Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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CHIRAG-02117003916
ABHISHEK S KUMAR-005
MBA-II SEM, MORNING SHIFT
DIV-A
Pink containers have been introduced throughout Gibraltar to cater for small
waste Electronic Equipment (WEEE) in addition to our civic Amenities site at
Europa Advance Road.
Government hopes that this extension to the recycling services on offer will
encourage more people to take up the challenge and help Gibraltar to meet its
target of recycling 50% of all household waste by 2020. A full list of the
existing recycling disposal points can be found here. In addition, a map of all
available waste cooking oil recycling bins can be found here.
Objectives of Recycling of PAPER, METAL, GLASS AND
PLASTICS: -
Electrical and Electronic Wastes (e-Wastes) Management System as
recommended by the team of Consultants from the European Union in their
report on e-Waste Management. E-Wastes are classified as hazardous wastes
under the Basel Convention to which Mauritius is a party. It should be noted
that Mauritius generates about 8,000 tons of e-wastes annually, and the presence
of heavy metals, including lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium make them
hazardous. The Mauritian industrial landscape already has a number of plastic
recycling and paper converting factories. However, due to the absence of a
structured nationwide network of collection of used plastic and paper, these
factories face huge difficulties in obtaining the critical mass of recyclable inputs
to operate at optimum capacity. Waste segregation is not yet a common practice
among householders. Recyclable waste still finds its way to landfill sites.
The most glaring example is the sight of municipal scavenging trucks collecting
used carton boxes every evening in our towns and sending them to landfill
stations! In the meantime, paper recycling plants such as Etch Elle Papers
situated at Cluny are unable to operate at full capacity because of lack of used
paper. Even used newspaper collection is almost inexistent and the high
volumes of newspapers sold daily eventually end up at Mare Chicopee! Plastic
is not the only pollutant. Living in a highly consumerism society, we are
producing a variety of wastes, most of which tend to be hazardous to our
environment. Not all types of waste are being recycled and not the totality of
each type of waste is recycled. Yet, recycling is a booming industry across the
world. Its success depends largely on awareness on two fronts: Being aware of
the need to recycle and being aware of the recycling processed available today
thanks to technological breakthrough.
Glass is a widely recycled material and one of the few that can be recycled
infinitely without losing its qualities. Glass is a wonderful resource for recycling
since it can be transformed in various ways. Glass is already used in Mauritius
hay enterprises such as the Mauritius Glass Gallery to produce crafts and
objects of art, but the current enterprises cannot absorb the totality of glass
waste produced. Used glass has many other uses not yet tapped. Glass halt, for
example, is asphalt containing glass culets as an aggregate and has been widely
tried as a means to dispose of surplus waste glass since the 1960s. Glass halt is
basically the same as conventional hot-mix asphalt, except that 5% to 40% of
the rock and/or sand aggregate is replaced by crushed glass.
Scrap metal business is popular in Mauritius such that it even led to acts of
vandalism on public and private property, with the disappearance of sewer
covers, electric pylons and hand rails. Most of the scrap metals collected in
Mauritius used to be exported until the government came with new regulations
to ban export in order to protect domestic enterprises. Another profitable metal
for recycling is aluminium and some small enterprises are involved in the
collection of aluminium cans.
Used tyres are among the largest and most problematic sources of waste today,
due to the large volume produced and their durability. Recycled tyre chips have
many uses: They can be used for equestrian (i.e. rubber mixed with sand or
sawdust used in the horse industry as ground in the stable or at the tracks).
Rubber granulate is reused in e.g. sports fields, artificial turfs, rubber mats and
moulded products. Rubber powder can be reused in rubber paved asphalt. The
recovered steel can be melted and reused just like non-recovered steel.
Recycling consists in the first place in ensuring a reliable (in quantity and
quality) supply, which is not always possible due to the variations in the
productions of goods and namely their packaging and because the potential for
recycling of products made of recycled material (products of second generation)
decrease at each generation of recycled products.
Finally if the demand for recycled raw material is qualitatively stable, even if it
follows an increasing trend, the range of recycled products which benefit from a
structured commercial demand is low and very volatile.
Scope of Recycling of PAPER, METAL, GLASS AND
PLASTICS: -
Table A and B should be used in conjunction with each other to help you
understand what is included in the standard municipal solid waste (MSW)
recycling rate and what is excluded. First, use Table A, Scope of Materials
Included in the Standard MSW Recycling Rate, to identify which materials are
defined as MSW (Column 2, What Is MSW) and which materials are defined as
Other Solid Waste (Column 3, What Is Not MSW). The materials outlined in
column 2, What Is MSW, are included in both the recycling and waste
generation totals of the standard recycling rate. After you have determined
which materials are included in the standard recycling rate, use Table B, Scope
of Activities Included in the Standard MSW Recycling Rate, to further refine
the scope based on whether the recycling of the materials defined in Table a
meets the standard definition of recycling outlined in Table B. As an example,
tires from automobiles are defined as MSW according to Table A, so the
disposal of such tires may be included in your waste generation total. If these
tires are retreated, however, they may not be included in your recycling total
since retreating is considered reuse rather than recycling according to Table B.
TABLE-A
Material What is MSW What is MSW2
Food scraps Uneaten food Food processing waste
preparation waste from from agricultural and
residences and industrial operations.
commercial
establishments,
institutional source and
industrial sources.
Glass containers Containers, packaging Glass from
and glass found in transportation
appliances furniture and equipment and
consumer electronics. construction and
demolition debris
Paper Old corrugated Paper manufacturing
containers, old waste (mill broke) and
magazines, old converting scrap not
newspaper, office paper, recovered for recycling.
Telephone directories,
third class mail,
Printing, paper towels,
and paper plates and
cups.
Plastic Containers, packaging, Plastic from
bags and wraps and transportation
plastic found in Equipment.
appliances, furnitures,
and sporting and
recreational equipment.
Textiles Fibber from apparel Textiles waste generated
furniture, linens (sheet during manufacturing
and towels) carpets and processes (mill scrap)
rugs, and footwear. C&D Project.
Tires Tires from automobile Tires from motorcycles,
and trucks buses and heavy farm
and construction
equipment.
Wood Pallets, crates, barrels Wood from C&D debris
and wood found in (lumber and tree stump)
furniture and consumer and industrial process
electronics. waste.
Aluminium cans and Aluminium cans, Nonferrous metals from
other nonferrous nonferrous metals from industrial applications
metals appliances, furniture, and C&D debris
and consumer electronic (Aluminium siding,
and other aluminium wiring, and piping).
Items
Yard Trimmings Grass, leaves, brush and Yard trimmings from
branches, and tree C&D debris.
stumps.
Other Household hazardous Abatement debris,
waste, oil filters, agricultural waste,
fluorescent tubes, combustion ash, C&D
mattresses, and debris, industrial
consumer electronics. process waste, medical
waste
TABLE-B
Recycling material What counts As What does not
recycling count as recycling
Food scraps Composting of food Backyard composting of
scraps from grocery food scraps, and the use
stores, restaurants, of food items for human
cafeterias, Lunchroom, consumption.
and private residences,
and the use of food
scraps to feed farm
animals.
Glass Recycling of containers Recycling of glass
and packaging glass and found in transportation
recycling of glass found equipment and
in furniture, appliances construction and
and consumer demolition (C&D)
electronics into new debris, recycling of
glass products. preconsumer glass from
industrial process.
Metals Recycling of aluminium Reuse of metal
and tin/steel cans, and containers, packaging,
recycling of metals furniture, or consumer
found in appliances and electronics, and
packaging into metal recycling of metals
products. found in transportation
equipment (auto bodies)
and C&D debris
Paper Recycling of paper Reuse of paper products,
products (old recycling of
newspapers and office preconsumer or
papers) into new paper manufacturing waste
products (tissue, (trimmings, mill broke,
paperboard, hydro print overruns, and over
mulch, animal bedding, issue publications), and
or insulation materials) combustion of paper for
energy recovery
Plastic Recycling of plastic Reuse of plastic
products (containers, products, recycling of
bags, and wraps), and preconsumer plastic
recycling of plastic from waste or industrial
furniture and consumer process waste, and
electronics into new combustion of plastics
plastic products. for energy recovery.
Textiles Recycling of textiles Reuse of apparel.
into wiper rags, and
recycling of apparel and
carpet fibre into new
products such as linen
paper or carpet padding.
Tires Recycling of automobile Recycling of tires from
and truck tires into new motorcycles, buses, and
products containing heavy farm and
rubber, and rubberized construction equipment,
asphalt), and use of retreating of tires, and
whole tires for combustion of tire chips
playground and reef for energy recovery.
construction.
Wood Recycling of wood Repair and reuse of
products (pallets and pallets, combustion of
crates) into mulch, wood for energy
compost, or similar recovery, recycling of
uses. industrial process waste,
and recycling of wood
from C&D debris.
Yard trimmings Offsite recycling of Mulching of tree
grass, leaves, brush or stumps4 from C&D
branches, and tree debris, backyard (onsite)
stumps into compost, composting, grass
mulch, or similar uses; cycling, land spreading
and land spreading of of leaves5, and
leaves. combustion of yard
trimmings for energy
recovery.
Others Household hazardous Recycling of used oil,
waste (HHW), oil C&D debris (asphalt,
filters, fluorescent tubes, concrete, and natural
mattresses, circuit disaster debris),
boards, and consumer transportation
electronics. equipment (auto
bodies), municipal
sewage sludge, and
agricultural, industrial,
mining, and food
processing waste.
Company profile: -
The Reclaim Vision
While we are all responsible for maintaining our quality of life, New Zealand
needs someone from the recycling industry to lead the way. Reclaim aspires to
become the champion of business waste recycling, regarded as the industry
expert and recognised as the leading recycling brand.
We want to shift attitudes about waste. It should no longer be treated as rubbish
and dismissed as worthless, it should be valued and re-used as a future resource.
We want to ensure these resources are processed properly at dedicated recycling
centres, rather than be buried in a landfill.
Our goal is to extend our tailored services to all businesses so they are able to
achieve their waste reduction and sustainability goals. Our mission is to provide
recycling assurance, by recovering as many valuable recyclable resources as
possible, ensuring more recycled products are manufactured.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
RECYCLING: -
During your lifetime, youll produce 600 times your own weight in trash
enough to fill a good few trucks. That staggering statistic might not be such a
problem if we didn't have to live on a relatively small, overcrowded planet.
Pretty much all the resources we have on Earthall the raw materials and an
awful lot of the energy are limited: once we've used them up, we won't get any
more. So it makes sense to use things as wisely as we can.
The best way to use Earth's resources more sensibly is to reduce the amount of
things that we use (for example, less packaging on food in shops) and to reuse
things instead of throwing them away (reusing carrier bags at the grocery store
makes a lot of sense). If we can't reduce or reuse, and we have to throw things
away, recycling them is far better than simply tossing them out in the trash. Let's
take a closer look at recycling and how it works.
Why is recycling important?
When you throw stuff away, you might be very glad to get rid of it: into the
trash it goes, never to be seen again! Unfortunately, that's not the end of the
story. The things we throw away have to go somewhere usually they go off to be
bulldozed underground in a landfill or burnt in an incinerator. Landfills can be
horribly polluting. They look awful, they stink, they take up space that could be
used for better things, and they sometimes create toxic soil and water
pollution that can kill fish in our rivers and seas.
One of the worst things about landfills is that they're wasting a huge amount of
potentially useful material. It takes a lot of energy and a lot of resources to make
things and when we throw those things in a landfill, at the end of their lives,
we're also saying goodbye to all the energy and resources they contain. Some
authorities like to burn their trash in giant incinerators instead of burying it in
landfills. That certainly has advantages: it reduces the amount of waste that has
to be buried and it can generate useful energy. But it can also produce toxic air
pollution and burning almost anything (except plants that have grown very
recently) adds to the problem of global warming and climate change.
The trouble is, we're all in the habit of throwing stuff away. In the early part of
the 20th century, people used materials much more wisely especially in World
War II (19391945), when many raw materials were in short supply. But in
recent decades we've become a very disposable society. We tend to buy new
things instead of getting old ones repaired. A lot of men use disposable razors,
for example, instead of buying reusable ones, while a lot of women wear
disposable nylon stockings. Partly this is to do with the sheer convenience of
throwaway items. It's also because they're cheap: artificial plastics, made from
petroleum-based materials, became extremely inexpensive and widely available
after the end of World War II. But that wasteful period in our history is coming
to an end.
We're finally starting to realize that our live-now, pay-later lifestyle is storing up
problems for future generations. Earth is soon going to be running on empty if
we carry on as we are. Americans live in much greater affluence than virtually
anyone else on Earth. What happens when people in developing countries such
as India and China decide they want to live the same way as us? According to
the environmentalists Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and Hunter Lovins, we'd
need two Earths to satisfy all their needs. If everyone on Earth doubles their
standard of living in the next 40 years, we'll need 12 Earths to satisfy them.
Recycling basically involves turning used materials that are labelled as
recyclable over to your local waste facility designated in a disposal container as
recyclable materials to be taken and reused as material for a new purpose. A
recyclable product is turned back into a raw form that can be used to create a
new and different product. Not only are natural resources limited, but recycling
efforts can significantly reduce additional waste that will not only harm the
planet today, but future generations as well. The natural resources on our planet
earth are limited so we must make the most to conserve, recycle and reuse
whenever possible.
Youre no doubt aware by now why this is so important. However, the effort
involves not only recycling existing products, but purchasing products that have
already been recycled. Today, thanks to a strong push in the green movement
recently, youll notice more and more products made from recycled materials.
To purchase products made from reused materials, simply look for a recycling
symbol and language on the products packaging. Every day manufacturers are
finding new ways to create items that are recyclable including paper towels,
cardboard boxes, plastic containers, crayons, ink cartridges, paint, garden
supplies such as hoses, furniture, wallpaper, and even garbage cans. And dont
forget the packaging. It is often too big for the product inside and uses non-
recycled materials. This is wasteful and should be minimized as well when
making a purchase decision. Voting with your wallet is one of the best ways to
make an impact while sending a clear message to the companies that make these
products as to your desire for more attention to recycle-friendly products.
There are many good reasons for adding recycling to your routine, ranging from
a personal level to a global advantage.
Recycling your waste makes you more responsible in the way you use and
dispose of it. It is evident from studies that people who do this instinctively cut
down on buying unwanted things from the supermarket. They think of how to
dispose of the packaging or the product after use before even buying it. As a
result, people end up saving a considerable amount of money while also saving
the planet.
Individuals, governing bodies and companies can take pride in minimizing their
waste as they are helping to reduce global environmental damage and making
this earth a better place on which to live. It is a direct contribution that everyone
can take price in.
The danger of global climate change has forced us to take drastic measures to
cut down on pollution levels to slow down if not eradicate this phenomenon. In
view of this, ambitious but necessary targets for recycling are also being set by
governments around the world.
To meet these targets, more and more people must take action regularly. As a
result, the amount of waste reaching the landfill sites is reduced and the quantity
of land fill sites is reduced. Hence better land use for other constructive
purposes is ensured.
One problem with recycling paper is that not all paper is the same. White office
printer paper is made of much higher quality raw material than the paper towels
you'll find in a factory washroom. The higher the quality of paper waste, the
better the quality of recycled products it can be used to make. So high-grade
white paper collected from offices can be used to make more high-grade white
recycled paper. But a mixture of old newspapers, office paper, junk mail, and
cardboard can generally be used only to make lower-grade paper products such
as "newsprint" (the low-grade paper on which newspapers are printed).
Corrugated cardboard (which is held together with glue) is harder to recycle
than the thin cardboard used to package groceries.
Waste documents are usually covered in ink, which has to be removed before
paper can be recycled. Using bleach to de-ink papers can be an environmentally
harmful process and it produces toxic ink wastes that have to be disposed of
somehow. So, although recycling paper has many benefits, it comes with
environmental costs as well.
Every day, enormous amounts of paper and cardboard are discarded. Not only
household waste paper, such as newspapers, magazines and packaging, but also
paper and cardboard from printers, offices and other companies. Think how
much of this paper and cardboard is reusable and how significant amounts of
money can be saved, not to underestimate the environmental benefits which are
involved. This is when Stallman Paper recycling plays its part, since waste
paper and cardboard recycling is what we focus on.
We purchase waste paper and cardboard in Europe and the United States. After
having sorted it out and, if necessary, after processing it we sell it back to the
paper and cardboard industry in the form of environmentally conscious raw
material for the production of new paper and cardboard. Due to the experience
built up over the years, our excellent know-how, and our numerous International
connections, we are able to offer many kinds of qualities of waste paper and
cardboard in a fast and efficient way worldwide. We can also provide you with
good advice. For example, we can give you information regarding which
qualities of paper and cardboard are more appropriate for your production
requirements. Our goal is for us to get together with our customers to create the
best possible end product.
Metal
Photo: Collecting aluminium cans for recycling. (It's generally better to squash them, because they take up much
less room.) Photo by Ron Fontaine courtesy of US Navy and Defence Imagery.
Wood: -
People have been reusing this traditional, sustainable material for as long as
human history. Waste wood is often turned into new wooden productssuch as
recycled wooden flooring or garden decking. Old wooden railroad sleepers
(now widely replaced by concrete) are sometimes used as building timbers in
homes and gardens. Waste wood can also be shredded and stuck together
with adhesives to make composite woods such as laminates. It can also be
composted or burned as a fuel.
Timber recycling or wood recycling is the process of turning waste timber into
usable products. Recycling timber is a practice that was popularized in the early
1990s as issues such as deforestation and climate change prompted both timber
suppliers and consumers to turn to a more sustainable timber source.
There are tons of waste wood and timber that are disposed every year.
Recycling of these products was started as an initiative to limit the damage done
to the environment. Deforestation was discovered to have a negative impact on
the global climate and recycling was established as a viable source of more
sustainable wood source. Recycling waste wood is highly beneficial and old
timber can be used without felling of more trees. There are different sources of
waste wood and the condition in which it is collected will vary. Improper
disposal of old wood and timber is problematic to the community and hazardous
for the environment.
The Recycling Process Waste wood and timber is usually divided into
recycling plants for processing. The pieces are then loaded into a powerful
wood shredder that breaks the pieces through a variety of processes. The
product varies in size and the vibrating screener performs well in sorting out the
products. Various sizes of the results are applied to different uses. The oversized
pieces are re-circulated and the fine material is used as animal beddings. The
size in between the two is used in broad mills. The process is efficient in
ensuring that the products are not wasted. Collection of Wood Waste wood and
timber is disposed into landfills if there is no recycling plant available. The
companies that are deal in these recycling processes redirect this into their
plants for processing.
The wood collected comes from different areas. Construction sites are major
contributors of timber. Unfortunately, this wood is usually a mixture of every
variety available in building. Pieces of solid wood will be found mixed with
laminate material, plywood and even treated timber. This poses a big challenge
when recycling because they must all be separated. It is a labour-intensive
process that is also time-consuming. Demolition sites are also a rich source of
waste wood and timber. The decision to demolish buildings depends on the
possibility of getting recyclable materials. Wood is very hard to salvage from
such sites because it is found with other substances.
Because of the nature of the resulting material of this activity, sorting out the
wood from the other more resilient objects is not considered a viable option.
The resulting wood is also of very low quality and it is hard to get recyclable
pieces. Waste wood can also be collected from wood processing factories as
well as the packaging companies. The materials that are not deemed to be
quality enough are disposed of. The lowest quality of wood available is from the
household wastes. People cause eventual accumulation of waste wood from old
and broken furniture as well as home renovation tasks. Benefits of Recycling
There are definite environmental benefits to recycling wood and timber.
Buying recycled timber is safe for the environment and limits the need for
heavy reliance on the forests for fresh raw building materials. As a source of
energy, it gives an alternative to other more unsustainable methods. Recycling is
also more cost-effective. There are a lot of resources allocated to safe waste
disposal and with different use of waste wood, the costs are significantly
reduced. The process is getting more efficient and the major challenge of
dealing with contaminants can be dealt with by educating people on importance
of waste segregation. Check out the video below for more information, this is
just one method of recycling wood and timber.
Glass: -
Glass is very easy to recycle; waste bottles and jars can be melted down and
used again and again. You simply toss old glass into the furnace with the
ingredients you're using to make brand-new glass. Bottle banks (large
containers where waste glass is collected)
were the original examples of community
recycling in many countries.
Oil: -
Waste oil from truck and car engines causes huge environmental problems if
you tip it down the drain. It pollutes our rivers and seas, the wildlife that depend
on them, and even the water we drink. If you take your waste oil along to a
recycling centre, it not only keeps our waterways cleanit can also be
reprocessed into new products such as heating oil. Waste vegetable oils (made
by frying food, for example) can be turned into a useful kind of vehicle fuel
called biodiesel.
Plastic: -
Of all the different materials we toss in the trash, plastics cause by far the
biggest problem. They last a long time in the environment without breaking
downsometimes as much as 500 years. They're very light and they float, so
plastic litter drifts across the oceans and washes up on our beaches, killing
wildlife and scarring the shoreline. The only trouble is, plastics are relatively
hard to recycle. There are many different kinds of plastic and they all have to be
recycled in a different way. There's so much plastic about that waste plastic
material doesn't have much value, so it's not always economic to collect. Plastic
containers also tend to be large and, unless people squash them, quickly fill up
recycling bins.
All told, plastics are a bit of an environmental nightmarebut that's all the
more reason we should make an effort to recycle them! Different plastics can be
recycled in different ways. Plastic drinks bottles are usually made from a type of
clear plastic called PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and can be turned into such
things as textile insulation (for thermal jackets and sleeping bags). Milk bottles
tend to be made from a thicker, opaque plastic called HDPE (high-density
polyethylene) and can be recycled into more durable products like flower pots
and plastic pipes.
Another solution to the problem could be to use bioplastics, which claim to be
more environmentally friendly.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Reusing and recycling waste can reduce waste material volumes to be disposed
of and discharged into the environment. Direct reuse of waste materials in its
original or slightly altered involves reprocessing of used materials into new
materials. Reusing and recycling construction waste is the best option to be
chosen where reduction is not possible. Although contractual provisions are
found to be effective in clarifying obligations and responsibilities, such means
may not be properly applied to compulsorily require construction waste
management to be established on every site as technical and financial problems
are to be solved. Seven determining factors in the success for recycling
construction and demolition waste include (Peng et al., 1997): i) good site and
site location; ii) proper equipment; iii) experience in construction and
demolition recycling operations; iv) trained supervisors and employees; v)
knowledge of secondary material markets; vi) business and financial capacities;
and vii) knowledge of environmental regulations.
To investigate actual practices on reusing and recycling construction materials
on site activities, five case studies are under investigation on the rates of
reusable and recyclable waste in construction. All case studies are private
housing projects and the data collected are at the construction stage. Six most
common construction materials including: i) plastic; ii) paper; iii) timber; iv)
metal; v) glass; and vi) concrete, are studied in this paper. The rates of reusable
and recyclable waste define as ratios of actual reusable and recyclable materials
over total construction waste, as formulated in Equation (1):
Rate of reusable and recyclable waste = Actual reusable and recyclable
material/Total construction waste
The rates of reusable and recyclable waste indicate that practice of reusing and
recycling construction materials on the measured case studies; 1 indicates that
there is fully reusable and recyclable all construction materials; while 0
indicates that it turns all construction materials into waste for disposal.
Individual structured interviews are arranged with each case study, including
project managers, quantity surveyors, site foremen and on-site workers. The
interviews are intended for gathering further comments, elaboration and
interpretation on the results obtained from the survey.
Quantitative Trends: -
Based on data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), MSW
generation was 236.2 million tons in 2003, of which 176.4 million tons (75
percent) was in the form of potentially recoverable materials. Of this subtotal
31.4 percent was recovered for recycling in 2003, most of it in the form of paper
(72 percent). The bulk of recovered paper was in the form of old newspapers
from households and corrugated cardboard from businesses. About 48 percent
of all paper and board, 36 percent of metals, and 19 percent of glass is
recovered; the lowest recovery rate is associated with plastics (5 percent), the
highest with nonferrous metals, primarily lead batteries (67 percent). The low
rate of plastics recovery is explained both by the many types of plastics on the
market, the difficulties in sorting them, and the fact that some cannot be
remitted.
Of the 60 million tons of organic and miscellaneous wastes not included in
figures above, cities recovered about 17 million tons in 2003, 28.2 percent, the
great bulk of it in the form of composted yard trimmings. For context, it is
worth noting that MSW represents a mere 3 percent of total waste generation in
the United States, which, based on EPA's estimates, stood at around 7.84 billion
tons. The overwhelming mass of this waste, however, is the form of mine
tailings. Industrial waste generation in the major categories like metals, paper,
plastics, and glass is very low because production wastes are immediately
recycled.
Recycling rates appear to have increased since the beginning of the recycling
movement, but reliable numbers are not available. The reason for this is that
waste generation by type of content is not routinely determined; in some
surveys (such as the one cited above) commercial wastes are included, in some
they are left out. Very substantial paperboard recoveries have always been
associated with commercial sourceslong before recycling took hold; and in
the olden days much newsprint was diverted from MSW when demand for
waste paper was high. One source, cited by EPA, Bicycle Magazine, showed
recycling increasing from 19 percent in 1992 to 33 percent in 2000, with
increases in every year in between. Such data, however, are not based on
scientific or census-like measurements and, while no doubt capturing a trend,
are more impressionistic.
Current Trends in recycling: -
In Western Europe, plastic waste generation is growing at approximately 3 per
cent per annum, roughly in line with long-term economic growth, whereas the
amount of mechanical recycling increased strongly at a rate of approximately 7
per cent per annum. In 2003, however, this still amounted to only 14.8 per cent
of the waste plastic generated (from all sources). Together with feedstock
recycling (1.7 per cent) and energy recovery (22.5 per cent), this amounted to a
total recovery rate of approximately 39 per cent from the 21.1 million tonnes of
plastic waste generated in 2003 (figure 3). This trend for both rates of
mechanical recycling and energy recovery to increase is continuing, although so
is the trend for increasing waste generation.
DATA REDUCTION, PRESENTATION & ANALYSIS
Data: - In 2013, 156.9 kg of packaging waste was generated per inhabitant in
the EU-28. This quantity varied between 46.7 kg per inhabitant in Croatia and
210.4 kg per inhabitant in Germany (see Figure 8). Figure 1 shows that paper
and cardboard, glass, plastic, wood and metal are, in that order, the most
common types of packaging waste in the EU-28. Other materials represent less
than 0.3 % of the total volume of packaging waste generated.
Over the 9-year period paper and cardboard was the main packaging waste
material generated, contributing with more than 32.2 million tonnes to the total
packaging waste generated in 2013. Amounting to a total of 15.6 million tonnes
in 2013, glass was the second most important packaging material. Plastics
packaging material generated had a volume of 15.0 million tonnes, wood
packaging 11.9 million tonnes and metal packaging 4.5 million tonnes in 2013.
While all packaging materials experienced a sharp decrease of 5.0 million
tonnes ( 6.4 %) from 2008 to 2009, the decline was especially sharp for metal
and wood.
Figure 10 shows the recovery rates of packaging waste in 2013 for each EU Member State and also the target
which needs to be met. The figure shows that
the recovery rates in Croatia, Romania,
Cyprus, Lithuania, Greece and Malta were
below the 2008 target of 60.0 % which
should have been reached.
BIBIOGRAPHY
Davis, Mackenzie L., and Susan J. Masten. Principles of Environmental
Engineering and Sciences. McGraw Hill, 2004
"Steel Recycling in the U.S. Continues its Record Pace in 2005." Press Release.
Steel Recycling Institute. 25 April 2006.