Recycling

RECYCLING

Recycling

• Recycling is the process of taking up of old materials and waste products and using them to make another product to complete the cycle instead of just throwing them away. Much of the products used for packaging today like paper, plastic, glass, metal, electronics, aluminum cans are already recycled. In other words, recycling of old products could produce fresh supply of new same products.

3 Steps In Recycling• There are 3 factors which we needs to consider

while thinking about how to recycle - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. You can reduce the amount of waste by just selecting those products which do minimal waste. Choose products that can be easily recycled, can be used productively and have minimum packaging. Carry hand made bags instead of plastic bags.

• Search for the products that are more environment friendly. Give away old items which are not in use or which can not be recycled to poor people. Instead of paper mail subscribe to E-paper. Reuse involves using the items in the other way rather

than discarding them.

History Of Recycling

• Recycling may be a modern concept today but recycling projects throughout history were driven by basic needs, supply and demand. Recycling actually started in Great Britain but was adopted on much wider scale by America in the late 1930′s. Due to economic recession recycling became the necessity for the people.

• In the 1940s, goods such as nylon, rubber and many metals were rationed and recycled to help support the war effort. In early 1970′s environmental problems and rising energy costs forced people for more recycling. Though recycling suffered earlier but its acceptance has increased year after year.

Importance of Recycling• Recycling is important in today’s world if we want

to leave this planet for our future generations. It is good for the environment, since we are making new products from the old products which are of no use to us. Recycling begins at home. If you are not throwing away any of your old product and instead utilizing it for something new then you are actually recycling. When you think of recycling you should really think about the whole idea; reduce, reuse and recycle. We’ve been careless up to this point with the way we’ve treated the Earth and it’s time to change; not just the way we do things but the way we think.

We should recycle because

• To Make Environment Clean• Conservation of Materials• To Save Energy• Reduce Garbage in Landfills•  Save Money 

What We People Can Do?• 1. Throw away all the garbage in your house that is of no

use to you or you think you can’t utilize it in some other way. If you don’t have these boxes, you can easily purchase a suitable container for each recyclable product (e.g. paper, plastic, and glass), and then take these down to your local recycling center.

• 2. Try to avoid the use of plastic bag and plastic paper as much as possible. They not only pollute the environment but also helps in filling landfills. Also, when you shop try to look out for the products that have least packaging. Every millions of dollars are spent only in packaging of these products which ultimately go to the garbage sites.

Recycling Material• Recycling has become the major process going on in

the industries. Anything that can serve as the source to make other things is called recyclable materials. The materials that can be recycled are glass, aluminum, plastic water bottles, metal scrap, different kinds of paper, electronics –computers, cellular phones, keyboards, batteries and other small electronic equipment, textile, wood, wire, cables, plastic product, rubber etc.

• Apart from this industrial recycling, all the leaves, food leftovers, waste, twigs and other garden waste are decomposed by worms and saprobes and are converted into fertilizers

Best and the most economic materials to recycle

How Paper is Recycled?• Paper is one the material that can be easily recycled. Paper is collected

from the bin and deposited in the large recycling container along with the paper from the other recycle bins. This is the first process in the paper recycling process. Once the paper is collected from the recycle bins it is taken to the recycling plant where the waste paper is sorted and separated into types and grades. The second process is pulping. In this process large amount of water is added to the waste paper to produce pulp. Once pulp is produced it is then passed through a series of screens to remove larger pieces of contaminants for e.g.: inks, staples, plastic film and glue. The clean paper pulp is then placed in the machine that uses centrifugal cleaning to spin more of the debris from the paper pulp.

• The paper is the left to dry and is rolled up to be sent to shops. Different materials are then added to the pulp to create different paper products such as cardboard, newsprint or office paper. The bleaching process needs to be done if paper is intended to be white.

Tire/Rubber Recycling• Tires become totally unusable once they are torn and damaged. They

then end up in taking up the space in our landfills which affects the environment and also results in climate change. The best way to reduce the filling of tires in the landfills is to become involved in tire recycling. One of the major issue in tire recycling is the durability of tires as they are very hard to break down and therefore are seen lying in open space in large heaps. With the market growing for recycling of tires, many companies are chipping in with the help of grants from the local and state governments and are finding some practical uses of putting that waste into some valuable uses. Recycling of tires involved taking in the old tire and converting them back into other type of products.

• It is estimated several millions tires from private as well as commercial vehicles are discarded every year. Earlier only a few percentages of tires were recycled bit with more companies coming in and help given by government bodies, about 80% of tires are recycled which prevents old tires from taking up the space in landfill sites

Steps Involved in Rubber Recycling• Collection of Tires• Devulcanization• Mechanical Process• Vulcanization• Other Processes• Freezing Method: It is a less common process. In this process the

rubber is frozen with the help of liquid nitrogen. It is then processed in mills and grounded in the similar method already mentioned above.

• Pyrolysis: It is the process of melting rubber in the absence of oxygen so that combustion does not take place and toxic fumes are not produced. It is decomposed into char, oil and gases during this process. Although it is realistic but still research is going on to make it happen on a bigger scale.

Computer Recycling

• Why Computer Recycling is so Important? 

• Mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chromium are harmful for humans. If they somehow by bad disposal, reach drinking water they will cause many disease. Many landfills have computers as the major scrap. Not only they increase pollution but have drastic effects for economy. There are millions of people in the word that cannot afford computers.

The procedure of computer recycling Computer recycling does not have a proper industrial procedure. They

can generally be:• 1. Traded to poor cities to assist them as they can’t afford to buy new

ones.• 2. They can act as back up equipment in case if new computers are

damaged.• 3. The hardware in dismantled into its components like glass, plastics

and other metals. All of these components can be used in making other products.

• 4. They can be provided to community education centers or local schools..

• 5. The remaking of computers— parts from the dismantled or broken down metals, plastic and glass can bring down the prices in the future because the raw material is not to be provided from outside by spending money.

• 6. As recycling focuses mainly on the decrease in wastes and a green land, so this is achieved by computer recycling as comparatively less waste in produced and the e-waste in landfills is decreased.

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Benefits of Computer Recycling

• When the e-waste is not dispose of by the right method then it becomes a danger for life on earth. The after effects are increase in global warming, increase in land, water and air pollution, increase in diseases and a loop hole in economy. So for this boom and gloom economy, recycling is the best option as it assists business, trade and decrease poverty. It increases employment in the industries with the job openings. It creates a green and eco environment and the chances for ozone depletion are decreased

Need of Mobile Phones Recycling• In this era, where the development and advancement is

going at a great pace and every now and then new gadgets appear in the market, it is very difficult to stick to the old ones. There is a great competition going on between all the mobile companies and they try their best to give new features to their mobile phone so that they get attracted and buy them. So a million dollar question is: what to do with the old mobile phones?

• Throw them? No, obviously not! Mobile phones have barium, lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, selenium, antimony, PVC, bromine etc. in them. So when the mobile phones are disposed of then there is a possibility of leakage in their batteries. This will pollute the land and can also enter rivers and becoming a great danger for human life. Aquatic life may also be disturbed. So it is very necessary to get them recycled.

• Recycling of Mobile Phones• It is a non-biodegradable waste and comprises a lot of the

landfills. Glass cannot be decomposed naturally, although it darkens in color but still remains glass in composition. So its recycling is very necessary. It is not harmful for human health, but it gives a dirty look to the land.

• Industrial Process• The making of new mobile phones requires raw material, which

can be decreased by recycling. The covers and protective casing of mobile phones can be made from the old ones. During the recycling process the functioning parts are removed and are used in low cost gadgets. But the transportation of raw material from source to destination produces pollution by emission of poisonous gasses. The productions in industries also increase pollution as wastes are secreted from the industries which can be in solid form or in gaseous forms. So it is better that the mobile phone are traded and recycled among people instead of all the industrial recycling.

Recycling Through Trade• Mobile phones can be refurbished and resold at an affordable

price• They can be traded with the shop keepers.• They can be exchanged with the shopkeepers in place of new

mobile phones. In this way it would cost less and would be beneficial.

• The mobile phones can be given to the poor and destitute women and it can be very helpful and life saving for them.

• They can be given to charity, so that they can provide the deserving people with mobile phones as they cannot afford them.

• They can be sold to poor countries, so that they can sell them to their people at low cost.

• They can be given to organizations or campaigns which send mobile phones to troops overseas so that they can call back home. Soldiers are given prepaid cards and recycled mobile phones.

Glass recycling• Glass is a very important inorganic material which is a one of

the largest productions of industries. It can be made into a variety of different products used for man’s daily living. It is an amorphous solid which can have different compositions of semiconductors but most importantly are made of molten silica along with limestone and soda ash. Glass can be of blue, brown, green color or may be clear. Glass is used in making crockery, windows, doors, mirrors, disposable bottles and many other household items.

• The necessity for glass recycling• It is a non-biodegradable waste and comprises a lot of the

landfills. Glass cannot be decomposed naturally, although it darkens in color but still remains glass in composition. So its recycling is very necessary. It is not harmful for human health, but it gives a dirty look to the land.

The process of glass recycling• The collection• Separation into colors• Formation of cullet• Heating and melting• Shaping the glass• Use of conveyors

The Ecological Importance of Water Recycling• Around the globe, people are making hard work

to protect natural resources before their depletion reaches an increased state. People today are ‘going green’ to protect their land and to prove themselves as good citizens. Some think that the natural resources need not to be protected but increased pollution in rivers, streams and lakes has become a great danger for life. Other than that, due to increased population, the consumption of water has been enhanced greatly. Therefore, it is very essential to protect water resources and to maintain the balance in the ecosystem.

Benefits of Water Recycling• Landscape irrigation: People are recycling water irrigation systems

which are completely separated from the domestic water supply.• For industrial use: Processed waste water can be used in industries

in water sprinkling systems and in cooling towers. Many industries use a great amount of water but the purification is not much important in cleansing process.

• For Farming: Where farming depends on the irrigation of water, then depending on the extent of purification of water, it can be used to irrigate many vegetables, vineyards, grain crops and fruit trees.

• Recreation: Recycled water can be used in outdoor fountain displays, to water golf courses and for artificial snow. The fountains give a very good luck to a park.

• Construction: Recycled water can be used on a construction site for many purposes like concrete mixing and dust control. The concrete mixing is a fundamental process in building.

Plastic Bottles Recycling• Unfortunately the consumption of bottled

water has been increased very much in the past few years. The bottles are made up of plastic. For beverages and other juices, plastic bottles are used more preferably. So the amount of plastic bottles in landfills is increasing day by day. It is very unfortunate that they are occupying the space in landfills rather than recycling them and using them for other purposes. Plastic does not decompose and does not give a good kind of impression of the green land

Process of Plastic Bottles Recycling• Collection and Sorting• The Plastic Number• Washing• Discard Lids and Caps• Don’t leave anything behind• Squash and Squeeze

Advantages of Plastic Bottles Recycling• 1. Oil Reservation: Recycling water bottles can save four barrels a day. As

we know that the prices of oil are increasing day by day, so it is very mindful to decrease its consumption in houses and industries.

• 2. Reduction is Greenhouse Gas Emission: It takes less processing in recycling things. It saves energy and the emission of gasses decreases to a great extent.

• 3. Conserving Energy: In case of bottles recycling, the bottles are made up of a type of plastic called Polyethylene Terephthalate. One pound of PET can save as much as twelve thousand BTUÂ’s energy.

• 4. Advantages of ‘reuse’: Many people think that the plastic bottles are transformed exactly into similar bottles but the truth is that they are recycled into someone’s jacket or someone’s deck.

• 5. Save our Landfills: The recycling can help decrease landfills. As we know that space in the landfills is occupied by the bottles to a great extent and the land pollution is decreased.

• So, the bottles should be disposed off in the right manner to the recycling bins and proper organizations for recycling should be made

Metal Recycling• The metals are very useful and versatile. They

have many uses in cars, trucks, ships, aero planes, ovens, cutlery, railway tracks, crockery and it can also be used for packaging. The beauty of metal recycling is that that it can be recycled again and again without changing its properties. The most important metals which are used are (nonferrous) aluminum, tin, brass, copper and (ferrous) steel and iron. Sorting of metals during recycling becomes easier than that of plastic recycling as the magnetic properties can be checked.

The Process of Metal Recycling• 1. Collection and sorting: The first step in metal recycling is the collection

of all the materials which are made up of metals. The second important step is sorting the kind of metals which are good for recycling. The quality of metals matters a lot when it comes to recycling.

• 2. Processing: The next step is to compact the metal. All the appliances are squeezed and squashed in the machines so that they don’t occupy that much space in conveyor belts.

• 3. Shredding: After crushing and breaking the metals, shredding of metals takes place. They are broken down into small sheets or pieces so that they can be processed further with ease.

• 4. Melting and Purification: The next step is to melt all this scrap metal in a large furnace. Each metal has a specially designed furnace depending on its properties.

• Then after melting the metals are purified by using different methods. Electrolysis is also used for metal purification. These metal blocks are then transported to different mills for their remaking into other products. Recycling saves almost 75% of energy

What are Recycle Bins?• Recycle Bins are large containers that you must have seen

outside your home, in parks or streets and are used to store recyclable material. Once it is filled with the material the same is then picked by the local municipal body or local recycling firms to process those and make new products from them.

• Recycle bins is a great way to start recycling. It has helped enormously in last few decades to process waste products which could otherwise would have ended up in filling up the garbage. Recycling in other way would help in Energy Conservation, Reducing pollution and landfill reduction.

• Few countries in the world have proper recycling colors and logos to help people identify the most appropriate bin. This helps people to put proper things in proper places so that recycling firms can easily separate different items from the large quantities of waste products.

Recycling Benefits to the Economy

• Recycling saves money: It is cheaper to make products using recycled materials. For example, using fresh aluminum costs twice as much as using recycled aluminum. This is because a lot more energy (ie. 90% more) is needed to extract aluminum from its raw forms . Subsequently, products that are made from recycled materials can also be purchased at a cheaper price. As more items are reduced, the amount of waste that needs to go to the landfill or incinerator is also reduced. Through recycling, communities can save on their waste disposal costs (eg. landfill costs), which can be very expensive

• Recycling creates jobs and generates revenue: Recycling creates new businesses such as for transporting, processing and selling recovered materials as well as companies that manufacture and distribute products made with recycled materials.

• And in turn, jobs are created. When you recycle, more jobs are created than when you merely discharge your waste. Dumping 10,000 tons of waste in a landfill creates six jobs while recycling 10,000 tons of waste creates 36 jobs.

Recycling as a promising industry

• Indeed, the recycling business sector is growing and developing into an extremely promising industry.

• As a sunrise industry, it certainly has a lot of potential for flourishing and generating jobs and revenues worth millions.

• If every household, community, city, state, and nation thought along the same lines, and invested a little time and effort into sorting out waste at home, office and community, imagine how much recyclables would be available to the recycling industry! And it would mean that almost every single item used and thrown can be recycled!

• The recycling industry is now limited, mainly to paper, glass, plastic, aluminum, and other metals.

Benefits to businesses: Save money by Reducing, Reusing and Recycling waste

• With the cost of goods and materials rising, using resources efficiently and reducing your business' waste makes good financial sense. It's also better for the environment

• Business benefits of reducing, reusing and recycling waste

• Comply with waste regulations• Save and make money• Environmental benefits

Choosing a waste management option

• Waste management hierarchy• Reduce• Reuse • Recycle and compost • Recover energy • Dispose  When choosing a waste option for your business, you should consider:• what waste facilities are available near your business premises• the type of waste you have to dispose of.• the cost or profit involved in dealing with your waste.• the environmental impacts of disposing of your waste.

Reducing waste• Look for easy wins - seemingly trivial changes can produce significant

savings, such as printing and photocopying double-sided, refilling printer cartridges, switching off lights and electrical equipment, and using rechargeable batteries.

• Procure carefully - buy only what you need, control stock and streamline processes across departments. Buy equipment in bulk to reduce packaging and consider the product's durability and lifespan - replacing equipment less often will reduce the waste you create..

• Review your processes - ensure that equipment and materials are used efficiently and packaging is kept to a minimum.

• Product design - keep the amount of materials you use in products to a minimum.

• Packaging design and use - make sure you use as little packaging as possible to achieve an adequate level of protection for your products.

• Use advice about resource efficiency from a range of organisations..• Adopting a strategic and systematic approach is the best way to achieve

significant reductions in the amount of waste that your business produces.

Reusing waste• You may be able to reuse materials and equipment in your own

business or another organisation may be able to reuse your waste• Reusing waste in your business• refill toner and ink-jet cartridges• use waste paper as notepaper• use durable cups, mugs, glasses and cutlery rather than disposable

alternatives• reuse envelopes and other packaging• donate used equipment and furniture to charities• use grey water recycling systems for your toilets• Reuse by other organizations• You can offer waste materials, second-hand products, end-of-line

products and obsolete equipment to other organizations which can use them without alteration.

Recycling waste• Recycling is the third-best waste-management option for your

business, after reducing and reusing waste. It is less beneficial to the environment than reuse because energy and resources are needed to reprocess the waste before the materials can be used again.

• What you must recycle• Batteries that contain harmful chemicals and metals - these are classified as

hazardous waste. • Electrical and electronic equipment .• Fridges and air-conditioning equipment containing ozone-depleting

substances• End-of-life vehicles (ELVs) - you must send ELVs for dismantling and

depollution, and recycle any component parts• Packaging - you must comply with certain requirements if you produce

packaged products, or place packaging or packaged goods on the market. • You must comply with waste legislation if you are recycling or transporting

waste.

Treating and composting biodegradable waste• Your business may be able to treat waste biologically to produce a

nutrient-rich material or biogas. If you produce biodegradable waste you can send it for recycling into compost.

• You can treat biodegradable waste on an industrial scale by either composting or anaerobic digestion (AD). Composting is more suitable for fibrous materials. AD is more suitable for wet

wastes and sludges that degrade easily.• Composting biodegradable waste• If your business produces biodegradable waste such as food, garden

waste, paper and cardboard, you can send these for recycling into compost

• Anaerobic digestion of waste• AD can be used to treat food and similar wet organic wastes. It takes

place in a closed container, excluding oxygen. It is clean and relatively odour-free. It produces a nutrient-rich solid material called digestate and biogas containing methane and CO2.

Recovering energy and producing fuel from waste• You may be able to use your waste to recover energy or produce

biofuel.• Recovering energy from waste• AD can produce energy on a small scale. It uses bacteria to break down

organic matter without oxygen in specially made digesters. • Gasification involves heating organic waste with a reduced amount of

oxygen and/or steam. It produces a synthetic gas, known as syngas, which can be burned independently in a boiler, engine or gas turbine to produce electricity.

• Pyrolysis is carried out in the total absence of oxygen. It also produces an energy-rich gas and solid residue. These can then be burned separately to produce electricity. In some pyrolysis processes, the gases are condensed into a liquid fuel.

• Incineration involves burning organic material such as waste to produce

electricity and heat.

Disposing of waste• Disposing of waste at landfill sites or incinerating it without

energy recovery are the least sustainable waste management options and you should only use them as a last resort.

•  • Landfilling waste• Some types of waste are banned from landfill sites, including:• corrosive, explosive, oxidising, flammable or infectious wastes• tyres• liquid wastes• wastes with more than 6 per cent total organic content• automotive and industrial batteries• animal by-products, such as agricultural carcasses and

uncooked meat products

Separating and storing waste• Check if you have hazardous waste• Hazardous waste may be harmful to human health or the

environment. It is not usually suitable for in-house recycling, as there are strict controls on how you can store, transport and process it.

• You must prevent waste from escaping and causing pollution• Separating and storing waste• Store waste in areas that can contain a leak or spill and are isolated

from surface water drainage systems. Separate and store plastics according to their grade and type. The three most common types of recyclable plastic are:

• polyethylene terephthalate (PET)• high density polyethylene (HDPE)• polyvinyl chloride (PVC)• Compacting waste• If you have a large amount of waste, use a baler or compactor to

crush materials into blocks or bales. This allows you to transport larger volumes in one go, which could save you money.

Reduce, reuse and recycle: The Tata Group• The Tata Group recognized the need to protect and conserve

the world's natural resources long before it became a mantra of modern business. See how Tata companies are recycling and utilizing their waste in innovative ways

• With the earth's resources being rapidly depleted and most of the world chanting go green, it is not surprising that business conglomerates are finally waking up to the need to conserve and recycle. However, the Tata Group recognized the relevance of environmentally friendly work process many years ago. All 93 Tata companies have, in some way, been following the proverb "waste not, want not", an endeavor that is today one of the driving themes behind their productivity curve.

• Here's a look at four Tata companies that have undertaken recycling and resource conservation projects and successfully integrated these into their work processes in order to reduce the ecological impact of their business.

A war on waste: Tata Steel• Tata Steel has laid great emphasis, over the years, on creating a green

environment in and around its plants and on utilizing the waste generated in the process of manufacturing steel. The company generates roughly 700kg of various wastes (excluding fly ash) in the process of producing one tone of crude steel. Of this, 83.16 per cent is utilized either through recycling and reuse in the company's own processes or they are sold as raw material to other industries. The remaining waste is sent for safe land filling.

• "We have estimated the cost benefit of our waste utilization, and considering the type of waste and present utilization practices the entire process comes to around Rs 1.3 crore for every one per cent of waste utilization..There are roughly three types of waste that are left behind namely; blast furnace slag (BF), BF flue dust and BF Sludge, with LD slag, mill scale, fly and bottom ash from the power plants. BF slag is used in cement making, in the manufacture of slag wool, soil conditioner, aggregate manufacture and road construction. . Efforts have also been made to use LD slag as a soil conditioner in paddy fields, tea gardens, etc

Painting the town green: Tata Tea• One of Tata Tea's most successful CSR efforts has been in its

project Aranya that trains and employs disabled youngsters to extract dyes from natural sources. The tea waste produces dyes in a unique shade of green that is used for various dying processes.

• All the packing material scrap is returned to the vendors and items that are to be disposed are disposed in the dumps provided by the Bangalore Corporation. Wherever these facilities are not available, the material is disposed of through shredding under strict supervision

• The volume of packaging scrap disposed at a particular time is of a minuscule quantity and does not become a pollution concern. Though the plastic re-cycling industry in India is in a nascent stage, Tata Tea ensures the safe disposal of all plastic that is used.

The 4 R's: Tata Chemicals• The growth of Tata Chemicals has always been guided by four

principles — replace, reduce, reuse and recycle — in the field of energy, water and other natural resources like limestone. Today, the company stands as the nation's biggest inorganic chemicals complex, which is recognized in its class of business for water efficiency, energy efficiency and limestone conservation.

• Tata Chemicals replaces the use of fresh water by seawater or treated seawater wherever possible to an extent of more than 90 per cent of the total water requirements of its operations.

• The company's cement plant manages the waste from the soda ash plant. The company has also reclaimed saline and alkaline waste dumps by using fly ash as sediment. About 12.5 acres have been converted into a green belt and a further expansion of 10 acres is in progress. This time soda ash effluent solids are being used along with fly ash.

Giving back to the earth: Indian Hotels• Indian Hotels has developed a programme on minimization of waste that

is being implemented across all its hotels. "We have effectively reduced our guestroom and other wastage from 1.2 kg / guest / day to approximately 0.9 kg / guest / day, and our target is to meet the international benchmark of 0.6 kg / guest / day, which, however, does not include kitchen biodegradable wastage. All waste from the kitchen, such as vegetable peels or waste from food preparation, is sent to be used as animal feed and the excess food from the restaurants is donated to various organizations. Supplies are usually bought in bulk; an effort is made to buy concentrated products to reduce packages. All organic waste is sent to the biogas plant or used for vermiculture or for composting. Old linen is reused as dusters and aprons. The hotels also try and avoid using plastic or polyethylene bags wherever possible. Scrap wood, metal and glass are disposed off in the recycler, spares of old equipment are used before scrapping, and care is taken to separate all non-recyclable and recyclable materials in different bins. Wherever possible, water is recycled and slurry from the wastewater plant is dried and used in the generation of manure.

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