Your Questions About Recycling

The Expert answers:

The sad fact of the matter is that recycling usually does not help the environment.

The exception: metals. The worst offender: paper.

In most cases, recycling a product consumes more energy and causes more side effects from re-manufacturing than simply burying the old and producing a new product. This is especially true of paper. In the US, and most first world countries, paper is produced exclusively from replanted trees. No new deforestation occurs. It isn’t the cleanest process, but initial production can’t even come close to the toxicity of recycling the paper. Plastic recycling creates toxic byproducts, and consumes more energy then simply creating a new product.

The other thing that has to be considered is landfill. There is a huge amount of FUD surrounding them. The fact is we are not running out of space (not even close), and modern landfills have not only incredible environmental safety records and protections, they also are used to create clean energy from the byproducts of decomposition. Most of the confusion stems from a very poorly worded report from a single person at the EPA about twenty years ago.

Metals on the other hand, are impact neutral when it comes to recycling, and it is much cheaper to recycle than to mine. The only real side effect that metal recycling creates is the black market in copper, people are stealing from constructions sites and even occupied houses to scrap the copper from AC, electrical, and plumbing systems. This is more of a side effect of the price of copper than recycling as a whole. Mining can have a large local environmental impact depending on the type of mine.

The Expert answers:

No.

Recycling has become a politically correct issue, but the fact is then when materials are recycled:

1. The materials do not take up valuable space in a land fill

2. The materials generally are worth money

3. Recycling helps keep the cost or raw materials down because it is much less expensive to recycle than manufacture new materials, whether it is steel, wood, plastic, or other materials.

Why it can become BS, is that collecting recyclables in domestic addresses has become big business and it is manipulated by individuals and politicians for political and financial gains.

Some think that since many municipalities have multiple materials dumped into the same container going down the road, there are very efficient sorters (machinery) that separate the materials into specific categories.

Glass is one of the materials that is just about more work to recycle than what the value of the cullet is, but that keeps thousands of tone per week from being dumped into a land fill somewhere.

Hope this helps add to the equation.

The Expert answers:

There’s no general reason why cans can’t be smashed before recycling. In fact, one of the first things that are done to them is… Smashing!
However, there may be a reigonal reason for not doing so. Requiring residents to smash their cans may cause injury (not everyone is young and vigorous and can smash one on their head). If smashed in vigour, the few remaining drops are made easier to leak out a hole since they don’t have pass through a lip to escape.
Some recycling plants use human quality control for sorting and its easier to recognize and not be hurt by an unsmashed can.

Hope this helps!

The Expert answers:

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1.
Recycle now – Aluminium
Aluminium … Materials recycling: Aluminium is a lightweight, strong metal that suits … A big obstacle to recycling aluminium is that just not enough …
Www.recyclenow.com/facts/materials_fact_files/aluminium/index.html – 12k – Cached
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Recycle-more – don’t waste time! Check out these aluminium recycling facts on recycle-more
… Recycling specifics page for in depth details on paper, steel, glass, aluminium, … Recycling aluminium drink cans saves up to 95% of the energy needed to make …
Www.recycle-more.co.uk/nav/page712.aspx – 57k – Cached
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Aluminium recycling – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A common practice since the early 1900s, aluminium recycling is not new. … WasteOnline: Metals aluminium and steel recycling …
En.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_recycling – 26k – Cached
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Recycling metals – aluminium and steel
… Dustbin yet in 2003 the recycling rates for aluminium and ferrous metals as a … Recycling aluminium requires only 5% of the energy and produces only 5% of th

The Expert answers:

First of all I recycle and I don’t have a garage, that’s just an excuse. I recycle glass, cans, paper, card and plastics. It’s easy, first step get the garage cleared out, Freecycle your unwanted things, if you haven’t used it for a year then get rid of it. Recycle any metal or other junk, take the rest to the dump. It doesn’t need your mom to start recycling, you can do it. But if you need her help tell her that you would appreciate the fact that she is helping reduce our effect on the planet. Tell her it may not help her, but it could help you and your children (her grandchildren) if she recycles.

The Expert answers:

Well I know that some candy wrappers can be… Like Hershey’s kisses wrappers can be, also,Styrofoam, oil, old car parts, and rubber (tires) can also be recycled but here are some websites

Top Recycling Facts – Things You Must Know

http://earth911.org/
http://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/www/html/405-what-can-be-recycled-at-kerbside.asp
http://www.bucknell.edu/x4774.xml

The Expert answers:

They can be 100% recycled but that does not mean it’s better for the environment. In fact you should not trust any claims when it comes to the environment. Environmentalism is the biggest scam going in history. Don’t you remember the global warming scam that was exposed.

The Expert answers:

Since you like to present more than just having a typical video like just presenting facts so why not create a video in which you really demonstrate on how to do the recycle like for example showing in the video what are the things which can be recycled and how to recycle it, what would be the finished product then.

The Expert answers:

This question goes back to the basic fact of green living. While it is great that you are recycling. The best thing you can do is to REDUCE unnecessary waste (if you can do what needs to be done or what you want to do without creating a demand for a hard to recycle or even an easy to recycle item to be manufactured) secondly look to REUSE of an item that has already been manufactured (such as a used barrel becoming a rain barrel or some old jeans being used as rags and then maybe processed to become insulation) and lastly RECYCLE it is very important but if you could have gotten by easily enough by doing the first two it shouldn’t get to this last of the 3 R’s.

Your efforts are appreciated and do contribute to doing the right thing but maybe you have seen a way to contribute more if so and it is within the realm of what you are willing to do then. Thank you even more.