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Recycling is the process by which discarded materials are collected and used as raw materials for new products. This prevents potentially useful materials from being landfilled or incinerated. Recycling preserves capacity for disposal, reduces pollution, and saves natural resources and money. Glass is usually recycled to make other glass, such as bottles and food jars, but it is made into other products such as insulation and other building materials. Recycling glass uses less energy than making virgin glass, which is made from sand, soda, and lime. During the recycling process, glass in broken down into tiny fragments. These fragments are then run through a magnetic system, to remove any metal items, and through a vacuum system, to remove any labels, paper, or plastic materials. This broken glass, now known as cullet, is then melted down. It is at this stage in the recycling process that the benefits of recycling glass appear. A glass manufacturer's boiler must run at about 1,200 degrees Celsius to melt the sand, soda, and lime into glass. Making glass from recycled glass uses 32% less energy than making virgin glass because it melts at a much lower temperature. Products from recycled glass also save on the extraction of raw materials and making recycled glass products produces approximately 20% less air pollution and 50% percent less water pollution than virgin glass. Special Note: Your recycling provider may ask you to separate your clear glass from your colored glass. This is because clear glass usually goes into making other clear glass products and colored glass usually goes into making other colored glass products. Special Note: You cannot recycle windowpane glass, ceramics, light bulbs, or tableware! Paper recycling is a major recycling success story in the United States. At 39%, paper makes up the largest percentage of waste that enters the waste stream. However, approximately 42%, or 37 million tons, of paper and paperboard left the waste stream in 1999 through recycling. Unfortunately, even with this great effort, paper still makes up a large portion of the trash that ends up in landfills and incinerators each year. So, recycling paper makes sense for many environmental reasons. Recycling paper saves on landfill space, but it also saves natural resources and helps protect wildlands. Paper usually comes from trees taken out of our nation's forests and parklands. Making paper from other paper saves at least 17 trees per ton of paper. Also, making paper from recycled materials uses 10% of the water and 50% of the energy and produces 75% less air pollution than recycling made directly from timber. Newspapers are usually made into paperboard or other newspapers, as well as various other products. Paper is recycled by dumping collected paper into bins filled with chemicals and water. This mixture breaks down the paper fibers into a soggy material. This material is then poured out onto screen where it is dried. This paper is then polished and processed into new paper materials. Special Note: As with all recyclable materials, but especially with paper, it is just as important to buy products made from post-consumer recycled paper as it is to recycle the paper itself. Plastic collected from businesses and residences is first be compacted and then baled. Plastic, usually without bottle caps and with numbers 1 and 2 on the bottom, is then shredded or made into pellets. These pellets or shreds are then melted down and molded into new items. Most plastic material has a number on the bottom surrounded by the recycling symbol. This labeling system was started by the Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. in 1988. It is very important that residents and commercial facilities do not mix plastics if their municipality or commercial hauler has specified otherwise. One wrong bottle can spoil an entire bale of recycled plastic! So, what do those numbers mean? No. 1 Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET or PETE) is a clear, tough glass. PETE is most commonly used in soft drink bottles and other consumer containers. Recycled PETE products can also be made into carpet fibers or for synthetic materials for clothing. No. 2 High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) is the plastic mostly seen in milk, juice, water, and laundry containers and other products with short shelf lives. This type of plastic can be recycled into everything from laundry and detergent containers to recycling bins, and plastic lumber. No. 3 Vinyl (Polyvinyl Chloride) (PVC) is usually used in clear food packaging, shampoo bottles, and in wires and cables. Many people find PVC in construction materials such as piping and siding. Vinyl is also often used for its ability to be both flexible and rigid. Recycled PVC can be made into binders, flooring, and even speed bumps. No. 4 Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) is usually seen in film and in some flexible lids and bottles, as well as in wires and cables. This plastic is tough, flexible, and relatively transparent. It is also easy to process and, when recycled, can be turned into shipping envelopes, floor tiles, plastic lumber, and trash bins. No. 5 Polypropylene (PP) is very resistant to chemicals and has a strong constitution and melts at high temperatures. This high temperature makes it ideal for containing hot liquids. PP will often be found in automotive and large consumer products and, when recycled, can be made into brooms and brushes, ice scrapers, bicycle racks, pallets, and trays. No. 6 Polystyrene (PS) can be found in both a rigid and foamed form. It's often used in egg cartons, aspirin bottles, and plastic cups and plates. It has a relatively low melting point, and when recycled, it can be made into egg cartons, desk trays, license plate frames, and take-out containers. No. 7 Other is the designation for a plastic other than the six types listed above. It is usually seen in large re-useable office water containers, as well as some ketchup and citrus juice containers. Steel Cans are usually used as tuna fish and soup containers. Recycling steel cans saves a lot of energy and natural resources. Virgin steel is made from iron ore, which is mined out of the mountains and hills in the US. If you recycle one ton of steel, around 1.5 tons of iron ore, 1 ton of coke, and one-half ton of limestone is saved. Also, the melting of one ton of recycled steel cans uses only 25% of the energy used in melting materials for a new can. After collection, steel cans are magnetically separated from other recyclables and then compressed into bales. From there, the tin surrounding the steel can is removed and then the steel is melted together with other steel products and reformed into new steel products. Special Note: Most municipalities do not require you to remove a can's label, but steel cans do need to be rinsed before recycling. Quick Links! Designed and maintained by Clean
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