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Right through history, recycling has existed in some way or another. Even as long ago as 400 BC indications of earlier recycling are recognized to have occurred. Archaeological studies show that ancient waste dumps contained fewer of what’s known nowadays as household waste, like pots, utensils and ash, which shows that people were, even in those days, keen to reuse products at a time when natural resources weren’t so freely available.

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 transforming the accumulated 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 such as the World War Years, recycling and re-use were crucial as natural resources became considerably more difficult to get. As well as food being rationed, certain materials such as metal and fibre werenormally allowed just for use by the government in support of military operations, to fulfill manufacturing requirements often in the production of weaponry.

As a result of rising power costs, the demand to recycle aluminium increased in the 1970′s.. As a material aluminium utilises a reduced amount of energy during the production process than alternative materials. Also it was much sought after on account of its non rusting properties. The need for aluminium saw the rise of scrap metal dealers who were willing to pay money in exchange for the best quality metal. Additionally, in the seventies in areas of the United states, the first vehicles were seen to be collecting waste with a separate trailer for collection of recyclable materials being towed behind the vehicle.

To the late eighties, early nineties and as the awareness of managing the global environmental state heightened amongst global governing bodies, the focus upon recycling really began to gather energy. In the United Kingdom, the government imposed recycling targets upon Local Authorities and with the introduction of new legal guidelines upon the waste products market, recycling schemes really started to take off. The once widely recognised waste disposal businesses, began to call themselves waste management providers and demonstrated by the offer of waste collection and recyclable material collection that waste needed to be managed more effectively. Local skip companies needed to become better at what they did.

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

What Exactly is Recycling?

The word recycling describes the process of converting second hand resources into new or nearly new products and avoid the need for potentially useful materials or products to be discarded.

Recycling plays an important role in a world where climate change is high on the environmental agenda. It reduces the need to avoidably send waste materials and products to landfill or other waste disposal options. Consequently this lessens the need or the reliance upon the consumption of fresh or new natural resources, decreases energy use and air and rain water 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 councils for domestic refuse and recycling collections and also modern waste management organisations who commonly give a full range of waste and recycling collection services.

There will be many companies all around 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 correctly recycled is it vital to find a well well-known and dependable company.

Within the waste materials industry, the regular marketing activity surrounds the waste materials hierarchy – ‘reduce, reuse, recycle and recover’. This 4 R slogan is a straightforward message suitable for a far reaching crowd. Look at how you can reduce your waste materials. Could the waste products or materials be reused? Could the waste product or material be recycled or retrieved?

The waste hierarchy is often a strategy which various waste management firms and local authorities consider when developing new waste management strategies. The plan is designed to focus the thought process around precluding waste material being generated to begin with. Take into account the options for reuse and recycling but ultimately minimise the amount of waste produced at the end of the cycle.

And so the focus is very much on the overall production process. The waste material hierarchy extends much wider than to waste material management firms and local authorities. Working groups have already been set up to bring many industries together to consider the complete waste cycle. By way of example, the manufacturer of a product must think about how a product will be fabricated. Could parts be used that can later be recycled or reused? Could the volume of packaging which often surrounds the item be cut down? When the item gets to the retailer, is it essential for the product to be located inside an outer package? If the retailer sells the merchandise, what will the purchaser do with the unwanted components of the acquisition, i.e. the packaging? How will the packaging be stored and where will it go? Could it return to a recycling facility, for onward shipment to a reprocessing plant, where the cycle starts once again? The process must be simple to manage and implement.

How are Materials Collected for Recycling?

Legislation now dictates that all waste needs to be treated to reduce the volume of recyclables and unnecessary waste materials going direct to landfill. Since 1996, the United Kingdom government has enforced a landfill levy on all waste materials dumped within landfill. The rate of tax has increased considerably in recent years 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 from the end of 2010/11. This cost applies to all general waste materials streams, although there’s a lower rate for inert products. Delivering waste materials directly to landfill is an expensive choice and selecting suitable solutions to divert waste away from landfill has become important. For inert materials the rate is £2.50 per ton.

So, the message to everyone is clear, segregate your waste materials to scale back the amount of waste material going to landfill. Ordinarily, at home or at the office, the instant you place waste material into the dustbin , it is forgotten about. Somebody else will collect it and take it away. These days, at home and at the office, recycling is being encouraged via the provision of bins in which to place certain recyclable materials.

Perhaps the most common products to be seen being gathered for recycling are paper, card, glass, metals and plastics. However the opportunity to recycle many materials or products keep increasing.

Many schools introduce paper recycling incentives because it is a substance that pupils take for granted, but can simply learn to recycle.

The systems of collecting materials or waste to be recycled is also increasing and ever more visible within local communities. Specialist collection sites, often referred to as bring bank sites, are cropping up in supermarket car parks to inspire customers of the supermarket to return such objects as bottles, newspapers or cardboard to the bins on their way into the supermarket.

Local Authority waste collection crews or their appointed contractors will collect refuse and recyclables from the roadside usually at the front of your house. Collection from domestic premises typically remains the duty of the local council and many have employed the provision of boxes in which to collect specified recyclable materials or products.

In the industrial and commercial field, waste materials management companies offer standalone containers in which the customer deposits the appropriate waste stream or recyclable material ready for collection. The particular bins will usually be clearly tagged as to which recyclable product need to be put within that container or bin. Otherwise, the bins will probably be colour coded to distinguish which recyclable materials should be placed within which bins.

One of the keys to a successful recycling initiative is residents about what can be recycled and how. In the commercial world getting the co-operation of shop floor employees is crucial. The introduction of any recycling scheme must ensure that in asking employees 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 . No matter which collection method is utilised , the resources are taken to a drop off point where they’ll be segregated from other waste products.

To begin the recycling process from the collection point of view, the more recyclable material that can be separated at origin, i.e. at home or in the work place, the more efficient it will be for the waste collector. That’s the reason separate containers are provided to the waste producer to inspire segregation at source. If card could be collected on a truck, which will collect no other waste materials, the card is going to be kept clean and therefore could have an increased value when it actually reaches the processing plant. Similarly, dedicated glass collection vehicles are widely-used to collect solely glass. Aside from the obvious health and safety factors and the weight of collected glass, it’ll have a greater value if the collected glass load is not mixed with other waste materials.

When collected, the recyclable materials may be taken direct to the reprocessing plant, if the load contains only that particular type of material. So a dedicated 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 compounded recyclables are collected such as paper and card within the same compartment, it may be a necessity for the collector to take the load to a recycling centre to unload and permit the load to be sorted into separate paper and card bundles for onward transfer to a paper or card processing plant. Whatever process is employed, the recyclable material collected will usually be sorted or cleaned before traveling through to a reprocessing facility to be processed to a new useful resource and ultimately used as something new or in manufacturing.

All enterprises, big or little may be urged to introduce waste recycling systems within their organisations.

The Increasing Importance of Recycling

In the UK close to 35% of waste collected from homes is recycled or composted. While in the business and industrial community, the volume of waste materials delivered to landfill has dropped substantially in recent years and also the amount of waste materials now being diverted for recycling or reuse by this sector has risen over the quantities going to landfill.

Landfill continues to play a key role in the control of waste across the UK as not all waste products can be recycled and some are more suited to landfill disposal than by any other method. Nevertheless, it is not just the increasing expense of disposing of waste directly in landfill which is making recycling a more attractive option for corporations. Landfill is now scarce, with some experts indicating that the volume of void in existence across all UK landfill sites, has under 10 years existence remaining before all sites are reckoned to be full. Such countries as Dubai have filled parts of the coastline with their waste and created useful land area to extend the boundaries of their state.

In recent times, waste materials management firms have had to switch their focus, and begin to take into consideration and invest in new technologies, such as energy from waste facilities, anaerobic digestion plants and mechanised biological treatment plants, as alternate options to landfill. Local Authorities have changed their attitudes by commencing comprehensive strategic reviews as to how waste material under their jurisdiction must be taken care of. In some cases this has meant that unitary authorities are implementing plans to introduce long-term agreements, usually around two-and-a-half decades in length, through which to control their waste materials management requirements. These deals will often include the need to build a facility through which to take care of all waste created across the county by sorting all waste streams. The agreements might also include the collection of all waste and recyclables from households throughout the area. So the face of waste management is beginning to change rapidly. The days of just throwing every little thing in the dustbin have vanished and the arrival of new technologies are upon us. The introduction of new technologies will play a huge role in the future of waste management.

Conclusion

Recycling is now a way of life and is not going anywhere soon. It has evolved over time from something that was performed with no real thought behind it. The trusty rag and bone man was just trying to make a living. Today, many blue chip companies are setting out plans for a ‘zero to landfill’ waste strategy, where the objective is very obvious – 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 type of bin in which to keep separate waste for recycling. The decision to split up newspapers, aluminium cans and plastic bottles are almost common place. Whilst in industrial and commercial 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 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. There will always be a need for waste to be disposed of somewhere, somehow.

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