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RECYCLING AND REUSE

Recycle and reuse of materials recovered from


solid waste is essential if an integrated solid
waste management scheme is to be
implemented in a region.
In fact, recycling and reuse is no longer
optional but should be practiced by every one
if we truly believe the environment should be
sustainable for the future generation.

SOME RECYCLING FACTS

Up to 60% of the rubbish that ends up in


the dustbin could be recycled.
The unreleased energy contained in the
average dustbin each year could power a televisio
for 5,000 hours.
On average, 16% of the money you spend on
a product pays for the packaging, which ultimatel
ends up as rubbish.
As much as 50% of waste in the average dustbin
could be composted.
Up to 80% of a vehicle can be recycled.

RECYCLABLE MATERIALS
1. Aluminium cans are much sought after
because not only it provide high revenue
but also it takes much less energy to
manufacture the new cans.
2. Glass is an inert material and as such do not
pose a threat to the environment directly.
Glass used for containers such bottles and
jars are suitable for recycling.
3. Paper of which newspaper, corrugated
and office papers are the important sources.
4. Plastics of resin based such as PET,
HDPE, LDPE, PVC, PP and PS.

5. Tyres can pose environmental problems


if not separated from waste materials either
sent to incinerators or landfills.
Used tyre stack piles is a fire hazard
and attract mosquitos and rodents.
Burning of tyres release thick smoke
and toxic chemicals.
Nevertheless, retreading of tyres can find its
new road usage and thereby saving
of new raw materials.
.

Besides, bundled used tyres when


anchored underwater are suitable as fish
habitats or otherwise use as crash barriers
on highway bridges.
Shredded old tyres are also used as fuel for
incinerators.
Scrap tyres have also been used to
recover oil and gas when pyrolysed.

6. Construction and demolition waste


are usually dumped on landfills.
However, recycling has helped to
find good usage of the materials which
include concrete, bricks, woody materials,
scrap metals, copper wires and
pipes, pavement, paper, cardboard,
shingles, beverage containers, carpets
and others.

7. White goods include refrigerators,


washers, dryers and air conditioners.
The metal parts of these goods are
usually recycled after removing the nonmetallic parts containing the chemicals if
any.

8. e-waste i.e waste arising from electronics


goods.
Electronics goods pose environmental
problems as they fill up landfill spaces
rather quickly as when they are nonfunctional they are simply thrown away
Besides, they contain lead, cadmium and
mercury which although in small amounts
but collectively, are potentially hazardous.

However, there are certain components


of the waste which are valuable
especially the gold and platinum.
Because of this treasure,
e-waste has been found to be attractive
as a source of income when the
recycleable materials are recovered.
http://www.gateweld.com/

1 recycled tin
can would save
enough energy to
power a television
for 3 hours.
Aluminium cans
can be recycled
and ready to use
in just 6 weeks.

Paper recycle

1 recycled glass
bottle would save
enough energy to
power a computer
for 25 minutes.
Glass is 100%
recyclable and can
be used again and
again.
Glass that is
thrown away and
ends up in landfills
will never
decompose.

70% less energy is


required to recycle
paper compared with
making it from raw
materials.
Recycled paper
produces 73% less air
pollution than if it was
made from raw
materials.
It takes 24 trees to
make 1 ton of
newspaper.

1 recycled plastic bottle would save


enough energy to power a 60-watt light
bulb for 3 hours.
Most families throw away about 40kg of
plastic per year, which could otherwise
be recycled.
Plastic can take up to 500 years to
decompose.

METHODS OF RECYCLING FOR BULK


PROCESSES
Recyclable goods are either processed by
sending to a Material Recovery Facility
(MRF) or sent to a refuse derived fuel
(RDF) processing plant.
Material Recovery Facilities are buildings
or facilities where the various recyclable
materials are housed for sorting and
distribution. Once the recyclable
materials reached an MRF, commingled
recyclables are usually spread on the floor
where paper, cardboard, glass, aluminium
cans and plastic items are usually

In a material recovery facility, the real


processing on the separated items
are usually not performed but rather there,
the items are gathered and bundled
either through bailing or compaction. The
individual items are then transported
to the various manufacturing plants when
sold.
See Fig 14.

SEPARATION AT SOURCE

SEPARATION AT FACILITY

RECYCLING PROCESSES

Municipal solid waste can be used


to derive fuel. The quality of the fuel
derived from the waste also depend
on the separation process especially
removal of non-combustible
materials.
Hence in a refuse derived fuel
facility, the potential fuel
component of the waste which is
paper and plastics must first be
separated from the commingled
waste either by the use of manual or
mechanical separation devices.

Then they must be shredded to


reduce the size while being dried
to remove much of the moisture
and finally compacted to palletize
the final fuel. A simple flowchart
is shown in Fig.

ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS
Recycling help the environment in three
main ways:
1. Reduce the amount of rubbish sent
to the landfill
Reusing and recycling items means that
less waste has to be buried in the ground
in landfill sites, plus we save valuable
resources by turning waste into new
products! Burying less rubbish means we
have to build fewer landfill sites, which
frees up another important resource: land.

2. Save energy and raw materials


Recycling uses less energy than making items
from scratch, for example, recycling an
aluminum can saves 95% of the energy needed
to make a completely new can.
3. Help tackle climate change
Reducing the energy used to make and
transport products means less carbon dioxide is
released into the atmosphere. Recycling also
cuts the amounts of methane, another powerful
greenhouse gas, which can be given off by
biodegradable materials as they rot under

RECYCLING CAMPAIGN

Recycle Centres in Malaysia

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