Recycle is to reuse or make available for reuse for biological activities through natural processes of biochemical degradation or modification. Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. Recycling is a key component of modern waste reduction and is the third component of the “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle” waste hierarchy. It promotes environmental sustainability by removing raw material input and redirecting waste output in the economic system. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the properties it had in its original state. It can also prevent the waste of potentially useful materials and reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reducing energy use, air pollution and water pollution. Recycling Conserves natural resources such as timber, water and minerals. Disposable waste is bad for the environment, plain. Most of us want to help the environment today by recycling as much as we can. On average, Americans recycled and composted 1.5 pounds of waste of a total of 4.4 pounds per person that year. Here is the list of top 10 items to recycle to save our planet.
1.Plastics
Plastic is by far the best thing you can recycle to save our planet. So many plastic products are disposable, but plastic lasts forever in the environment. The fact that plastic takes forever to break down. Even when it does, it creates micro-plastics that are small in size which easily get into all sorts of places it shouldn’t be. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and HDPE are the most commonly recycled plastics, whereas the other types are generally tougher to recycle.You can tell what type of plastic it is by using the number scale from 1-7 found labeled on your plastic products. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic is used for water, soda and juice bottles. PET is labelled as #1 and is the most commonly recycled plastic. If you often drink water from plastic bottles then you should definitely be using a commercial recycling bin at work to collect your plastic waste. HDPE (#2) is the second most commonly recycled form of plastic. If you don’t already have a commercial recycling bin, then you’ll be happy to know that CleanRiver’s are actually made from recycled HDPE. Thicker plastic bottles used for shampoo, detergent and similar items can also be recycled. Recycling them helps the environment tremendously.
- Paper
Newspapers are one of the easiest materials to recycle. Mixed paper is also one of the easiest materials to recycle. Make sure your waste paper ends up at the recycle center. Paper can also be sustainably and easily repurposed. Reuse and repurposing options include reusing waste paper for wrapping, packaging, composting, cleaning, lining pet cages, etc. It saves waste paper from occupying homes of people and producing methane as it breaks down. Because paper fibre contains carbon (originally absorbed by the tree from which it was produced), recycling keeps the carbon locked up for longer and out of the atmosphere. The process of waste paper recycling most often involves mixing used/old paper with water and chemicals to break it down. It is then chopped up and heated, which breaks it down further into strands of cellulose, a type of organic plant material; this resulting mixture is called pulp, or slurry. It is strained through screens, which remove plastic (especially from plastic-coated paper) that may still be in the mixture then cleaned, de-inked (ink is removed), bleached, and mixed with water. Then it can be made into new recycled paper.[4]It is not just newspapers that you can recycle at home. Also, recycle wrapping paper, envelopes, birthday cards and phone books. All sorts of cardboard can be recycled, too. Books, newspapers, and even glossy magazines can be recycled in your outdoor recycling bins at home. As for the office throwing your paper into a dedicated office recycling bin is just as good. If your office doesn’t already have an easy way to recycle paper, consider setting up an office recycling program. Don’t forget about fibre board, paperboard, and cardboard either. Sending one ton of cardboard to the recycling center can save over 9 cubic yards of landfill space and 24 percent of the energy required to make new cardboard.
3.Glass
Glass is made from sand. Now that may seem redundant but the world is actually running out of sand. The whole point of recycling is to help the environment and reduce resource consumption. So better way is to save the sand than to conserve it via glass recycling. It’s also one of the easier materials to recycle. Glass containers used in food and beverage packaging are 100 percent recyclable. They can be substituted for up to 95 percent of raw materials when new glass products are being made, making glass recycling highly friendly to the environment.
Glass that is crushed and ready to be remelted is called cullet. cullet is composed of defective products detected and rejected by a quality control process during the industrial process of glass manufacturing, transition phases of product changes (such as thickness and colour changes) and production offcuts. External cullet is waste glass that has been collected or reprocessed with the purpose of recycling. External cullet (which can be pre- or post-consumer) is classified as waste. To be recycled, glass waste needs to be purified and cleaned of contamination.
4.Electronics
If you didn’t already know, most electronic waste contains recyclable materials that can be harmful for the environment if left to sit in a landfill. If you need help identifying e-waste and would like to prevent improper electronic waste disposal. Whether it’s developing the latest battery technology, controlling pollution while meeting product demand, or managing energy and water resources, you are part of a collaborative community. Technological change is happening so quickly that most electrical products are discarded before they are obsolete and by 2050, we are on track to produce 120 million tonnes of electronic waste per year. Some of the most prevalent health effects are associated with poor working and living conditions that predispose people to physical injury, stress and exposure to mosquitoes. Burning and dismantling devices causes the release of various chemicals into the air. Heavy metals and other toxic particles have the potential to cause many adverse health effects.
5.Metals
Metal can be found in a variety of products, such as the previously mentioned e-waste. Metal must be mined from the earth, which damages the area and environment those mines are dug. The good news is most metals can be recycled together as recycling plants will sort them for you. Some local businesses can recycle scrap metal for you as well if needed. Metals can be used for industrial purposes such as the manufacture of trucks, cars, airplanes, ships, and railways. They can also be used to manufacture domestic items such as cutlery, crockery and even in packaging. The good thing about metal recycling is that metal can be recycled over and over without altering its properties. The most common recyclable metals include aluminum and steel. The other metals, for example, silver, copper, brass and gold, are so valuable that they are rarely thrown away to be collected for recycling.
6.Batteries
Technically batteries can be considered e-waste, and metal waste. The difference is batteries don’t go in the recycling bin OR the garbage bin. That doesn’t mean batteries can’t be recycled though. The chemicals that can leak out of them are extremely harmful to the planet, and can contaminate other waste that would otherwise be recyclable. Therefore they need to be recycled separately from all other forms of waste. The broken battery pieces go into a vat, where the lead and heavy materials fall to the bottom while the plastic rises to the top. At this point, the polypropylene pieces are scooped away and the liquids are drawn off, leaving the lead and heavy metals. Each of the materials then begins its own recycling journey. We’ll begin with the plastic, or polypropylene.
7.Tires
Car tires and other commercial rubber materials found in various products are difficult to recycle. Unfortunately most rubber products are burned, even when they’re properly discarded. At the very least you can search for a recycling facility that specifically takes care of tires. They can retread the tire, or dispose of it in a way that won’t poison the Earth. Tires are meant for single use, typically lasting three to four years before their tread wears out. At the end of their lives, some are shredded and turned into artificial field turf or playground surfaces. But many end up burned or in landfills, releasing toxic chemicals into the air or leaching them into the ground.
8.Clothing
Textile recycling is less common than one would hope, which is unfortunate for the environment because they take several hundred years to break down. To recycle clothing, check your local mall or retailers as they often have bins where you can donate your used and unwanted textiles. It involves recovering old clothing and shoes for sorting and processing. End products include clothing suitable for reuse, cloth scraps or rags as well as fibrous material. Interest in garment recycling is rapidly on the rise due to environmental awareness and landfill pressure. For entrepreneurs, it provides a business opportunity. In addition, various charities also generate revenue through their collection programs for old clothing.
9.Organic Materials
Organic waste is actually good for the planet and rarely harms it. The environmental benefits of recycling is biodegradable waste in a specific container is worthwhile. Making compost is simple, all it requires is an organic waste bin and time. Organic wastes are materials originating from living sources like plants, animals, and microorganisms that are biodegradable and can be broken down into simpler organic molecules. The most common sources of organic wastes include agriculture, household activities, and industrial products. Green waste like food wastes, food-soiled paper, non-hazardous wood waste, landscape waste, and pruning wastes are some of the examples of biodegradable or organic wastes.
10.PPE & Medical Waste
A few disposable masks lying around the neighbourhood which can be extremely harmful to wildlife. Recycling medical waste is much more expensive (especially red bag waste). Unfortunately, this higher price tag often means that recyclable materials get thrown out with regular trash anyway. Single-use personal protective equipment (from masks to gloves etc.) are hard to recycle in traditional recycling systems as they cost more for local recyclers to collect and process than the resulting materials are worth. The polypropylene-dominant mixture from the face mask is densified into a crumb-like raw material that’s used in plastic lumber and composite decking applications. The elastane or rubber band portion is ground into a fine mesh regrind and mixed with recycled plastics as an additive to provide flexibility and malleability to products. Gloves are processed into a rubberized powder which is used for flooring tiles, playground surface covers and even athletic fields. The resulting recycled material is used by third parties to manufacture a variety of new products including outdoor furniture, plastic shipping pallets, outdoor decking, watering cans, storage containers, bins, tubes for construction applications, etc.
