Your Questions About Recycling

The Expert answers:

There are recycling centers that take things like electronics, or things other than “trash”. Or even any kind of recycling center – depending on what you like to do, you may find a fit within this kind of organization. Admininstrative? Marketing? I’m sure there are plenty of organizations that would value your volunteer time as well – maybe as a speaker?

The Expert answers:

Locate an area of suggestion for recycables. You may have to offer to dispose of all that paper, but ask your most senior exectutive if you can set up a ‘voluntary recycling area’. Print out a bunch of invitations (creativity a must) and personally hand them out to each employee inviting them to use the recycling process. An occational ‘Thank You’ might get those who think they are exempt to feel a bit guilty and join in. You might even find a few partners to help you in the process. Ultimatley the boss will see that it is important to the employees and he might actually DO something about it, himself!
(Paper Reduction Act.. What a joke!)

The Expert answers:

I live in Alberta, Canada and work for the Recycling Council of Alberta. I coordinate a program (Recycling Ambassador Program) that sends summer students all around the province educating the public about recycling at public events. It’s awesome!!!! Why don’t you see if there is a recycling organization where you live? The Recycling Council is non political, not for profit charity that works closely with the Alberta government.

The Expert answers:

There is a cost to the extra work involved in collecting, sorting and shipping the recycled materials. Recycling does require a separate and parallel collection network that otherwise wouldn’t exist. This creates jobs (that increase payroll). However, there is some savings in the recycled materials as there is less processing to reuse existing materials instead of beginning from raw materials.

Timothy D.
West Melbourne, FL

The Expert answers:

This is a secret the Recyclers don’t want you to know because they are making money out of doing so much of it but….

Recycling is not a cure all for the environment. We use massive amounts of water and power during the recycling processes. Many of the processes also involve detergents and other chemicals which are bad for the environment. Water runoff from recycling plants can have catastrophic effects on lake and river systems.

Also we continue to consume plastic bottles and steel/aluminium cans at a much faster rate than we can recycle them.

The real solution is to RE-USE things whenver possibe. For example instead of throwing out your newspaper use them to line pet cages or in the compost. Buy dry goods from bulk stores where they are cheaper and you can refill the same container week after week.

Avoid buying things which have excessive amounts of packaging, or which have brightly coloured labels, plasticised labels or embossing. These are much more difficult to recycle and also the processes and materials which go into making them in the first place are much worse for the planet than plain unbleached paper products.

So try starting with your shopping list to reduce the amount of waste you produce and you will find that the job of recycling at home will become much easier.

The Expert answers:

Recycling costs more? And you got your figures from where? Pulled them out of your butt?
Loggers plant trees? Yes, they plant no more than two tiny seedlings for each giant that they cut down. Are you claiming that we have three times the tree biomass than we had 40 years ago? Another figure pulled out of your butt?
You are right, though, that aluminum is the most lucretive material to recycle. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t pay to recycle HDPE into garbage cans, flower pots, and motor oil jugs. It also pays to make jacket insulation from old PETE bottles. The alternative is to use petroleum. Of course, if you own stock in the oil companies, you would want to stop people from doing this.
Back in the old days, when people read books and newspapers, we appreciated the recycling of paper, cardboard, and corrugated board into newsprint. Bookboard, and the like. Not to mention the insulation in your attic.
I’m glad you like landfills so much. I suspect that you don’t live anywhere near one. They wreck the ambiance of an area when they are active and have limited value once they are full. Their stability leaves a bit to be desired. You probably have room in Canada but we are running out of landfill space in the USA. Should we ship you all our garbage? Think of all the nice parks and golf courses you could have.

The Expert answers:

Absolutely, cardboard can be recycled as long as it doesn’t have food all over it. If you look at plastic food and beverage containers they will usually have a little recycling symbol with a number in the middle that tells you what recycling category they go in (if they are recyclable). Glass bottles and cans are also recyclable, of course. If your city has a recycling depot of some kind or a company that picks up recycling, I am sure they have a list of exactly what they take.

Space saving tips for recycling: If you are short of space and need to store recyclables for a while, crush drink cans by stomping on them or using a can crusher to compact them. For plastic bottles, you can take off the cap, flatten them, and then if you still have the cap, put it back on to keep the air from going back in and puffing them up again. Flatten all the boxes as you finish with them.

The Expert answers:

Recycling turns materials that would otherwise become waste into valuable resources. Collecting used bottles, cans, and newspapers and taking them to the curb or to a collection facility is just the first in a series of steps that generates a host of financial, environmental, and social returns. Some of these benefits accrue locally as well as globally.

Benefits of Recycling
Recycling protects and expands U.S. Manufacturing jobs and increases U.S. Competitiveness.
Recycling reduces the need for landfilling and incineration.
Recycling prevents pollution caused by the manufacturing of products from virgin materials.
Recycling saves energy.
Recycling decreases emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change.
Recycling conserves natural resources such as timber, water, and minerals.
Recycling helps sustain the environment for future generations.
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Related Links
Facts and Figures for Municipal Solid Waste in the US

Recycling Publications

Buy Recycled

Common Wastes and Materials

Recycling Market Development
Steps to Recycling a Product
Recycling includes collecting recyclable materials that would otherwise be considered waste, sorting and processing recyclables into raw materials such as fibers, manufacturing raw materials into new products, and purchasing recycled products.

Collecting and processing secondary materials, manufacturing recycled-content products, and then buying recycled products creates a circle or loop that ensures the overall success and value of recycling.

Step 1. Collection and Processing
Collecting recyclables varies from community to community, but there are four primary methods: curbside, drop-off centers, buy-back centers, and deposit/refund programs.

Regardless of the method used to collect the recyclables, the next leg of their journey is usually the same. Recyclables are sent to a materials recovery facility to be sorted and prepared into marketable commodities for manufacturing. Recyclables are bought and sold just like any other commodity, and prices for the materials change and fluctuate with the market.

Step 2. Manufacturing
Once cleaned and separated, the recyclables are ready to undergo the second part of the recycling loop. More and more of today’s products are being manufactured with total or partial recycled content. Common household items that contain recycled materials include newspapers and paper towels; aluminum, plastic, and glass soft drink containers; steel cans; and plastic laundry detergent bottles. Recycled materials also are used in innovative applications such as recovered glass in roadway asphalt (glassphalt) or recovered plastic in carpeting, park benches, and pedestrian bridges.

Step 3. Purchasing Recycled Products
Purchasing recycled products completes the recycling loop. By “buying recycled,” governments, as well as businesses and individual consumers, each play an important role in making the recycling process a success. As consumers demand more environmentally sound products, manufacturers will continue to meet that demand by producing high-quality recycled products. Learn more about recycling terminology and to find tips on identifying recycled products.

The Expert answers:

We do all the recycling, council gets a lot of money from it, we go along to the supermarket buy our re cycled packaged goods at the same expensive price??? Guess who gets done YET again!! And there are rumours the more you recycle the higher your C-tax will be!!!