In a world where our resources are finite, it’s important we recycle whenever we can. Recycling involves the process of gathering and processing materials (such as bottles and cans) that would be otherwise discarded and converting them into something new and useful.
Recycling is vital for cleaning up the environment and keeping our communities clean. By reusing recycled items to produce new products we reduce the impact we have on mother nature. Also, it doesn’t hurt that you can also make a little bit of extra money by recycling the right types of items.
Recycling Paper
The United States recycles a lot of paper. In fact, paper makes up half of the overall recycled materials in the entire country. Though recycling paper is a fairly simple process, there are a few tips you should keep in mind. When recycling paper, try to keep it from getting wet as it may cause the paper to be unusable for recycling purposes. If you can, try to use a black marker to block out sensitive information on paper you intend to recycle as opposed to shredding it. During the recycling process ink can be easily removed. However, shredded paper reduces the fiber lengths, thus making it much more complicated to recycle and reuse as new paper.
- Paper Recycling 101 – This is a good thing as recycling paper saves energy, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, conserves natural resources and frees up landfill space for other trash that can’t be recycled.
- 3 Important Truths About Recycling Paper – Most of us have a recycling bin nearby overflowing with paper products, so you probably won’t be surprised to learn that paper remains the most recycled of household waste materials.
- 5 Benefits of Recycling Paper – Responsible companies have a recycling policy because they recognise that recycling makes sense economically and environmentally. It also improves the image of an enterprise.
Recycling Plastic
Plastic has always been seen as a valuable resource, and should be recycled whenever possible. Most American communities have access to plastic recycling facilities, however the type of plastic that can be recycled varies from community to community. You can typically visit a community website to learn exactly what types of plastic you can recycle.
Keep in mind recycling centers also want your caps and lids. It’s common practice to remove plastic caps and screw on lids before taking a trip down to the recycling center. However, plastic caps and lids are just as valuable as the container/bottle itself!
- 7 Things You Didn’t Know About Plastic (and Recycling) – Recycling is a lot more complicated, and the process of recycling plastics is significantly less transparent than the much-Googled recipe for baking cookie.
- 20 Ways to Reuse and Recycle Empty Plastic Bottles – The examples are plentiful, from water bottles to laundry detergent, to how we squeeze out our honey. You’ll likely spot one of the 50 million if you do a simple scan of the room that you’re in.
- The Process of Recycling Plastic Bottles – When you make the choice to recycle, what is the process of recycling plastic bottles?.
- How Plastic Recycling Works – The most recent human invention of plastic offers better containment for more items than just about anything we used before.
Recycling Metal
Generally speaking, recycling metal will fetch you a much higher price than recycling cans and bottles. Many of our everyday consumer products are composed of metal thus making it one of the most highly valued resources to recycle. Products such as clothes hangers, batteries and appliances are just a few of the consumer goods we use every day that is composed of metal.
Recycling metal has multiple benefits. The first is that recycling keeps metal out of landfills thus reducing the impact on the planet. The second is you can generally make more money recycling scrap metal than other recycles. Either way, recycling metal is a win-win for both you and the planet.
- How To Recycle Metal – Scrap metal is one of the most valuable products you can recycle, and it encompasses so many consumer products.
- Scrap Metal Recycling 101 – A Guide For Complete Beginners – You can help save the environment by turning junk into cash..
- The Benefits of Metal Recycling – Recycling a ton of aluminum conserves up to 8 tons of bauxite ore and 14-megawatt hours of electricity.
- How to Recycle Metals – Recycling metal items from your household is an excellent way to save energy and help reduce overall waste.
Recycling Electronics
There are a number of reasons why you would recycle your electronics. For one, this allows you to protect your sensitive data from theft. It also allows you to prevent dangerous chemicals such as mercury from leaking from a cracked device and polluting the environment. Furthermore, clunky electronics can often take up valuable storage space. Recycling these items will allow you to free up more space in your garage. Recyclable electronic devices include computer monitors, TVs, cell phones, laptops and much more.
- How to Recycle Old Electronics – Many of the materials used in making these products can be recovered and reused, including plastics, glass, and metal.
The Future of Recycling
Lawmakers have taken our dwindling supply of natural resources and negative impact upon the environment into account and have begun to take action. One of these actions is focusing on alternative sources of energy. Thanks to several enterprising businesses diapers have become a viable alternative energy source.
Every year in the United States infants go through millions of diapers, clogging up landfills and negatively impacting the environment. Adult diapers take up even more space in our landfills, causing a major environmental problem due to landscape blight and water contamination.
Thankfully, several companies have taken it upon themselves to begin recycling diapers to reduce this environmental impact. For example, diapers can be stripped of their plastic and fiber to be recycled and reused in newer products that include plastic components, roof tiles recycled paper and tubing.
Though diapers may not be the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of recycling and alternative energy they’ve certainly proven to be useful in both regards.
Conclusion
Reduce, reuse, recycle. This is the way we will lessen our impact on the environment. Thankfully there are incentives to encourage many of us to recycle such as receiving money when we turn in cans, bottles, scrap metal and electronics. However, recycling does more than line our pockets with a bit of extra change. It also allows us to reduce our impact on the environment. With alternative energy sources such as adult diapers becoming more and more popular the future of recycling not only looks bright, but it has become more vital than ever.