Your Questions About Recycling
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Filed under Recycling Q & A
Richard asks…
How do I recycle electronic waste?
I am talking about everyday electrical devices. An old Plug-in charger that isn’t needed anymore, a broken portible DVD player, CD player, or even a broken kitcthen item. If we can recycle pop cans by putting them in bins out in out driveways, where do we recycle electronic waste?
The Expert answers:
Check
http://www.mygreenelectronics.org/
It will list the recycling centers closer to your home.
Lisa asks…
A model on recycling of e-waste.?
I have a Chemistry Model to make on the topic – “INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT”. Someone suggested me “Recycling of E-Waste that the factories and industries generate.
Kindly help me make this model. Any other ideas on the topic are also entertained…!
The Expert answers:
Chemical Model? How do you plan to recycle them chemically?
In an bulk system, a hopper conveys material for shredding into an unsophisticated mechanical separator, with screening and granulating machines to separate constituent metal and plastic fractions, which are sold to smelters or plastics recyclers. Such recycling machinery is enclosed and employs a dust collection system. Some of the emissions are caught by scrubbers and screens. Magnets, eddy currents, and trommel screens are employed to separate glass, plastic, and ferrous and nonferrous metals, which can then be further separated at a smelter. Leaded glass from CRTs is reused in car batteries, ammunition, and lead wheel weights, or sold to foundries as a fluxing agent in processing raw lead ore. Copper, gold, palladium, silver, and tin are valuable metals sold to smelters for recycling. Hazardous smoke and gases are captured, contained, and treated to mitigate environmental threat. These methods allow for safe reclamation of all valuable computer construction materials.
Do you envision spraying the ewaste with some chemical which absorbs all of some particular element and then allows you to recover it at the end of the process?
Sharon asks…
Benefits and drawbacks of recycling wastes?
List some benefits and drawbacks of recycling wastes. What are the major types of materials recycled from municipal waste, and how are they used?
The Expert answers:
I can’t see any drawbacks of recycling apart from the human effort that goes into it.
Benefit would be you’re making use of waste to reduce the waste, less trash in landfills and as you’re recycling old stuff, you’re producing less of new stuff hence reducing your consumption of earth’s limited resources.
Out of all the household waste, paper, empty cereal boxes, milk cartons, empty bottles, glass, plastics are recycled.
I think car tyres are recycled too.
You can make recycled books, newspapers etc. Out of waste paper.
Recycle old plastics to make new plastics. Recycle old tyres to make new tyres and such.
John asks…
Is there a safe way to recycle nuclear waste?
or it is an impossibility
The Expert answers:
Geologic Repository
Most scientists agree that the best solution for disposing of nuclear waste is burying it deep in the earth. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 asserts that society is responsible for the safe disposal of hazard nuclear material. To this end, the Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency have commissioned Yucca Mountain, Nevada, as their prime candidate for long-term disposal. At this site, nuclear waste from industry and military use will be received, packaged and stored deep under ground. In June 2008, the Department of Energy submitted an application to begin building the Yucca Mountain facility. However, in 2009, a new administration has halted this plan and instead called for more research into alternatives strategies for disposing of nuclear waste.
Storage
Low-level nuclear waste consists of materials used to handle high level radioactive parts and medical waste from radioactive and X-ray procedures. These materials are generally stored while their radioactive isotopes decay. After a period of about 50 years, this nuclear waste is believed to be safe for conventional disposal. Storage is a short-term solution for nuclear waste problems. Most nuclear plants store used nuclear fuel in large steel-lined concrete pools filled with water. This system keeps the radioactive material shielded, cooled and closely monitored. However, space is becoming more limited. The spent nuclear fuel must eventually make its way to a long-term repository. In 1998, federal law mandated that the Department of Energy begin transporting this nuclear waste to more permanent facilities.
Recycling
Used nuclear fuel rods can be disposed of by recycling the unused fuel inside. However, the federal government does not recycle nuclear waste for security and economic reasons. Government agencies are exploring new recycling technologies that will redistribute used nuclear fuel but still have no definite plan in effect. The nuclear industry supports this method of nuclear waste disposal as cost effective and environmentally beneficial. The separated uranium can be reused as new fuel for commercial power plants and the more long-lived radioactive elements can be used for nuclear research. This is referred to as a closed fuel system. There are some drawbacks to this method of disposal. In fact, even after recycling, some nuclear waste would have to be permanently disposed of in a repository. Recycling would result in reduced toxicity, volume, and heat of used nuclear waste but is still not the final answer on nuclear waste disposal.
Read more: Best Way – Ways to Dispose of Nuclear Waste | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/way_5332363_ways-dispose-nuclear-waste.html#ixzz0sy24SI6b
Ruth asks…
Is it better to Landfill or Recycle Waste?
Although Landfil obviously isn’t great for the earth, minimal energy is used to process the waste, hence using less energy. Some landfill sites also produce gas which can be harnessed to provide useful energy. Once full up, the sites are often grassed over and turned into nature reserves or parks (like Rainham landfill site east london)
Recycling is good if it stops new natural resources being used, but most recycled goods still need a certain percentage of new material. Then there is all the energy required to sort and process it to make it into something new. Even then the recycled goods can only be second grade due to all of the impurities in it which cant be removed (you cant make new cars from recycled steel)
What i’m trying to ask is that is it always a good idea to recycle without knowing what are the processes and where it ends up?
The Expert answers:
Recycle.
Use renewable energy sources.
Make less stuff.
There’s too much unnecessary stuff.
James asks…
Recycling houshold waste?
With the introduction of fortnightly rubbish collections we are trying to decide what to do with our general house hold waste. The idea of keeping food products in storage for 2 weeks during the summer months is not option as far as I am concerned. And I am certainly not going to pay extra for it.
We have decided that we will collect the food waste separately and recycle it by feeding it to the starving local wide life in and around London by leaving it in strategic locations.
We were thinking of open common land, some wooded areas and also some streets that we know to have a local Fox population. Any other suggestions?
We don’t have a garden so don’t have a compost heap.
Upset the balance of nature?
More Rats and rodents?
Hmmm well maybe its not such a good policy from the goverment to restrict rubbish collection then. Because I am not going to store it, so I am going to dump it.
The Expert answers:
Dont waste your time, dont give in to the greed of the councils.
They have closed most of the refuse tips in my area and now we have to travel a long way to find one,
They have now dictated that we separate our waste into different wheelie bins and put them out on alternate weeks.
Now they want to half the number of times they collect the bins.
If you ask anyone in this country what the councils do for their exhorbitant poll tax, the first and probably only answer would be “They empty the bins”.
Well now they are even trying to knock that on the head alltogether.
So the one answer is “Fly tip”.
Oh yes I can hear the complaiints from hundreds of you saying how terrible this is and I must be crazy for even suggesting it and how bad it is for the wildlife and how bad it is for the ecology andf how bad it is for blah blah blah.
Well the one thing that is bad is the never ending increases in poll tax and the never ending cuts to public services.
When they start seeing piles of rubbish collecting on all of the country lanes then perhaps they will change their tune.
Am I ashamed? No not at all, leave your bags of rubbish all over the place and lets force them into a reversal of policy.
The worst it will do is create jobs for some more council cleaners to get rid of the mess, and before someone says “Yes but that will increase our council tax”
Your council tax is going to increase anyway, give them a reason to do it
FLY TIP TODAY
Robert asks…
a project to recycle wastes?
i am participating in doing projects to recycle wastes. but the problem is our group still lack of creative ideas. we need to do something unique to win. i hope anybody is helping. thanks!
The Expert answers:
The projects identified at the web page (below) are at the college level but hopefully will give you some ideas: Recycling and Waste Reduction Projects
Paul asks…
why should we recycle wastes?
what is the reason behind recycling of wastes ?how do we recycle?
The Expert answers:
40% of the world’s copper now resides in dumps, 20% is in use, another 40% is still in the ground but much of that can never be extracted; other metals have similar profiles. With demand increasing exponentially, it won’t be long before we’ll have to start mining our dumps for raw materials – a practice sure to increase prices, problems and pollution. As energy prices and populations increase, raw materials of all kinds will become scarcer and more expensive. The less we recycle now, the more things will cost in the near future and the tougher things will be for industry. Any true, fiscal conservative supports recycling as long-term, sustainable wisdom. It’s not only the smart thing to do, it’s the patriotic thing to do. There are some who think we can mine limited resources forever; these folks may be conservative, liberal, or independent, but they’re all brainless idiots.
Joseph asks…
Recycling?
Has anyone else had a leaflet through their door about recycling their food waste in a large wheely bin? Is it any good?
The Expert answers:
Yeah
In Brent ( west London ) we’ve been doing it for about a year or so now .We started off with newspapers,cans and bottles about five years ago and now from 2005 we get our garden waste ( grass,shrubs,cuttings) and food waste collected.
Once u get used to recycling it’s quite easy because as you probably know it’s gonna be the norm in the near future.
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