BFI R: Best Free Industry Recycling
Recycling is the reprocessing of materials into new products. Recycling
generally prevents the waste of potentially useful materials, reduces the
consumption of raw materials and reduces energy usage, and hence greenhouse gas
emissions, compared to virgin production. Recycling is a key concept of modern
waste management and is the third component of the waste hierarchy.
Recyclable materials, also called "recyclables" or "recyclates", may originate
from a wide range of sources including the home and industry. They include
glass, paper, aluminium, asphalt, iron, textiles and plastics. Biodegradable
waste, such as food waste or garden waste, is also recyclable with the
assistance of micro-organisms through composting or anaerobic digestion.
Recyclates are sorted and separated into material types. Contamination of the
recylates with other materials must be prevented to increase the recyclates'
value and facilitate easier reprocessing for the ultimate recycling facility.
This sorting can be performed either by the producer of the waste or within
semi- or fully-automated materials recovery facilities.
There are two common household methods of recycling. In curbside collection (UK:
kerbside collection), consumers leave presorted recyclable materials in front of
their property to be collected by a recycling vehicle. With a "bring" or
carry-in system, the householder takes the materials to collection points, such
as transfer stations or civic amenity sites.
The term recycling does not generally include reuse, in which existing items are
used for a new pupose.
History
The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a
worldwide view of the subject.
Please improve this article or discuss the issue on the talk page.
Recycling and rubbish bin in a German railway station.Recycling has been a
common practice throughout human history. In pre-industrial times, scrap made of
bronze and other precious metals were collected in Europe and melted down for
perpetual reuse, and in Britain dust and ash from wood and coal fires was
downcycled as a base material in brick making. The main driver for these types
of recycling was the economic advantage of obtaining recycled feedstock instead
of acquiring virgin material, as well as a lack of public waste removal in ever
more-populated sites.
Paper recycling began in Britain in 1921, when the British Waste Paper
Association (now Confederation of Paper Industries) was established to encourage
trade in waste paper recycling.
Resource shortages caused by the world wars, and other such world-changing
occurrences greatly encouraged recycling. Massive government promotion campaigns
were carried out in World War II in every country involved in the war, urging
citizens to donate metals and conserve fiber, as a matter of significant
patriotic importance. Resource conservation programs established during the war
were continued in some countries without an abundance of natural resources, such
as Japan, after the war ended.
The next big investment in recycling occurred in the 1970s, due to rising energy
costs recycling aluminum uses only 5% of the energy required by virgin
production; glass, paper and metals have less dramatic but very significant
energy savings when recycled feedstock is used . The passage of the Clean Water
Act of 1977 in the USA created strong demand for bleached paper (office paper
whose fibre has already been bleached white increased in value as water effluent
became more expensive).
In 1973, the city of Berkeley, California began one of the first curbside
collection programs with monthly pick ups of newspapers from residences. Since
then several countries have started and expanded various doorstep collection
schemes. Around this time, Woodbury, New Jersey was also a forerunner of the
recycling industry in the United States, being the first in the state to mandate
it.
In 1987, the Mobro 4000 barge hauled garbage from New York to North Carolina,
where it had been denied. It was then sent to Belize, where it was denied as
well. Finally, the barge returned to New York and the garbage was incinerated.
The incident led to heated discussions about waste disposal and recycling.
One event that initiated recycling efforts occurred in 1989 when Berkeley banned
the use of polystyrene packaging for keeping McDonald's hamburgers warm. One
effect of this ban was to raise the ire of management at Dow Chemical, the
world's largest manufacturer of polystyrene, which led to the first major effort
to show that plastics can be recycled. By 1999, there were 1,677 companies in
the USA alone involved in the post-consumer plastics recycling business.
Benefits
Recycling is beneficial in two ways: it reduces the inputs (energy and raw
materials) to a production system and reduces the amount of waste produced for
disposal.
A study conducted by the Technical University of Denmark found that in 80% of
cases, recycling is the most efficient method to dispose of household waste.
Some materials like aluminum can be recycled indefinitely as there is no change
to the materials. Other recycled materials like paper require a percentage of
raw materials (wood fibers) to be added to compensate for the degradation of
existing fibers. Recycling aluminium saves 95% of the energy cost of processing
new aluminium because the melting temperature is reduced from 900 °C to 600 °C.
It is by far the most efficient material to recycle. Recycling plastic saves 70%
of the energy used in creating new plastic, and paper recycling saves 40% of the
energy required to make a new product.
The resources being processed are purer, less energy is needed to process them
and less energy is needed to transport from the place of extraction (e.g.
bauxite/aluminium ore mines in Brazil or coniferous forests in Scandinavia).
This reduces the environmental, social, and usually the economic costs of
manufacturing.
For example, bauxite mines in Brazil displace indigenous people, create noise
pollution from blasting, machinery and transport, and create air pollution in
the form of particulates (dust). The habitat loss and visual destruction is also
negative both to the aesthetic qualities of the areas and the local environment.
However, the mines do provide employment and revenue to the local population and
economy, promoting development of the country as a whole.
The most commonly used methods for waste disposal (landfill, pyrolysis,
incineration) may be environmentally damaging and unsustainable. Therefore any
way to reduce the volume of waste being disposed in this fashion may be
beneficial. The maximum environmental benefit is gained by waste minimization
(reducing the amount of waste produced), and reusing items in their current form
such as refilling bottles.
Drawbacks and criticism
Recycling criticism
All recycling techniques consume energy for transportation and processing and
some also use considerable amounts of water, although recycling processes seldom
amount to the level of resource use associated with raw materials processing.
There may also be drawbacks with the collection methods associated with
recycling. Increasing collections of separated wastes adds to vehicle movements
and the production of carbon dioxide. This may be negated however by centralized
facilities such as some advanced material recovery facilities and mechanical
biological treatment systems for the separation of mixed wastes.
Recycled materials also sometimes cost more financially than their non-recycled
versions. This is not universal to every recycled product, but it does occur.
Negative consequences from mercury recycling have been cited by The Wall Street
Journal. The article traces mercury recovered from American recycling programs
into sales of mercury for alluvial mining activities in Brazil. During the
autumn of 2006, the European Union banned the export of liquid mercury, and a
life-cycle analysis prior to institution of recycling programs may reduce the
risk of unintended environmental consequences.
For some materials, recycling is more expensive than landfill disposal unless
externalities are considered. For these products, there is an opportunity cost
to recycling. Some argue that the financial costs of recycling some materials
outweigh the environmental benefits. Some skeptics also argue that the
environmental benefits of recycling do not compensate for the extra effort it
may require.
According to an article in The New York Times by John Tierney, government
mandated recycling wastes more resources than it saves. Some highlights from the
article:
In cases where recycling truly does save resources, such as with large scraps of
aluminum, this will be reflected in market prices, and voluntary recycling will
take place. Thus, there is no need for the government to mandate it.
Each year the United States fills up less than 10 square miles of landfill
space. Once full, much of that land gets turned into parks.
Tree farmers plant more trees than they cut down.
Government mandated recycling is more expensive than putting the garbage into
landfills, which means that this recycling uses up more resources than it saves.
Some small towns with landfills are happy to import garbage from other cities
and states because it provides jobs and tax revenue.
Today's modern landfills are much cleaner and safer, and much less likely to
leak and pollute, than the landfills of the past.
Recycling techniques
Base layer of asphalt concreteMany different materials can be recycled but each
type requires a different technique.
Aggregates & concrete
Concrete recycling
Concrete aggregate collected from demolition sites is put through a crushing
machine, often along with asphalt, bricks, dirt, and rocks. Smaller pieces of
concrete are used as gravel for new construction projects. Crushed recycled
concrete can also be used as the dry aggregate for brand new concrete if it is
free of contaminants. This reduces the need for other rocks to be dug up, which
in turn saves trees and habitats.
Batteries
Some batteries contain toxic heavy metalsThe large variation in size and type of
batteries makes their recycling extremely difficult: they must first be sorted
into similar kinds and each kind requires an individual recycling process.
Additionally, older batteries contain mercury and cadmium, harmful materials
which must be handled with care.
Lead-acid batteries, like those used in automobiles, are relatively easy to
recycle and many new lead-acid batteries contain a high percentage of recycled
material.
Biodegradable waste
Main articles: Anaerobic digestion, Composting, Grasscycling, Mechanical
biological treatment, and Fermentation (biochemistry)
Anaerobic digesters produce biogas and soil improver from organic
wastesBiodegradable waste can be recycled into useful material by biological
decomposition. There are two mechanisms by which this can occur. The most common
mechanism of recycling of household organic waste is home composting or
municipal curbside collection of green wastes sent to large scale composting
plants.
Alternatively organic waste can be converted into biogas and soil improver using
anaerobic digestion. Here organic wastes are broken down by anaerobic
microorganisms in biogas plants. The biogas can be converted into renewable
electricity or burnt for environmentally friendly heating. Advanced technologies
such as mechanical biological treatment are able to sort the recyclable elements
of the waste out before biological treatment by either composting, anaerobic
digestion or biodrying.
Electronics disassembly and reclamation
Electronic waste
Abandoned monitorThe direct disposal of electrical equipment — such as old
computers and mobile phones — is banned in many areas due to the toxic contents
of certain components. The recycling process works by mechanically separating
the metals, plastics and circuit boards contained in the appliance. When this is
done on a large scale at an electronic waste recycling plant, component recovery
can be achieved in a cost-effective manner.
Electronic devices, including audio-visual components (televisions, VCRs, stereo
equipment), mobile phones and other hand-held devices, and computer components,
contain valuable elements and substances suitable for reclamation, including
lead, copper, and gold. They also contain a plethora of toxic substances, such
as dioxins, PCBs, cadmium, chromium, radioactive isotopes, and mercury.
Additionally, the processing required to reclaim the precious substances
(including incineration and acid treatments) release, generate and synthesize
further toxic by-products.
In the United States, an estimated 70% of heavy metals in landfills come from
discarded electronics. Some regional governments are attempting to curtail the
accumulation of electronics in landfills by passing laws obligating
manufacturers and consumers to recycle these devices, but because in many cases
safe dismantlement of these devices in accordance with first world safety
standards is unprofitable, historically much of the electronic waste has been
shipped to countries with lower or less rigorously-enforced safety protocols.
Places like Guiyu, China dismantle tons of electronics every year, profiting
from the sale of precious metals, but at the cost of the local environment and
the health of its residents.
Mining to produce the same metals, to meet demand for finished products in the
west, also occurs in the same countries, and the United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has recommended that restrictions against
recycling exports be balanced against the environmental costs of recovering
those materials from mining. Hard rock mining in the USA produces 45% of all
toxics produced by all USA industries (2001 US EPA Toxics Release Inventory).
Printer ink cartridges & toners
Printer ink cartridges can be recycled. They are sorted into different brands
and models which are then resold back to the companies that created these
cartridges. The companies then refill the ink reservoir which can be sold back
to consumers. Toner cartridges are recycled the same way as ink cartridges,
using toner instead of ink. This method of recycling is highly efficient as
there is no energy spent on melting and recreating the recycled object itself.
Ferrous metals
Steel crushed and baled for recycling at Ozark Adventist Academy(box)Main
articles: Steel and Blast furnace
Iron and steel are the world's most recycled materials, and among the easiest
materials to recycle, as they can be separated magnetically from the waste
stream. Recycling is via a steelworks: scrap is either remelted in an Electric
Arc Furnace (90-100% scrap), or used as part of the charge in a Basic Oxygen
Furnace (around 25% scrap). Any grade of steel can be recycled to top quality
new metal, with no 'downgrading' from prime to lower quality materials as steel
is recycled repeatedly. 42% of crude steel produced is recycled material.
Non-ferrous metals
Aluminium recycling
Aluminium is shredded and ground into small pieces or crushed into bales. These
pieces or bales are melted in an aluminium smelter to produce molten aluminium.
By this stage the recycled aluminium is indistinguishable from virgin aluminium
and further processing is identical for both.
Due to the high melting point of aluminum ore, large amounts of energy are
required to extract aluminum from ore, making the environmental benefits of
recycling aluminium enormous. Approximately 5% of the CO2 is produced during the
recycling process compared to producing raw aluminium (and an even smaller
percentage when considering the complete cycle of mining and transporting the
aluminium). Also, as open-cut mining most often used for obtaining aluminium
ore, mining destroys large sections of natural land.
An aluminium can is 100% recyclable every time it is recycled, it saves enough
energy to watch television for about three hours (compared to mining and
producing a new can).
Public glass waste collection point in a neighborhood area for separating clear,
green and amber glass
Glass
Glass recycling
Glass bottles and jars are accumulated via curbside collection schemes and
bottle banks, where the glass may be sorted into color categories. The collected
glass cullet is taken to a glass recycling plant where it is monitored for
purity and contaminants are removed. The cullet is crushed and added to a raw
material mix in a melting furnace. It is then mechanically blown or molded into
new jars or bottles. Glass cullet is also used in the construction industry for
aggregate and glassphalt. Glassphalt is a road-laying material which comprises
around 30% recycled glass. Glass can be recycled indefinitely as its structure
does not deteriorate when reprocessed.
Paper
Paper recycling
Recycled paper is made from waste paper, usually mixed with fresh wood pulp. If
the paper contains ink, it must be deinked. This also removes fillers, clays,
and fiber fragments.
Almost all paper can be recycled today, but some types are harder to recycle
than others. Kraft paper, papers coated with plastic or aluminum foil, and
papers that are waxed, pasted, or gummed are usually not recycled because the
process is too expensive. Gift wrap paper also cannot be recycled. Different
types of paper are usually sorted before recycling, such as newspapers and
cardboard boxes.
International Paper Company: Kraft paper millDifferent grades of paper are
recycled into different types of new products. Old newspapers are usually made
into new newsprint, egg cartons, or paperboard. Old corrugated boxes are made
into new corrugated boxes or paperboard. High-grade white office paper can be
made into almost any new paper product: stationery, newsprint, magazines, or
books.
Sometimes recyclers ask for the removal of the glossy inserts from newspapers
because they are a different type of paper. Glossy inserts have a heavy clay
coating that some paper mills cannot accept. Since the paper is weighed down by
the clay coating, a paper mill gets more recyclable fibers from a ton of pure
newsprint[clarify].
Paper can only be recycled a finite number of times due to the shortening of
paper fibers making the material less versatile. Often it will be mixed with a
quantity of virgin material, referred to as downcycling. This does not however
exclude the material from being used in other processes such as composting or
anaerobic digestion, where further value can be extracted from the material in
the form of compost or biogas.
Plastic
Plastic recycling
Plastic recycling is the process of recovering scrap or waste plastics and
reprocessing the material into useful products. Compared to glass or metallic
materials, plastic poses unique challenges - because of the massive number of
types of plastic, they each carry a resin identification code, and must be
sorted before they can be recycled. This can be costly - while metals can be
sorted using electromagnets, no such 'easy sorting' capability exists for
plastics. In addition to this, while labels do not need to be removed from
bottles for recycling, lids are often made from a different kind of
non-recyclable plastic.
Plastics recycling rates lag far behind those of other items, such as newspaper
and aluminium; consumers are typically unsure of how to recycle plastics, and
compared to paper and metals fewer recycling facilities exist.
Textiles
Textile recycling
When considering textile recycling one must understand what the material
consists of. Most textiles are composites of cotton (biodegradable material) and
synthetic plastics. The textile's composition will affect its durability and
method of recycling.
Workers sort and separate collected textiles into good quality clothing and
shoes which can be reused or worn. There is a trend of moving these facilities
from developed countries to developing countries.
Damaged textiles are further sorted into grades to make industrial wiping cloths
and for use in paper manufacture or material suitable for fibre reclamation and
filling products. If textile reprocessors receive wet or soiled clothes however,
these may still be disposed of in a landfill, as the washing and drying
facilities are not present at sorting units.
Fibre reclamation mills sort textiles according to fibre type and colour. Colour
sorting eliminates the need to re-dye the recycled textiles. The textiles are
shredded into "shoddy" fibres and blended with other selected fibres, depending
on the intended end use of the recycled yarn. The blended mixture is carded to
clean and mix the fibres and spun ready for weaving or knitting. The fibres can
also be compressed for mattress production. Textiles sent to the flocking
industry are shredded to make filling material for car insulation, roofing
felts, loudspeaker cones, panel linings and furniture padding.
Timber
Recycling timber
Recycling timber has become popular due to its image as an environmentally
friendly product, with consumers commonly believing that by purchasing recycled
wood the demand for green timber will fall and ultimately benefit the
environment. Greenpeace also view recycled timber as an environmentally friendly
product, citing it as the most preferable timber source on their website. The
arrival of recycled timber as a construction product has been important in both
raising industry and consumer awareness towards deforestation and promoting
timber mills to adopt more environmentally friendly practices.
Other Techniques
Several other materials are also commonly recycled, frequently at an industrial
level. Ship breaking, which is associated with local environmental, health, and
safety risks, and represents an environmental justice problem. Tires are also
commonly recycled. Used tires can be added to asphault, producing road surfaces
that are more durable, create less traffic noise, and absorb precipitation
better than traditional asphault . Automobiles and metal scavenge are also
recycled at an industrial scale.
BFIR: Balsam Fir
The Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea) is a North American fir, native to most of
eastern and central Canada (Newfoundland west to central Alberta) and the
northeastern United States (Minnesota east to Maine, and south in the
Appalachian Mountains to West Virginia).
FoliageIt is a small to medium-size evergreen tree typically 14-20 m tall,
rarely to 27 m tall, with a narrow conic crown. The bark on young trees is
smooth, grey, and with resin blisters (which tend to spray when ruptured),
becoming rough and fissured or scaly on old trees. The leaves are flat
needle-like, 1.5-3 cm long, dark green above often with a small patch of stomata
near the tip, and two white stomatal bands below, and a slightly notched tip.
They are arranged spirally on the shoot, but with the leaf bases twisted to
appear in two more-or-less horizontal rows. The cones are erect, 4-8 cm long,
dark purple, ripening brown and disintegrating to release the winged seeds in
September.
There are two varieties:
Abies balsamea var. balsamea (Balsam Fir) - bract scales short, not visible
on the closed cones. Most of the species' range. Abies balsamea var.
phanerolepis (Bracted Balsam Fir or Canaan Fir) - bract scales longer, visible
on the closed cone. The southeast of the species' range, from southernmost
Quebec to West Virginia. The name 'Canaan Fir' derives from one of its native
localities, the Canaan Valley in West Virginia. Some botanists regard this
variety as a natural hybrid between Balsam Fir and Fraser Fir (Abies fraseri),
which occurs further south in the Appalachian Mountains.
RuneScape is a Java-based
MMORPG operated by Jagex Ltd. With over nine million active free accounts and
more than one million paid member accounts, RuneScape is rated among the most
popular online games in the world. More than five million unique players access
their accounts to play RuneScape at least once per month. RuneScape offers both
free and subscription content and is designed to be accessible from any location
with an Internet connection and to run in an ordinary web browser without
straining system resources. One of the best website that discussed various
gamers' issues is IJFG.com IJFG.COM
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For Gamers, Runescape Market and More IJFG.COM This site has Jokes, Pranks, Runescape and other cool games at IJFG.COM. RuneScape is set in a medieval
fantasy world, similar to "Guild Wars" or "EverQuest", where players control
character representations of themselves. As with most massive multiplayer online roleplaying games (MMORPG), there is no overall objective or end to the game.
Players explore, form alliances, perform optional tasks, and complete quests for
rewards and to build character's skills.
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RuneScape takes place in the fantasy-themed realm of Gielinor, which is divided
into several different kingdoms, regions, and areas. Players can travel
throughout the gaming world on foot, by using magical teleportation spells or
devices, or mechanical means of transportation. Each region offers different
types of monsters, materials, and quests to challenge players. Players are shown
on the screen as customisable avatars. They set their own goals and objectives,
deciding which of the available activities to pursue. There is no linear path
that must be followed. Players can engage in combat with other players or with
monsters, complete quests, or increase their experience in any of the available
skills. Players interact with each other through trading, chatting, or playing
combative or cooperative mini-games.
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