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All through history, recycling has been around in some guise or another. Even as long ago as 400 BC indications of early recycling are known to have happened. Archaeological studies show that historical waste dumps contained less of what is known nowadays as household waste, such as pots, utensils and ash, which demonstrates that men and women were, even back then, keen to reuse materials at a time when natural resources weren’t so freely available. Little did they know that the things they were starting would play such a huge role in shaping society for future generations

Indeed it may be argued that the old ‘rag-and-bone’ man was just an early recycler collecting unwanted goods on his horse and cart, before reusing or converting the recovered items into new stuff. The 60’s TV series, Steptoe and Son, brought this very much to the public eye and greater attention.

During periods like the World War Years, recycling and re-use were common place as natural resources became much more difficult to find. Along with food being rationed, certain materials including metal and fibre werenormally permitted just for use by the government in support of military operations, to meet manufacturing requirements often in the production of weaponry. There was a desperate need to support the military.

As a result of rising power costs, the demand to recycle aluminium increased in the seventies.. As a material aluminium uses significantly less energy during the production process than alternative materials. Plus it was much sought-after as a result of its non rusting attributes. The need for aluminium saw the rise of scrap metal dealers who were ready to pay money in exchange for the best quality metal. Additionally, in the 70’s in parts of the United States of America, the first vehicles were seen to be collecting waste with a separate trailer for the recovery of recyclable resources being towed behind the vehicle. This was mainly for large bulky items like bedsteads and old carpets.

Towards the late eighties, early 1990’s and as the importance of managing the intercontinental environmental state heightened amongst global authorities, the debate on recycling really started to gather impetus. In the UK, the authorities imposed recycling targets upon Local Authorities and with the introduction of fresh legal guidelines upon the waste products industry, recycling schemes really started to take off. The once commonly knownwaste disposal businesses, began to call themselves waste management providers and demonstrated through the offer of waste collection and recyclable materials collection that waste needed to be handled more successfully.

Today, many hundreds of materials and products can be recycled, including paper, card, glass and plastics, to mobile phone handsets, electrical items, printer cartridges, textiles, clothing and concrete. The demand for different types of collection receptacles has increased dramatically.

What is Recycling?

The word recycling describes the operation of converting second-hand products into new or nearly new products avoiding the need for potentially useable materials or products to be thrown away.

Recycling performs a vital role in a modern world where climate change is high on the green agenda. It helps to reduce the need to avoidably send waste material and products to landfill or other waste disposal options. Consequently this diminishes the demand or the reliance upon the consumption of fresh or new natural materials, reduces energy usage and air and water pollution, all of which contribute to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Significant contributions to improving the environment.

Recycling would probably be mostnoticeable through the recycling assistance now provided by local councils for domestic refuse and recycling collections and also advanced waste management companies who generally give a full range of waste and recycling collection solutions. Some firms, that have in the past concentrated only on the collection of recyclable products, are now extending their service offering to collect general waste material at the same time.

There are many companies throughout the united kingdom who now provide paper recycling, cardboard recycling, glass recycling, energy from waste , recycling services. But to be certain your waste is really going to be appropriately recycled is it crucial to look for a well recognised and trustworthy company.

Within the waste materials industry, the most popular advertising activity surrounds the waste materials hierarchy - ‘reduce, reuse, recycle and recover’. This four R slogan is a simple message made for a far reaching audience. Look at how you can reduce your waste material. Could the waste materials products or materials be reused? Could the waste product or material be recycled or recovered? Many questions to think about.

The waste materials hierarchy is a strategy that various waste management firms and local authorities think about when developing new waste management procedures. The strategy is designed to focus the mind around precluding waste material being generated to start with. 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.

And so the emphasis is very much on the entire manufacturing process. The waste hierarchy extends much wider than to waste management companies and local authorities. Working groups have been established to bring many industries together to look at the entire waste cycle. For instance, the manufacturer of a product must take into account the way the product is to be constructed. Could parts be used that can eventually be recycled or reused? Can the quantity of packaging which surrounds the item be decreased? Once the product reaches the store, is it essential for the product to be located inside an outer package? If the retailer sells the merchandise, what will the consumer do with the unwanted elements of the acquisition, i.e. the packaging? How will the packaging be recovered and where will it go? Does it return to a recycling plant, for onward transfer to a reprocessing facility, 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 all waste should be treated to divert the amount of recyclables and unnecessary waste material heading direct to landfill. Since 1996, the United Kingdom government has enforced a landfill tax on all waste materials disposed of within landfill. The rate of duty has increased considerably lately rising from the initial level of £8 per ton, to the current rate of £40 per ton. The UK government has recently declared that this will increase further to £48 per ton from the end of 2010/11. This fee applies to all general waste material streams, although there exists a reduced rate for inert materials. Delivering waste materials straight to landfill is an expensive option and finding suitable ways to divert waste away from landfill has become important.

So, the message to everybody is obvious, segregate your waste materials to reduce the amount of waste materials going to landfill. Typically, at home or in the office, as soon as you place waste into the dustbin , it’s forgotten about. Another person will collect it and take it away. These days, at home and in the office, recycling is being stimulated via the provision of containers in which to place specific recyclable materials.

Some common resources to be seen being collected for recycling are paper, card, glass, metals and plastics. Even so the opportunity to recycle a vast number of materials or products keeps growing.

There is a vast selection of paper recycling bins could be set at high usage points for instance near photocopying equipment to gather leftover paper.

The systems of collecting materials or waste material to be recycled is also escalating and ever more apparent within local communities. Dedicated collection sites, known as bring bank sites, are springing up in superstore car parks to encourage clientele of the supermarket to return such objects as bottles, newspapers or cardboard to the bins on their way into the store.

Local Authority waste materials collection crews or their appointed contractors will collect refuse and recyclables from the roadside normally at the front of your house. Collection from domestic premises typically continues to be the responsibility of the local council many have employed the provision of bags in which to gather particular recyclable materials or products. The services do vary from council to council.

In the industrial and commercial category, waste material management businesses offer individual storage containers in which the customer deposits the correct waste material stream or recyclable material ready for collection. The containers will usually be clearly labeled as to which recyclable materials ought to be put inside that container or bin. Alternatively, the bins will be colour coded to distinguish which recyclable materials need to be placed within which bins.

One of the keys to a successful recycling initiative is homeowners 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 productivity of what employees should be doing in their work. The introduction of any recycling scheme should be kept simple.

The Recycling Process

Various collection systems exist for the collection of the recyclable products . Whichever collection system is utilised , the resources are taken to a recycling centre where they will be segregated from other wastes. This may be done by hand or by making use of mechanical separators.

To begin the recycling process from a collection viewpoint, the more recyclable material which can be separated at origin, i.e. at home or in the workplace, the more efficient it will be for the waste collector. That is why individual storage units are provided to the waste producer to promote segregation at source. If card can be collected using a truck, that will collect no other waste materials, the card can be kept clean and as a consequence could have a higher value when it actually reaches the processing plant. Similarly, dedicated glass collection vehicles are employed to collect only glass. Aside from the obvious health and safety factors and the weight of collected glass, it’ll have a much higher value if the collected glass load is not contaminated with other waste. Uncontaminated recyclables will present a much higher value than contaminated materials.

Once collected, the recyclable materials are generally taken direct to the reprocessing plant, if the load contains only that specific type of material. So a dedicated glass collection vehicle could take the load directly 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 container, it may be a necessity for the collector to take the load to a materials recycling facility to unload and permit the load to be sorted into distinct paper and card bundles for onward transport to a paper or card processing plant. No matter which method is used, the recyclable material collected will most likely be sorted or washed before going through to a reprocessing facility to be converted to a new resource and eventually used as something new or in manufacturing.

Numerous dwellings throughout great britain are now choosing to decide on green energy for their own necessities such as light and heat. Eventhough it might be pricey to install at this stage, eventually it’s going to save on money.

The Increasing Importance of Recycling

In the UK close to 35% of waste collected from homes is recycled or composted. While in the commercial and industrial sector, the quantity of waste materials sent to landfill has declined significantly in recent years and the volume of waste material now being diverted for recycling or reuse by this sector has grown above the volumes going to landfill.

Landfill continues to play a vital role in the management of waste across the UK as not all waste items are able to be recycled plus some are more suited to landfill disposal than by some other means. Nonetheless, it’s not just the increasing expense of disposing of waste directly in landfill which is making recycling a far more appealing option for corporations. Landfill is starting to become scarce, with some experts hinting that the quantity of void in existence across all UK landfill sites, has less than ten years existence remaining before all sites are reckoned to be full.

In recent times, waste materials management companies have had to change their focal point, and start to take into account and invest in technology, like energy from waste plants, anaerobic digestion facilities and mechanical biological treatment plants, as alternate options to landfill. Local Authorities have also adapted their approaches by commencing detailed strategic reviews as to how waste materials under their jurisdiction should be dealt with. In some instances this has meant that unitary authorities are implementing plans to introduce long-term deals, usually around 25 years long, through which to manage their waste materials management demands. These deals will often include the need to build a facility through which to take care of all waste materials produced throughout the city by sorting all waste streams. The deals may also incorporate the collection of waste and recyclables from homes across the region. So the face of waste management is beginning to change quickly. The days of merely throwing everything in the dustbin have vanished and the development of new technologies are upon us. The introduction of new technologies will play a huge role in the future of waste management.

Conclusion

Recycling has become a lifestyle and is not going anywhere soon. It has evolved over the years from something that was performed with no real thought behind it. The trusty rag and bone man was just working to make a living. Today, many blue chip organisations are setting out plans for a ‘zero to landfill’ waste strategy, where the intention is very clear - reduce waste, reuse waste and recycle waste, but no waste must wind up in landfill. Some companies have announced ambitious target dates by which to realize such policies.

Many households across the country now have some form of container in which to isolate waste materials for recycling. The requirement to separate newspapers, aluminium cans and plastic bottles are almost common place. Whilst in industrial and business areas, there is an increasing selection of items to think about for recycling like printer cartridges, office paper, metal and electrical equipment. Even on street corners and airports you see bins to recycle such items as newspapers and drink cans.

Ideally the entire process would be a complete cycle such as it was in the time of the horse. However the advent of new technologies will increase further the way in which our waste is to be managed in the future, but it is highly improbable that we will ever reach the ultimate waste free society.

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