General Information
WHAT IS RECYCLING?
Recycling is the name given to the return of useful materials to the natural and economic cycle. It includes any measures taken to recover these materials and use them in the manufacture of new products. It is a chain of actions that aims to:
- Burden the environment with smaller amounts of waste, since a part of household waste consists of recyclable materials.
- Save energy, raw materials and currency exchange. The energy required to produce something from raw materials is many times more than that required when old materials are used, e.g. 30% less with glass and up to 95% with aluminium. This saving is even more significant when the raw materials are imported from abroad.
Sorting at source: When the sorting of useful material is carried out before refuse collection it is called sorting at source. It has the added advantage of reducing collection and transport costs. Sorting at source can apply to many kinds of materials such as paper and cardboard cartons, glass, metal, certain plastics, and fabrics.
A prerequisite for the success of the ‘sorting at source’ system is the participation of householders who are willing to separate materials and store them in different bins. Frequently this means that the public has to be made aware and persuaded of the usefulness of this method and of properly sorting waste. Another requirement for the system to work is the existence of a market for recovered materials that will provide enough income to cover costs.
Apart from sorting at source, materials can also be separated by machines once collected and transported. The basic stages of this process are disassembly, sorting, magnetic separation and air separation. In this way metals, glass, paper and plastic are separated, leaving organic matter behind that can be used in the production of animal feed and fertilizer.
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HYGIENIC REFUSE BURIAL
''This is the simplest and most economical method of waste disposal. Waste is dumped in layers of a depth of 2.5-3m. It is good for each new layer to be deposited since the temperature of the previous layer will have fallen to that of the ground. Each new layer should be covered with at least 20cm of suitably inert material (earth, sand, etc.) so as to reduce odour, deter insects and rodents, and protect the waste from catching fire. Hygienic Refuse Burial Areas must be created in locations that are suitable from a hydrological standpoint. As they are used, monitoring must be carried out on the runoff fluids caused by decomposition of the waste and by the penetration of rainwater to ensure that underground water and springs are not contaminated.''
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Recycling for building materials
''Most of us have heard about recycling as a tool that can return to the production process materials that are considered to be ‘rubbish’ such as glass, paper, plastic and aluminium. This is, of course, correct and many countries have an entire industry ranging from the collection of various recycled materials to the manufacture of related products or other raw materials. It appears that technological progress, rapid developments in chemistry and industrial production, and the future rarity of raw materials have forced the manufacturers of building materials to seek alternative solutions.
So wood has been replaced almost entirely by other materials such as plastic fibre, glass, aluminium, plasterboard and, mainly, novopan, the Melamine fused particle-board which has become the cheapest and most common replacement for wood in recent years. Novopan is used in furniture, for separating rooms and in store design and decoration. Although the subject has been raised from time to time, very few people are aware of how harmful novopan is – especially certain types – in interiors, mainly due to the formaldehyde that it contains and which is gradually released into the atmosphere.
Apart from materials that are harmful and dangerous to health and the environment, however, such as wood substitutes, more and more builders and dealers in construction materials are discovering recycled materials, that is to say things that only a few years ago would have ended up in rubbish dumps. In some cases, moreover, building practices and methods have been revived from past eras when people were forced to maintain a more rational and sensitive relationship with the material world around them. So, for example, in today’s American market one can find outer wall insulation material made from bales of straw covered in plaster, which is an old and practical method.
Another ideal roof and outer wall insulator is newsprint. The paper is, of course, treated before use but is not otherwise modified. Throughout Central Europe, for example, insulating material made from old newspapers is available on the market and considered both ideal and ecologically sound against heat and noise. It resembles flakes that are sprayed with a special pump onto outside walls, under floors, between ceilings and roofs.
Another way of exploiting recycled materials, which also comes from America, makes use of old paper, cardboard and various otherwise useless fibres to make building “wood”. It contains anything from 40% to 70% ordinary household waste but can also use straw, sugar cane residue, sawdust or other remnants of agricultural production. This method is simple: The paste made from various fibres is poured over a mould resembling a honeycomb. The ‘honeycomb’ has very small holes so that as much moisture as possible can escape. The covering of paste is heated, pressed and dried. The finished product is a hard, light, fibre slab with a honeycomb-like surface on one side and a flat surface on the other. This slab is produced in whatever thickness the market demands, from wrapping paper in its thinnest form to plasterboard of 75cm. The empty spaces in between can be filled with insulating material and the slabs can be sawn, nailed, waterproofed, painted, fireproofed and covered with veneer like ordinary wood.
This material has already been patented and is widely available on the market. It is being promoted especially in the cheap construction sector. It is such a stable material that it can be used on its own for constructing walls as well as with other materials for veneering, etc. This revolutionary idea, which was conceived by a number of ecologist-researchers, has not only led to the creation of a new type of building material but above all to a serious response to the results of our consumer society.''
[Politis, 24 June 2001]
How you can help…
''Our planet has gradually started turning into a huge rubbish dump over the last decades. The experience of the industrialized nations in the ‘70s and ‘80s and all the problems associated with waste management which became the subject of opposing political views and citizens’ movements and instigated a review of the habits regarding manufacturing and consumption in prospering societies, have led the majority of the industrialized countries to draw up new waste disposal strategies in the ‘90s. While the main aim of waste management policies in the industrialized countries in the ‘80s was safe final disposal, the aim in our present decade is to intervene in the waste production process.
The main focus of national policies and European policy on waste is to reduction, recycling, re-use and restricting to a minimum the amount of waste that requires final disposal, usually through burial or incineration. In the ‘80s it was more a case of collection and safe, proper burial (or incineration) of waste.
Well-off societies are no longer those that are increasing the size of their rubbish tips (once thought to be a sign of wealth and prosperity) but, on the contrary, those that can minimize their waste or aim at reducing it to zero.
In the ‘90s the aim is to limit waste, to exploit it and to view it as a source of second generation raw materials. In the first decade of the next century it may be a question of zero waste, where everything that is manufactured must have a second use at the end of its life.''
[Technical Education brochure, 2005 edition – Monday 1 June 1998]