulping process, is of higher quality (i.e., contains more fibers) than the newspapers or telephone directories made via a "mechanical" or "groundwood" process.
It should be noted that unlike most other recyclables, paper cannot be recycled over and over again. Eventually the fibers become too weak and short to be used again. That is why virgin paper fiber is usually mixed with recycled paper when new paper products are made. Most cardboard boxes are a mixture of 50 percent new and 50 percent recycled fibers.
 Glass Recycling(left: Glass recycling bin) Glass recycling is the process of turning waste glass into usable products. Depending on the end use, this commonly includes separating it into different colors. Glass normally comes in a number of colours. The major types are: Flint glass (clear glass), Green glass, and Brown/amber glass.
Glass makes up a large component of household and industrial waste due to its weight and density. The glass component in municipal waste is usually made up of bottles, broken glassware, light bulbs and other items. Glass recycling uses less energy than manufacturing glass from sand, lime and soda. Every ton of glass used for producing new glass items saves 315kg of carbon dioxide. Glass that is crushed and ready to be remelted is called Cullet. The term "cullet" derives from the practice of remelting flawed containers which have been "culled" from production lines.
Plastic Recycling Plastic recycling is the process of recovering scrap or waste plastics and reprocessing the material into useful products. For instance, this could mean melting down polyester soft drink bottles then spinning the polymer into fibres. Before recycling, plastics are sorted according to their resin identification code. When compared to glass or metallic materials, plastic poses some unique challenges from a recycling perspective. Chief among them is their low entropy of mixing, which is due to the high molecular weight of large polymer chains. Another way of stating this problem is that, since a macromolecule interacts with its environment along its entire length, its enthalpy of mixing is very, very large compared to that of a small organic molecule with a similar structure; thermal excitations are often not enough to drive such a huge molecule into solution on their own. Due to this uncommon influence of mixing enthalpy, polymers must often be of nearly identical composition in order to mix with one another. To take representative samples from beverage containers, the many aluminium-based alloys all melt into the same liquid phase, but the various copolymer blends of PET from different manufacturers do not dissolve into one another when heated. Instead, they tend to phase-separate, like oil and water. Phase boundaries weaken an item made from such a mixture considerably, meaning that most polymer blends are only useful in a few, very limited contexts.
Ferrous MetalsIron and steel are the world's most recycled materials, and among the easiest materials to recycle, as they can be separated magnetically from the waste stream. Recycling is via a steelworks: scrap is either  remelted in an Electric Arc Furnace (90-100% scrap), or used as part of the charge in a Basic Oxygen Furnace (around 25% scrap). Any grade of steel can be recycled to top quality new metal, with no 'downgrading' from prime to lower quality materials as steel is recycled repeatedly. 42% of crude steel produced is recycled material. (below: recycled steal) For more information on recycling please visit: Wikipedia | Adding "green" to your school's colors This fall, more and more parents are teaching their kids an important lesson before they ever hit the books. They're showing them how to save the planet -- thanks to a whole new 'class' of environmentally friendly school supplies.
From reusable lunch containers to backpacks, rulers to crayons, "green" is the color for school this year!
Leah Lamstein always thinks green when packing school lunches for her son, Ethan. She uses reusable water bottles and containers, which come home each day so they can be used again.
It's called a zero-waste lunch, which means it produces no trash.
Leah says, "If you can use containers like these to pack their lunch, and make sure that they don't make more garbage, that is a small step that makes a big difference."
There's also sandwich wrap that can be washed and reused. But environmental experts say lunchtime isn't the only time to protect the planet.
Debra Lynn Dadd, environmental consumer expert, says, "There are many choices that parents have to buy green products for their kids at school."
When it comes time to hit the books, add lessons in recycling to the ol' reading, 'riting, and 'rithmatic.
Dadd says, "This is a binder made out of recycled circuit boards instead of sending them to the landfill."
There are cool choices for younger kids, too.
"These crayons are made from soy beans instead of petro-chemicals," Dadd says. "Scissors, just for kids, are made from recycled plastic. The ruler is made from recycled bicycle tires."
There's even a new solar backpack that'll help you charge your iPod or cell phone, no plugs needed.
What you can do every day to make a difference As communities throughout California and around the nation celebrated Earth Day this week, the California Department of Conservation has a few suggestions about small adjustments that can make a big difference for the environment.
-Recycle. A wide variety of beverage containers can be redeemed for cash under California's beverage container recycling program. -Buy products made from recycled materials. Recycling is important and so is buying products made from recycled materials. -Get out of the car one day a week. Carpool, use public transportation or bicycle. -Enjoy the great outdoors: visit a local, state or national park - Take some time to appreciate California's world-class natural areas.
-Go local: volunteer in your community. Volunteer to help improve your hometown environment.
-Conserve energy. Turn off lights when you leave a room and keep the thermostat at 78 degrees or higher in the summer. For More Info
Trash doesn't stay in the dump -- it's recycled, too
You may associate landfills with filth and odor, mountains of garbage that can put out pollutants. But one local landfill believes quite the opposite.
Once a week we throw it to the curb and forget about it. Old leftovers, ripped jeans, a broken frame, and it all ends up in the same place.
Nearly eleven miles from downtown Austin, in Creedmoor, sits the Texas Disposal Systems landfill. And according to its owners, you wouldn't find it by smell -- they set out to do things different.
The president of Texas Disposal Systems, Bob Gregory, says, "We wanted to do something that would benefit the environment and the community."
Their mission: to significantly cut down trash loads to only what had to be there.
Dennis Bobbs, the special projects director, says, "Whether we can recycle it, whether it be aluminum, steel, any good product that can go to our citizen drop-off area -- bicycles, lawnmowers, sinks."
Wood and construction materials are gathered, ground up, and mixed into compost piles. It creates rich topsoil, which has many green benefits. For More Info
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