RECYCLING

M.Sc Environmental Design

March 22,2014
ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD

INTRODUCTION

What is Recycling? "Recycling" means separating, collecting, processing, marketing, and ultimately using a material that would have been thrown away. This morning's newspaper can be recycled for another morning's news or other paper products. Cans and bottles can be crafted for other uses. Reducing and reusing waste, recycling, burning trash for energy recover, and landfilling can help solve this problem. Recycling is just one important remedy. It reduces the amount of waste for disposal. When a product has been recycled and then reused as a new product, the recycling loop has been closed. Glass is 100% recyclable and can be used over and over with no loss in quality. The process of creating new glass from old is also extremely efficient, producing virtually no waste or unwanted byproducts.

Why should we Recycle?

Recycling reduces our reliance on landfills and incinerators Recycling protects our health and environment, when harmful substances are removed from the waste stream Recycling conserves our natural resources, because it reduces the need for raw materials Quality products and packaging are being made from recovered materials. We can all help create markets for recyclables by buying and using these products.

What can we Recycle?

Each local recycling program is designed to handle specific materials. Commonly recycled materials include: Paper - newspaper, office paper, cardboard, and other paper types. Yard trimmings - grass, leaves, and shrub and tree clippings are recycled by composting. Glass - bottles and jars (clear, green, and amber). Aluminum - beverage containers Other metals - steel cans, auto bodies, refrigerators (coolants such as freon typically require special recovery and recycling procedures), and stoves.

What can we Recycle?

Batteries - both dry cell (toy/watch/flashlight batteries) and wet cell (vehicle batteries). Used motor oil - vehicle crankcase oil and oil filters. Plastics - soda bottles, milk jugs, bags, and detergent containers. Other household items such as clothes and furniture are often "recycled" by donating them to charities, theater groups, and service groups that will repair and sell them or distribute and use them. This is more correctly classified as "reuse" than "recycling" since the items are not broken down into their constituent materials and reformed into new products. Tires are also recycled

Energy and Recycling

Energy used in production of articles is rarely considered. Where local governments are promoting waste reduction, the reason is most often a lack of landfill space, not a desire to save energy By reusing and recycling products wherever possible, can reduce energy use in the manufacturing sector. Lower emissions of energy-related pollutants go hand in hand with decreased energy use.

Energy and Recycling

All sources of energy have negative impacts on the environment. These impacts include global warming and acid rain caused by the combustion of fossil fuels, radiation risks from nuclear power plants, Recycling items such as paper, glass, plastics and metals, therefore, has multiple benefits. These are: a reduction of the amount of waste sent to landfills, preservation of our non-renewable energy and materials resources, and less energy related environmental damage.

Saving Energy by Recycling

During the 2 World Wars, metal, rubber, and aluminum were in such large demand that children would collect these items in order to earn spending money. Plastics are the products with the next highest theoretical potential for saving energy by recycling. Producing new plastic from recycled material uses only 2/3rd of the energy required for manufacturing them from raw materials. Plastics can be disposed of by incineration.

Saving Energy by Recycling

Recycling plastic can save twice as much energy as can be captured through incineration. At the present time, only a small percentage of plastics are recycled, as virtually hundreds of different types of plastics, and it is difficult to separate them prior to recycling. Unlike glass, aluminum, and steel which can be recycled over and over again, some plastics such as soft drink containers are made into new products, which require a lower grade of plastic. Examples include park benches and the filling in ski-jackets.

Saving Energy by Recycling

Glass is made up of Sand, Soda-ash and Limestone. Crushed, Recycled Glass melts at a lower temperature than the raw materials, resulting in an energy saving of 33% and more when reused in their original form Producing New Steel from scrap also results in energy savings of about 1/3rd. As with plastics, the key to recycling steel and any other metals is the ability to separate the different components. TIN CANS used to package food must be separated into their component parts, tin and steel, before both these materials can be recycled.

Saving Energy by Recycling

Recycling Paper and Rubber tires can also save large amounts of energy. Recycled paper requires 64% less energy than making paper from virgin wood pulp, and can save a lot of trees. One Sunday edition of the New York Times consumes about 75,000 trees. As with plastics, paper can be incinerated, but recycling saves more energy than that which could be generated by incineration. Retreading Automobile and Truck Tires uses only about 30% of the energy required to produce a new tire and can provide 80% of the mileage. Retreading is most effective when tires are built with retreading in mind. This is currently the case with most truck tires, but is rare for automotive tires.

How much can we Recycle

Despite the impressive energy savings, it is impossible to recycle 100% of the above products once they become waste. This is mainly because many products contain a mixture of different materials, which are difficult to separate. Best example is of a car, when it reaches the end of its useful life, it represents a mixture of steel, aluminum, rubber, plastics, glass and dozens of other materials. 75% of most cars is recycled as used parts and scrap metal; it is the remaining 25% that is hard to recycle. Dashboards and steering wheels are complex mixes of materials that are very difficult and expensive to separate. Promoting the recycling of such products will require that they are designed from the very beginning with ease of recycling in mind.

Environmental Benefits of Recycling

Manufacturing goods from recycled rather than raw materials saves Renewable and Non-renewable resources such as trees and iron ore, and reduces the need for landfills or incineration, as well as saving energy. The production of Aluminum from Bauxite (an aluminum ore) requires the use of vast amounts of electricity. Some people refer aluminum as "solid electricity". As such, Aluminum Smelters are generally located in areas where there are reliable supplies of low cost electricity such as hydro-electric power. Recycled aluminum uses only a fraction of the electricity required by bauxite smelters. Fossil fuels such as coal are heavily used during the conversion of iron ore into steel. The combustion of coal results in atmospheric emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrous oxides (NOx). CO2 is a greenhouse gas which contributes to global warming, while SO2 and NOx are responsible for acid rain. Steel recycling can reduce greenhouse and acid gas emissions from the steel-making industry.

Scrap Metal Recycling

Almost all man-made materials can be recycled metals, paper, glass, plastics, and rubber are the most common. Metals are the most recycled, and iron & steel are recycled most of all. Scrap metal markets have significant economic value. Mining and processing virgin ores (the alternative to metal recycling) is expensive, environmentally unfriendly, and depletes finite resources. Technology has been developed to efficiently process unprepared metal scrap and to re-melt and refine it into new steel, aluminum, copper, etc. Iron and steel have the benefit of being magnetic, a property which permits extremely costeffective processes to be employed in handling, sorting, and cleaning it. Like most other raw materials, ferrous scrap is traded internationally. Worldwide movements of ferrous metals fluctuate according to many variables: consumer demand, existing production capacities, price of primary metals and ores, currency exchange rates, processing and labour costs, freight costs, export quotas or import duties, etc... The ferrous recovery and recycling industry depends on free trade; it is driven by supply and demand

The Benefits of Recycling

The idea of Sustainable Development with its three pillars (its Economic pillar; its Social pillar; its Environmental pillar) is fully supported carrying out the recovery and recycling of ferrous metals. Once scrap metals are recovered (i.e. diverted from the "waste stream" if at first they were determined to be so) and prepared according to recognize commercial specifications they do become a true raw material. Ferrous scrap provides a limitless resource that can be recovered, processed and recycled into new products over and over again. This represents "a mine above ground". Ferrous scrap is a vital source of raw materials meeting the needs of industry worldwide. They conserve and protect the earth's precious natural resources, raw materials and energy Recycling conserves energy. The energy content of the metal remains intact no matter how long the interval between the original production and the return to use after recycling, one of the great benefits of recycling ferrous scrap is the 74% energy saving when compared with primary production.

Aluminum CAN Recycling (Tins)

The CAN has moved as fast as consumer demand has grown; always adapting, innovating and satisfying while preserving the qualities that provide its inherent value - protection and strength. From the original, crude tinplate canisters shaped by hand to the lightweight, completely recyclable containers produced mechanically today, the can preserves and endures like no other package available. What's more, the CAN brings products into our hands and into our homes, allowing us to enjoy things made at another time in another place, which we otherwise would never experience. Exotic foods and out-of-season produce are merely the beginning of what is now within reach. Food supplies aid third-world countries, blood plasma rescues wounded soldiers, and a vast array of household products are kept safely in the home, thanks to the utility of the can.

Recycling (Tins) of Aluminum Cans

The most critical element in the aluminum CANS success was its recycling value. Aluminum can recycling excelled economically in its competition with steel because of the efficiencies aluminum cans realized by using recycled materials instead of costly and non-renewable virgin aluminum ore. Steel do not achieve similar economies in the recycling process. Aluminum CANS recycling became common and responded to the growing concerns of environmentally conscious consumers about the depletion of natural resources and the consequences of what was feared "a throwaway society."

The Environmental Benefits of Aluminum Tins Recycling

Recycling Aluminum CANS saves precious natural resources, energy, time and money - all for a good cause - helping out the earth, as well as the economy and local communities. Aluminum cans are unique in that in 60 days a can is recycled, turned into a new can & back on store shelves. Aluminum is a sustainable metal and can be recycled over and over again. In 2002, 54 billion cans were recycled, saving the energy equivalent of 15 million barrels of crude oil - America's

Recycling Wood

Secondary Wood wastes have many markets ranging from bio-fuel use to pulp and paper applications. Recovered Wood Types: Clean Wood Mixed Wood Waste Processing Techniques End Use Applications High Value Applications: Pulp and Paper Reconstituted Panel Board Composite Products Maid Value Markets Bio-Mass Combustion (Hog fuel)

Recycling Paper

Origins of paper, our minds might wander back over 5,000 years ago to the Nile river valley in Egypt. The father of true paper - T'sai Lun (china-104 AD) Papermaking remained a secret Chinese art until around the year 700 A.D. when, during a war with China the Arab nations captured an entire town of papermakers and took them back to the Middle East as prisoners where they were forced into labor making paper. In the 17th century Europeans were making paper from cotton and linen rags.

Recycling Paper - Process

Firstly, the paper needs to be sorted, so that items such as plastic wrapping strips, paper clips and staples can be removed. (You will find the sorting process at the bottom of the page). Then the paper is shredded, beaten into a fibrous pulp and mixed with water and chemical preservatives in pulping machines. The pulp is pressed through giant rollers that flatten it into sheets and squeeze out the moisture; it may also be dried in furnaces, with blast of hot air. The paper is then cut to the desired size and shape and packaged for distribution.

Recycling Paper - Process

The conversion of waste paper to finer grades suitable for printing involves a few more steps. First, careful sorting is required. Waste paper is divided into categories such as newsprint; typing and computer paper; and magazines, which have shiny paper and colored inks and need special treatment. Next, the ink must be removed. This is done by soaking the paper and breaking it up into small pieces in giant washers, then treating it with chemicals that loosen the ink so that it can be rinsed away. Sometimes more than one such chemical must be used because many types of ink must be removed.

Recycling Paper - Process

Finally, the wet, shredded waste paper is blended with other materials according to the type of end product that is desired. Rags, which are still used to produce the finest, most expensive grades of paper, may be mixed in. Wood pulp and other forms of cellulose such as straw may also be added in varying proportions. If white paper or paper for greeting cards or stationery is to be produced, bleach may also be added to lighten it; if newsprint is to be produced, a mixture of red and blue dyes is added to reduce the grayness of the final product. Chemical preservatives are also added.

Recycling Paper - Process

Not all paper products can be made with recycled paper. Brown grocery bags, for example, can be recycled into other types of paper, but they must be made, at least partially, out of virgin materials because only virgin materials have the long unbroken fibers that give the bags their necessary strength. Unlike glass bottles and aluminum cans, which can be recycled an infinite number of times, while paper cannot be recycled indefinitely. Each time it is recycled, its quality degrades slightly because the fibers become more and more broken. At some point recycled paper has to be mixed in with virgin material, and eventually after repeated uses, it ends up in a landfill or and incinerator.

Recycling Paper
Different types - or grades - of paper are recycled into different types of new products. Thats why its important to pre-sort your recoverable paper - for example, separating newspapers from magazines - for the people who pick it up.

At the recycling center, the paper is sorted to remove contaminants - plastics, paper clips, sticky notes and other waste materials that cannot be recycled. Then the paper is baled and sent to the mill. Bales can weigh around 1,000 pounds each!

Recycling Paper
At the mill, the bales of sorted recovered paper are soaked in large vats of water and chemicals, where they separate into fibers. This creates pulp.

The pulp is then filtered through a number of screens to remove impurities such as coatings, additives, fillers and loose ink particles.

Paper that had ink on it - such as newspapers and magazines - must have the ink removed before it can be used to make a new paper product. The pulp enters a flotation device. Soapy chemicals are added to help the ink separate from the pulp. Air bubbles are blown into the mixture. The ink attaches to the bubbles and rises to the top. The inky bubbles are then skimmed off, leaving the pulp ink-free.

Recycling Paper
The cleaned and deinked recycled pulp often is mixed with new pulp to be made into paper products.

Today, U.S. pulp and paper mills recover about 98 percent of all chemicals used to produce pulp from wood chips. In addition, water is reused throughout the papermaking process. Even the energy used to run a paper mill can be converted and reused

Recycling Paper
Some Recycled Paper Terms
Collage - a piece of artwork made by cutting materials such as colored paper and old magazines and pasting them onto a surface to create a pattern or picture

Contaminants - materials that must be removed before paper can be recycled, such as plastics, paper clips, sticky notes and other materials deinking - removing ink and other finishing materials, like coatings, sizings and adhesives, from printed paper Fibers - the long, thick-walled cells that give strength and support to plants Landfill - a site where garbage is taken Paperboard - a thick, strong paper primarily used for food packaging and other containers Pulp - a mixture of fibers and water from which paper is made Recycling - a process where used materials are sorted, cleaned and made into new products Post-Consumer Material (PCW) - Waste paper that has served its intended purpose and has been separated from solid waste to be recycled into new paper. This is what you and I take to the recycling center. De-Inked Material - Waste paper that has had the ink, filler, coatings, etc. removed as a step in the production of recycled paper. This includes magazines and newspapers that were printed but never sold. Post-Mill Material - Paper waste generated in converting and printing that is done by a facility other than the paper mill. This does not include mill waste or wood chips. Recovered, Pre-consumer, and Wastepaper - These are ambiguous terms which have little consistency in definition...often refers to non-wastestream materials such as mill broke, other mill wastes, and wood chips

Benefits of Recycling

Throughout the industry white paper is achieved by the use of chlorine. This hazardous chemical also means toxic pollution. Mutation. Cancer. Death. Bleaching paper with chlorine or chlorine derivatives is harmful to our environment. Studies have shown that dioxins are highly carcinogenic; lead to reduced reproductivity, cause genetic damage, and are persistent and accumulate in the environment, becoming concentrated as it moves up the food chain. Waste paper being recycled was most likely made with chlorine the first time around. The problem with chlorine is the pollution from its use initially to make the paper and not the paper once it is made. The PCF method melds the ability to use our waste paper with processing that is chlorine free.

Benefits of Recycling

One advantage of recycled paper is that it can be made easily with less toxic processes, and thus result in less pollution. Not all recycled (or alternative fiber) paper products are made using more benign processes. However, paper made from 100% recycled fibers can easily be whitened with an oxygen-based bleaching process. Ideally, much of the paper we use should be non-de-inked, un-rebleached, recycled paper. This would lead to a cleaner and healthier environment. Recycling a ton of paper spares 17 trees, which can absorb a total of 250 pounds of carbon dioxide from air each year. Burning the same ton of paper creates 1500 pounds of carbon dioxide, which contributes to pollution by greenhouse gases. Recycling paper uses about half the amount of energy needed to manufacture paper from virgin materials.

Recycling Glass

Earlier glass was formed when certain types of rocks underwent transformation due to extreme temperatures. Glass recycling is good news for the environment. It saves used glass containers being sent to landfill and less energy is needed to melt recycled glass than to melt down raw materials, thus saving energy. Waste Glass Used as an additive in clay, glass lowers the processing temperature and therefore, lowers the costs for producing tiles and bricks. The glass chemically bonds with the clay and makes the product stronger. Used as an additive in plastic, finely ground glass readily replaces the calcium carbonate filler already in use. The glass filler increases the strength and ductility of most plastics tested.

Recycling Glass

When the ground glass was mixed with a ceramic it was inexpensively processed to form finished parts that don't require machining. The glass/ceramic composite material was twice as hard as regular glass. Ground glass was used as an abrasive for water jet cutting. In most applications it performed as well as the garnet normally used. In sandblasting operations, ground glass, an amorphous silica, can safely replace silica sand, crystalline silica, and a known carcinogen. There are many uses for ground waste glass, many applications can be found in the local community. Recycling systems started over the past decade have diverted millions of tons of resources from disposal; however, fluctuations in market prices have meant unreliable revenue for these sources. To offset these market fluctuations communities must work to capture a greater portion of the economic benefits derived from recycling. It is through remanufacturing of recovered material that communities stop viewing solid waste as a disposal burden and seeing it as an economic opportunity.

Recycling Glass

Recycling has come of age and with it comes a strong market for quality glass. Demand is driven by glass container manufacturers' need for recyclable glass. Recycling old glass to produce new containers uses less energy than starting with raw materials. Because recycled glass melts at lower temperatures, furnaces aren't required to operate at the higher levels needed to melt raw materials. The bottom line? Increased energy savings. Glass is one of the most easy to recycle materials. It is 100% recyclable; it can be recycled indefinitely as its structure does not deteriorate when reprocessed, and recycling glass uses less energy, less raw materials and causes less pollution. Even though large quantities of glass are collected for recycling, the demand for quality glass often outpaces supply. At the same time, some loads of recycled glass are being turned away at the plant gate. From the viewpoint of municipalities or waste haulers looking for a market the demand may appear low. What's the explanation? And what can you do about it?

Recycling Glass

Why Recycle Glass? Cuts the amount of waste sent to landfill and reduces waste disposal costs; Saves energy; Reduces the need for quarrying of raw materials, thereby conserving the environment; Creates employment from the processing centers and collection schemes; Raises public awareness of waste management issues

Recycling Glass

Conventional Glass Recycling Process 1. Glass is collected 2. Converted to standard furnace-ready cullet 3. Shipped to glass plants Most glass must be separated by color in order to be used in new glass production. However, some plants can use mixed color cullet to produce specialty products as Abrasives Ceramic tiles, picture frames, costume jewelry, and some household items that include recycled container and non-container glass. Container and non-container glass is utilized in concrete, roadbeds, pavement and parking lots, as well as drainage medium, backfill or landscaping purposes Container and non-container glass that is melted into rounded glass pellets or beads and used in reflective paint for highways, as well as in peening and cleaning metals Recycled glass is used in the manufacture of fiberglass now constitutes the second highest volume of post-consumer glass

Recycling Glass

Recycled glass is called cullet. Glass container manufacturers recycle cullet, combined with soda ash, limestone and sand, to create "new" glass. It's important to know what kind of glass the industry needs. Cullet should meet four criteria:

Cullet must be separated by color Cullet must be contaminant free Cullet must meet market specifications Cullet must be container glass

Glass manufacturers require cullet that's separated by color clear, amber or green. Recycling glass by color helps manufacturers ensure the quality and color consistency of new containers.

Recycling Glass

Recycled glass can be used in a surprising number of construction aggregate uses: It is an excellent backfill and works as good permeability for drainage trench fill. Many other lightweight fill uses have been tested, and glass can be blende with conventional aggregates for use in structural fills or bound asphaltic pavements. The value of glass as an aggregate is lower than many other recycling uses, but processing requirements are much less intense as well. Economics improve further when aggregate applications are examined in local and rural use settings

Recycling Glass

Conventional Glass Recycling Process 1. Glass is collected 2. Converted to standard furnace-ready cullet 3. Shipped to glass plants Most glass must be separated by color in order to be used in new glass production. However, some plants can use mixed color cullet to produce specialty products as Abrasives Ceramic tiles, picture frames, costume jewelry, and some household items that include recycled container and non-container glass.

Recycling Glass

Conventional Glass Recycling Process Container and non-container glass is utilized in concrete, roadbeds, pavement and parking lots, as well as drainage medium, backfill or landscaping purposes Container and non-container glass that is melted into rounded glass pellets or beads and used in reflective paint for highways, as well as in peening and cleaning metals Recycled glass is used in the manufacture of fiberglass now constitutes the second highest volume of postconsumer glass

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