All through history, recycling has been around in some form or another. Even as long ago as 400 BC signs of early recycling are known to have happened. Archaeological studies show that ancient waste dumps contained less of what is known nowadays as household waste, such as pots, tools and ash, which demonstrates that people were, even back then, keen to reuse materials during a period when natural resources were not so freely available. Little did they know that the things they were starting would play a huge role in shaping the world for future generations

Indeed it could be argued that the old ‘rag-and-bone’ man was just an early recycler collectingdiscarded goods on his horse and cart, before reusing or converting the recovered items into new things.

During periods such as the World War Years, recycling and re-use were common place as natural materials became considerably more difficult to find. In addition to food being rationed, certain materials like metal and fibre werenormally permitted only for use by the government in support of military operations, to fulfill manufacturing requirements often in the production of weaponry. There was a desperate need to support the military.

As a consequence of rising power costs, the requirement to recycle aluminium increased in the 1970′s.. As a material aluminium uses significantly less energy during the production process than alternative materials. Also it was much coveted on account of its non rusting attributes. The demand for aluminium saw the emergence of scrap metal merchants who were ready to pay cash in return for good quality metal. In addition, in the 70′s in areas of the USA, the first vehicles were seen to be collecting waste with a separate trailer for gathering of recyclable items being towed behind the vehicle. This was mainly for substantial bulky items like bedsteads and old carpets.

Into the late 1980′s, early 1990′s and as the importance of handling the intercontinental environmental state heightened amongst international governments, the focus on recycling really started to gather impetus. In the United Kingdom, the authorities imposed recycling targets upon Local Authorities along with the introduction of the fresh legal guidelines upon the waste materials industry, recycling programmes really started to take off. The once widely recognised waste disposal firms, began to call themselves waste management companies and demonstrated through the offer of waste collection and recyclable material collection that waste had to be managed more effectively. Local skip companies needed to become better at what they did.

Nowadays, many hundreds of materials and resources may be recycled, which range from paper, card, glass and plastics, to mobile phones, electrical items, printer cartridges, textiles, clothing and concrete.

What Exactly is Recycling?

The term recycling identifies the operation of converting second-hand materials into new or nearly new materials avoiding the need for potentially useable materials or products to be dumped. Essentially it is diverting waste material away from landfill.

Recycling performs a vital role in a world where climate change is high on the environmental agenda. It reduces the requirement to avoidably send waste materials and products to landfill or other waste disposal options. This in turn diminishes the demand or the reliance upon consuming fresh or new natural materials, lowers energy usage and air and water supply pollution, all of which contribute to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Significant contributions to improving the natural environment.

Recycling is probably mostnoticeable through the recycling facilities now provided by local authorities for household refuse and recycling collections and also innovative waste management firms who typically give a full range of waste and recycling collection solutions.

Local bodies have now woken up to the fact that paper recycling, cardboard recycling, glass recycling, energy from waste is good for the economy in addition to good for the environment.

Within the waste material industry, the normal advertising activity surrounds the waste material hierarchy – ‘reduce, reuse, recycle and recover’. This four R slogan is a simple message designed for a far reaching target audience. Look at some ways to get rid of your waste material. Could the waste material products or materials be reused? Could the waste product or material be recycled or retrieved? Many questions to take into consideration.

The waste material hierarchy is a strategy which various waste material management organisations and local bodies consider when establishing new waste management schemes. The plan is intended to concentrate the mind around precluding waste being produced in the first place. Consider the options for reuse and recycling but ultimately minimise the amount of waste produced at the end of the cycle. The slogan has been adopted particularly well in the public sector.

So the focus is very much on the entire production process. The waste hierarchy extends much wider than to waste material management businesses and local bodies. Working groups have been established to bring many sectors together to consider the entire waste cycle. For instance, the producer of a product needs to consider the way the product will be manufactured. Could components be used which could eventually be recycled or reused? Could the quantity of packaging which often surrounds the product be reduced? Once the item gets to the shop, is it necessary for the product to be located within an outer package? Once the retailer sells the product, what will the purchaser do with the unwanted elements of the purchase, i.e. the packaging? How will the packaging be collected and where will it go? Should it go back to a recycling plant, for onward shipment to a reprocessing plant, in which the cycle starts all over again? The process must be simple to manage and implement.

How are Materials Collected for Recycling?

Legislation now dictates that most waste must be processed to reduce the amount of recyclables and unnecessary waste heading direct to landfill. Since 1996, the UK government has applied a landfill levy on all waste dumped within landfill. The rate of tax has increased considerably lately rising from the original level of £8 per ton, to the current rate of £40 per ton. The UK government has previously declared that this will increase further to £48 per ton by the end of 2010/11. This charge applies to all general waste materials streams, although there exists a lower rate for inert materials. Dispatching waste straight to landfill is an expensive choice and selecting appropriate methods to divert waste away from landfill has become important.

Therefore, the message to everybody is clear, sort your waste materials to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. Traditionally, at home or at the office, the instant you place waste into the dustbin , it is forgotten about. Another individual will collect it and take it away. Today, at home and at work, recycling is being stimulated by the supply of bins in which to place specific recyclable materials. At home, the children are often the keen recyclers.

Some common materials to be seen being recovered for recycling are paper, card, glass, metals and plastics. But the possiblity to recycle many materials or products keep increasing. Although technically not seen as recycling, food waste and garden waste collections are increasing, where the food or garden waste is taken back to a plant for processing into a reusable or saleable compost product.

Due to massive amounts of rubbish accumulating, the process of anaerobic digestion is a much more environmentally friendly way of transforming waste materials into a very important resource.

The means of collecting materials or waste to be recycled is also increasing and becoming more apparent within local communities. Dedicated collection sites, known as bring bank sites, are cropping up in supermarket car parks to motivate clientele of the superstore to return such items as bottles, newspapers or cardboard to the containers on their way into the store. Shoppers are therefore encouraged to return with their recyclables.

Local Authority waste collection crews or their appointed personnel will collect refuse and recyclables from the kerbside normally in front of your property. Collection from domestic premises generally continues to be the duty of the local authorities many have now employed the supply of boxes in which to gather specified recyclable materials or products. The services do vary from council to council.

In the business and commercial category, waste management contractors offer different storage units in which the customer deposits the correct waste materials stream or recyclable materials ready for collection. The particular bins will usually be clearly branded as to which recyclable materials need to be put within that container or bin. Alternatively, the bins will probably be colour coded to identify which recyclable materials ought to be placed within which bins.

One of the keys to a successful recycling initiative is educating about what can be recycled and how. In the commercial world getting the co-operation of office employees is crucial. The introduction of any recycling scheme must ensure that in asking staff to separate waste for recycling, it does not become time consuming and affect the effectiveness of what employees should be doing in their work.

The Recycling Process

Numerous collection solutions exist for the collection of the recyclable products . Regardless of what collection system is employed , the resources are taken to a recycling centre where they will be segregated from other waste materials. This could be done manually or by employing mechanical separators.

To begin the recycling process from the collection perspective, the more recyclable material which can be segregated at source, i.e. at home or in the work place, the more effective it will be for the waste collector. For this reason individual storage units are provided to the waste producer to stimulate segregation at source. If card could be collected using a truck, which will collect no other waste materials, the card can be kept clean and as a consequence will have a greater value when it actually reaches the processing plant. In the same way, dedicated glass collection vehicles are employed to collect only glass. Apart from the obvious health and safety reasons and the weight of collected glass, it will have a greater value if the collected glass load is not mixed with other waste. Uncontaminated recyclables will have a better value than contaminated materials.

Once collected, the recyclable resources may be taken direct to the reprocessing plant, if the load contains only that specific type of material. So a separate glass collection truck could take the load straight to a glass processing plant. It is more likely that the glass will have to be bulked up for onward shipment to the processor.

If mixed recyclables are collected such as paper and card within the same compartment, it could be required for the collector to take the load to a recycling centre to unload and allow the load to be sorted into individual paper and card bundles for onward transport to a paper or card processing plant. No matter what process is used, the recyclable material gathered will usually be segregated or cleaned before traveling through to a reprocessing plant to be converted to a new useful resource and ultimately used as a new product or in manufacturing. Inert materials can be a useful by product at landfill, such as shredded tyres to aid traction on access roadways.

Because of high density populations, the issue of level of waste disposal demands more progressive solutions than the old dump ideas. power in waste is just the kind of answer, turning waste material into energy.

The Increasing Significance of Recycling

In the UK close to 35% of waste collected from homes is recycled or composted. Although within the business and industrial market, the quantity of waste delivered to landfill has declined significantly recently and also the amount of waste now being diverted for recycling or reuse by this sector has grown over the amounts going to landfill. But there is still much to be done to help to increase rates even more within this sector.

Landfill continues to play a significant role in the management of waste across the UK as not all wastes are able to be recycled plus some are more suited to landfill disposal than by any other method. However, it is not just the increasing expense of getting rid of waste directly in landfill that is making recycling a far more appealing option for businesses. Landfill has started to become scarce, with some specialists hinting that the volume of void readily available across all UK landfill sites, has less than 10 years existence left before all sites are considered to be full.

In recent years, waste materials management companies have had to change their focal point, and begin to think about and spend money on technology, like energy from waste facilities, anaerobic digestion plants and mechanised biological treatment plants, as alternatives to landfill. Local Authorities also have adapted their attitudes by commencing detailed strategic reviews as to how waste materials under their jurisdiction should be handled. In some cases this has meant that unitary authorities are progressing plans to introduce long term contracts, usually around two-and-a-half decades long, through which to regulate their waste materials management requirements. These agreements will often include the need to create a facility through which to take care of all waste generated across the region by sorting all waste streams. The contracts could also incorporate the collection of all waste and recyclables from homes across the region. So the issue of waste management is changing rapidly. The times of just throwing everything in the dustbin have gone and the advent of new technologies are upon us.

Conclusion

Recycling has become a lifestyle and is maturing all the time. It has evolved through the years from a thing that was performed without any real thought behind it. The trusty rag and bone man was just trying to make a living. Today, many blue chip firms are setting out plans for a ‘zero to landfill’ waste policy, where the objective is very clear – reduce waste, reuse waste and recycle waste, but no waste must wind up in landfill.

Many homes across the country now have some kind of container in which to isolate waste materials for recycling. The requirement to separate newspapers, aluminium cans and plastic bottles are almost the norm. Whilst in industrial and business sectors, there is an increasing selection of items to take into account for recycling such as printer cartridges, office paper, metal and electrical equipment.

Ideally the whole process would be a complete cycle such as it was in the days of the horse. However the advent of new technology will accelerate further the way in which our waste is to be managed in the future, but it is highly unlikely that we will ever reach the ultimate waste free society.

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