Your Questions About Recycling
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Filed under Recycling Q & A
Jenny asks…
1. why is it the shipment of hazardous waste shall be approved by the receiving country?
2. why is it the dispatching country has to get back the recycled waste?
3. why there must be the compliance with the international dangerous code which prescribes the types of container to be used for hazardous waste.?
The Expert answers:
Is this a test? The answers are pretty self-evident.
Mandy asks…
How do you carry out domestic recycling?
Do you have specal containers provided for domestic waste and is the collection once weekly or twice monthly? What sorts of things do you recycle?
The Expert answers:
What do we recycle? Paper, plastic, cartons, plastic containers, glass, bottles etc. But also household items, and clothing.
Our building (an apartment block) has a system of putting things we no longer want in our laundry room for others to browse through. Got some great finds that way!
We take our clothes to a charity. I like shopping there too.
For garbage, we separate the cartons, bottles, paper and put it (usually every couple of days) into the bins (they are in the lane) and they are collected twice a week.
There is also a compost down the street, but we don’t use that too often as it is not easy to access. It was easier to do this when we had our own yard. Residential recycling in our city is weekly. There is a blue box system for cartons, plastics & bottles. Then a bag for newsprint and a bag for other paper & cardboard.
Good luck!
Ken asks…
What are steps needed to start a recycling routine?
I have always tried to be conscious of reuse and recycling, but never really do. I mostly reuse, trying to find many uses for containers and such. (That part is easly mostly because I paint a lot and use tin cans and such as water containers, or plastic plates as palates.
I do TRY to buy things with out a lot of excess packaging, and buy previously recycled items, I also compost table scraps…etc.
I am just disgusted with the amount of trash I send out…I do drink a lot of soda and that is a lot of what makes up the waste…When you take things to the recycling bin, what do you have to do to prepare them…wash? crush? rip labels?
Links would be great, are there other typical household items most people overlook when recycling? Thanks!
The Expert answers:
In my town, almost all paper can be recycled. Thus, I keep a basket (fairly large) near where I open mail, and simply toss everything that doesn’t need to be shredded into the basket. Newspapers also go in there, as well as scraps and eligible parts of packaging. When it’s full, my son (supposedly – too often it’s me!) empties the basket into the larger recycling container in the garage that goes out to the curb once a week. Since we started doing this, our regular trash has dropped by about 1/2.
Carol asks…
My grand-daughter needs a name for her Science project on recycling plastic containers. Can you folks help ?
She is in Grade 6. Here are her exact words: “I,ve started a science project on recycling plastics. I don’t know what to call it. I’m trying to see how much plastic
is wasted between four classes. Can you help me find a name? I’m desperate!”
All suggestions received will be forwarded to her, and she can pick the best answer. She is 11 years of age.
Thanks for your help.
Wonderful stuff here !! Keep it coming.
The Expert answers:
Be fantastic. Save your plastic.
For a better world tomorrow.
Donna asks…
Honestly, do you think recycling helps?
Just curious because sometimes I wonder if the effort of recycling doesn’t waste more energy. All the hot water that we use to clean empty containers and the effort and fuel that goes into the truck and crew to pick it up has to cost us. Should we be looking into waste reduction ie: less packaging and throwing out fewer items? Could making more intelligent choices about what we buy to begin with be the true solution?
fsb2u I ,probably, read to much. lol
you are such a kidder
The Expert answers:
I think it does help. In Europe they have a policy that most of a building has to be recycled. It does take energy to recycle, but over all it takes more energy to make it from scratch. Not to mention the limited resources that are depleted and destroyed over time. Just my two cents and your millage may very. 🙂
Michael asks…
Should there be a Federal deposit law on all containers ?
Why are we throwing away all of these plastic container and jugs and/or bottles. The one time use of containers is just a great waste, as most go to the landfill. A $0.10 deposit could divert huge amounts of waste that could be easily recycled, from the land fill. I just went and counted 47 different types of one use bottles in my house, after they’re empty in the trash they go.
Don’t ask about recycling, here in Flint Michigan that would be a joke. Our politicians are just crazy and lazy.
The Expert answers:
Yes, NYPIRG has made that happen for NYS
Maria asks…
Can you recycle those styrofoamy egg dozen-egg containers, and where?
I always throw them out when the eggs are finished but it seems like such a waste of material, especially considering how many categories for recycling there are, and I figured there must be one they fit in.
The Expert answers:
Got any free range chicken farms out there, donate them to them. Styrofoam is one of the only plastics that noone is reprocessing these days.
David asks…
Are recycling milk jugs or juice containers ok?
I was just told we shouldnt recycle milk jugs or anything that has food in it then im told it is ok as long as you just drain it out so im confused. I even did research and they’re telling me different things. i hear actually a lot more things not to recycle so can someone tell me what i shouldnt recycle like i also hear shredded paper shouldnt and im big on recycling so help so i dont have to waste my time and theirs to pick it out
edit: tell me what i should recycle
The Expert answers:
Yes, it’s not advisable to recycle jugs or juice containers with liquid in them. It makes the recycling process one step harder. Yes, if you just drain out the liquid, you can give the containers for recycling. I’m not sure about shredded paper, but you can take a look at the following link on recyclables/non-recyclables:
Helen asks…
What would YOU do to help reduce the volume of waste?
– Reusable Shopping bags?
– Recycling?
– Re-usable containers ?
Got anything else!
Most convincing paragraph 10 points (:
( I’m writing a speech, brainstorming ideas and your ideas too!)
The Expert answers:
(i) Composting. Using solid remnants of foods (mostly vegetables) to enrich the soil. Composting is a speeded up natural decomposition process by which solid food remnants can be turned into nutritious foods for plants. Many other waste materials can be composted, such as newspapers, non-edible plant parts, etc.
(ii) Study and research new ways to improve recycling technologies… This demonstrates personal interest in reducing the volume of waste beyond what just anybody could do. In that context…
Processing discarded plastic and rubber materials. But not just freshly discarded objects. Process old plastics, lying around dumped as waste or buried in landfills.
There are many ways to process plastic, the most popular being recycling and burning for energy. Recycling is preferential, but requires different plastic types to be sorted, since many different polymers (chemicals) can form a plastic material. Burning is the least favourable option, as it creates a lot of greenhouse gases, and makes all the chemicals go away forever. Also, many plastic materials create toxic by-products while burning, so specialized technologies need to be used.
A good alternative to these approaches is processing plastics in a similar manner as the raw oil is processed, i.e. Cracking or reforming it. Basically, it is a process of exposing molten hydrocarbon-rich plastic waste to elevated temperatures and pressure, which results in large molecules breaking down into simpler, smaller ones. The mixture of chemicals produced in this manner can be fractionated (separated and purified) into useful products — raw materials for the chemical industry, fuels such as gasoline or diesel, building materials etc.
Discarded rubber (and certain types of plastic) can be recycled by shredding; the shredded material can be used as a constituent for some building materials (e.g. Pavements).
Many types of organic waste can be ground to small pieces which, when rotated in special vortex furnaces with heated air jets, can create a slowly burning mixture in which a process takes place known as “pyrolysis”. Pyrolysis, basically, is a decomposition of complex molecules by heat; in this case heat liberated by partially burning the very material being recycled. This process can turn old furniture, plastic, rags, textiles, all kinds of organic waste products into useful chemicals and fuels.
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