Reduce Reuse Recycle & Recover

Reduce Reuse Recycle & Recover

Recycling is the reprocessing of old materials into new products, with the aims of preventing the waste of potentially useful materials, reducing the consumption of unused materials and reducing energy usage, and thereby lowering greenhouse gas emissions compared to new products. Recycling is a key concept of modern waste management "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle".

Most of our garbage is sent to landfills, dumps or municipal incinerators. However,with more people producing more waste, landfills are filling up faster than we can find new ones to replace them with, these landfills create new types of waste. As garbage decomposes, moisture filters through it producing a toxic liquid known as leachate. Modern landfills are designed to reduce the amount of moisture that reaches the garbage, and many have a system to collect and treat this.

Decomposing garbage also produces two greenhouses gases: carbon dioxide and methane, an invisible, odorless, and highly flammable gas. At some big landfill sites, methane is now being collected and burned to produce energy.

Water and oxygen are required to break down garbage. However, water and oxygen are in short supply deep in a landfill, so decomposition takes place very slowly.

Incinerations are sometimes used to burn solid waste under controlled condition. They reduce the stress on landfills, but they create other environmental problems. The ashes must be disposed of, either at a landfill, or, if they are toxic, at a hazardous waste facility. Burning garbage also produces acid gases, carbon dioxide and toxic chemicals that must be treated with expensive air pollution control equipment to avoid contributing to acid rain, ozone depletion and air pollution.

Recycling is just one way to reduce wastes. To be really effective, we have to incorporate all. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Recover.

Where to recycle?

Recycling in schools, recycling in the work place and at home, are a must if we are going to have any effect on our environment. In fact, recycling needs to become a key part of our life. Recycling requires businesses to collect, haul, and process recyclables, as well as businesses that manufacture products from recycled materials. Although the market for recyclables has historically been erratic, rapid industrial development in nations like China have caused prices to improve for many commodities. In your area garbage that is collected may be recycle friendly. Many recyclables are collected by a private company. Find out the requirements for recyclables in your area. Plus there are many recyclable products that can be sold to help cover the cost of processing. Curbside Collections Residents leave their recyclables at the curb or in some other designated place where regular trash is picked up. In some areas, people bring their recyclables to collection centers. Do not wait to leave it up to the government or business, make some calls in your area and find out what is available to you. Take advantage of what is offered and if people start using the services, their business will grow and over time will offer you more services in recycling.

Recycling bins are offered in many areas now (over time we will be adding links to places in your area). Many of them are dedicated to creating the most useful and environmentally friendly recycling containers and products. This could help slow down global climate change and another environmental problems caused by burning fossil fuels like oil and gas. It is getting more expensive to throw rubbish in landfills because more engineering and environmental protection goes into designing landfills. The supply of any material on our Earth is limited, and while it may seem like we could never run out, if we keep filling our landfills with aluminum, plastic, and steel and keep consuming more at the same time we will eventually run out.