Recycling is processing used materials (waste) into new, useful products. This is done to reduce the use of raw materials that would have been used. Recycling also uses less energy and and great way of controlling air, water and land pollution.
Effective recycling starts with household (or the place where the waste was created). In many serious countries, the authorities help households with bin bags with labels on them. Households then sort out the waste themselves and place them in the right bags for collection. This makes the work less difficult.
Waste items that are usually recycled include:
Paper waste:
Paper waste items include books, newspapers, magazines, cardboard boxes and envelopes. Click here to see how paper is recycled.
Plastic waste:
Items include plastic bags, water bottles, rubber bags and plastic wrappers.
Glass waste:
All glass products like broken bottles, beer and wine bottles can be recycled. Click here to see how glass is recycled.
Aluminum waste:
Cans from soda drink, tomato, fruit cans and all other cans can be recycled. Did you know: Recycling just 1 ton of aluminum cans conserves more than 207 million Btu, the equivalent of 36 barrels of oil, or 1,665 gallons of gasoline. —EPA
Click here to see how aluminum cans are recycled.
When these are collected, the are sent to the recycling unit, where all the waste from each type are combined, crushed, melted and processed into new materials.
Importance and benefits of waste recycling
Recycling is beneficial in many ways including:
Recycling helps protect the environment:
This is because the recyclable waste materials would have been burned or ended up in the landfill. Pollution of the air, land, water and soil is reduced.
Recycling conserves natural resources:
Recycling more waste means that we do not depend too much on raw (natural) resources, which are already massively depleted.
Recycling saves energy:
It takes more energy to produce items with raw materials than from recycling used materials. This means we are more energy efficient and the prices of products can come down.
Recycling creates jobs:
People are employed to collect, sort and work in recycling companies. Others also get jobs with businesses that work with these recycling units. There can be a ripple of jobs in the municipality.
Credits:
http://www.eschooltoday.com/waste-recycling/what-is-recycling.html
