Advantages of textile recycling and reuse: ü Reduces the need for landfill space. Textiles present particular problems in landfill as synthetic (man-made fibers) products will not decompose, while woolen garments do decompose and produce methane, which contributes to global warming. ü Reduces pressure on virgin resources. ü Aids the balance of payments as we import fewer materials for our needs. ü Results in less pollution and energy savings, as fibers do not have to be transported from abroad. 6% goes to waste
12% goes for fiber reclamation
19% goes for filling materials
21% goes for wiping cloths
38% goes for second hand clothing
4% goes for second hand shoes
Advantages of brick recycling: 
- More than 3500 airliners will reach their end-of-life between 2008 and 2025 at a rate of around 200 aircrafts per year.
- The aircrafts are the absolute sources of the valuable metal, ‘Aluminum.’
- Almost 80 percent of Aircraft parts are recyclable. Most of the fuselage and wings of jets such as Boeing 727 is made of Aluminium which can be sold as scrap.
- Once the engines, landing gear, avionics and components are removed from the aircraft, there is still value in the aluminium.
- This scrapped Aluminium will be later used to manufacture automobile parts including wheels and transmissions.
- Steel, found in the landing gear of planes like Boeing 707, is also relatively easy to recover.
- Recycling composite aircraft materials is trickier than working with raw metals.
- Composites using lightweight and durable carbon fiber are found more and more in newer aircraft, and make up half of each Boeing 787.
- Recycled carbon fiber is being tested for use in tires, paint, industrial injection molds, and sporting goods such as skateboards.
FACTS:
- According to Boeing, the largest manufacturer of jet airliners, about 7200 commercial planes including Boeing 737, 747 and Airbus A320, A340 models will be scrapped.
- Boeing, in 2006 co-founded the Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association, with an aim to expand the airplane recycling rate to 90 percent from about 60 percent today.
- The lifespan of most commercial airliners is said to be around 30 years. Most of the airliners used today were born by 1970s and now there is a jump in the number of planes beyond use. So aircraft recycling will reach its peak through the next decade.
- In the first instance, you should contact your local authority to Visit at the wood recycling facilities they offer to the householders.
- Wood recycling ensures that the waste does not end up in landfill site where, as it is biodegradable, it produces greenhouse gases.
- The wood that cannot be reused as reclaimed timber could be recycled into any one of the following:
Ø Mulch- which prevents soil erosion, enrich soils, help limit water loss and moderate soil temperature change.
Ø Composting agent- Sawdust and wood shavings can be used as a bulking agent to improve air flow and decomposition.
Ø PET bedding- Untreated wood material could be used foe PET bedding.
Ø Chip board and medium density fiber board- A resin is mixed with the chipped wood and heat/ pressure is applied to the mixture to form a board.
- There is little scope for the recycling of domestic wood waste. While companies exist for the collection and reuse/recycling of pallets and crates for example, there are only a few such facilities for household waste.
FACTS
- It is estimated that 50 million cubic meters of wood are used in the UK every year. Almost half of these goes into paper making but two thirds of the wood is imported.
- Rainforests are being cut down at the rate of 100 acres per minute.
- The amount of wood and paper we throw away each year is enough to heat 50,000,000 homes for 20 years.
- Ten million tonnes of waste wood is produced each year in the UK
- Only 1.5 million tonnes of waste wood is recycled in the UK every year. The remaining 85 per cent is sent to landfill
- Wood sent to landfill produces methane gasses and contributes to global warming.
- The Government has now set targets to reduce the amount sent to landfill
- Old electrical appliances are quite unlike common urban garbage. These are complex artifacts and many contain toxic chemical substances. Inappropriate disposal methods such as land fill or incineration can pollute air, soil and water.
- Most of the electrical equipment could be reused or separated into electrical equipment parts.
- Many of the electrical items that we throw away can be repaired or recycled. Recycling items helps to save natural finite resources and also reduces the environmental and health risks associated with sending waste electrical goods to landfill.
- You can donate old working electrical equipments to the charity shops rather than just throwing them away.
- All new electrical and electronic products sold now carry the 'crossed out wheelie bin" logo to help you identify which products are recyclable.
- To avoid environmental and health problems due to hazardous waste substances in electrical and electronic goods, appliances marked with this symbol mustn't be disposed of with unsorted municipal waste, but recovered, reused or recycled using an official recovery system.
- To make recycling easier, when you take your waste electrical items to a Household Waste and Recycling Centre, they are now separated into the 5 groups below.
- Large household items- washing machines, microwaves
- White goods - fridges/ freezers
- TV's and monitors
- Gas discharge lamps
- All other electrical goods
FACTS
Electrical goods are the fastest growing waste stream in the UK, growing by 5% each year
Each year in the UK we go through over 1.2 million tonnes of electrical waste. That is the equivalent of 150 thousand double Decker buses
75% of waste electronics end up in landfill sites
Two million TV sets are discarded every year - most end up in landfill sites
"Over six million electrical items are thrown away every year in the UK. It is estimated that over half of them are still working or could easily be repaired
- More than 80% of the material used in automobiles could be recycled.
- Fixing the repairs and using the old vehicles is better than dumping them straight away.
- The abandoned vehicles could be reported to your local council. They will remove them and take them to the recycling facilities.
- There are hundreds or even thousands of approved vehicle dismantlers and recyclers around the globe.
- Engine oil could be recycled at the civic amenity sites.
- You can contact your local council for more information regarding automobile recycling.
- These automobiles are huge sources of steel and aluminium.
- Moreover, almost all the parts of an automobile, from tires to plastic materials used in the automobiles could be recycled.
- There are also many automobile recycling programs conducted by several companies who offer a free pick up of the junk cars for recycling.
FACTS
- The number of cars recycled in 1997 alone - nearly 13 million - would cause a traffic jam circling the Earth more than one and three quarter times.
- Recycling just one car saves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone.
- Virtually every car taken off the road today is recycled - thanks to the steel and iron content.
- It takes about 45 seconds to shred the average automobile into fist-sized pieces of steel for recycling.
- The automobile is the most recycled consumer product in the world today.
- Ink cartridges have highly toxic materials. Hence disposal of these cartridges is a major issue.
- In addition to environmental benefits, there are also economic benefits to a consumer when they recycle.
- Using refill kits usually ends up costing you about only $3 or $4 per cartridge refill.
- You can typically refill an inkjet cartridge three times before it fully wears out.
- You can have them professionally refilled for you through the mail.
- Once the cartridge is worn out and cannot be refilled anymore, you can have it professionally recycled.
- You can take them to your local office store, as most should accept them and many even have a promotion where they give you something in exchange for your cartridge.
- Look for the instructions in the box of your new inkjet printer.
- Ring up the International Cartridge Recycling Association at (202) 857-1154 for more information about recycling printer ink cartridges.
- Most of the printer ink cartridge manufactures provide free return envelop for used ink cartridges.
- If all else fails, you can contact your local sanitation department to see if they have a special recycling location where products like ink cartridges can be dropped off.
FACTS
- It is estimated that roughly 350 million cartridges end up in landfills every year.
- It is estimated that between 80-90% of cartridges are simply thrown in the trash.
- The number of cartridges ending up in landfills increases by more than 10% annually.
- A brand new laser cartridge requires 3/4 of a gallon of oil to be produced.
- Discarded cartridges still have small amounts of ink in them which can leak into the ground.
- It is estimated that the engineering grade polymers used to manufacture the printer cartridges takes almost 1000 years to decompose.
- You are being kinder to the environment by lessening the amount of cartridges ending up in landfill sites.
- Metals generally fall under two main categories: Aluminum and steel.
- Testing the kind of metal waste you are having is very much simple. Steel which is a magnetic metal can be easily separated fro aluminium, as aluminium is a non-magnetic material.
- Beverage cans are usually made of aluminium whereas food cans are mostly made of steel.
- It has to be noted whether the drink cans are clean before recycling process is started.
- Home recycling bins, provided by the local council, usually accept metal.
- Aerosol containers could also be recycled once they are completely empty.
- Metallic film wrappers such as chocolate wrappers cannot be recycled.
- There are many cash for can schemes that may be operating around you.
- Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours -- or the equivalent of a half a gallon of gasoline.
- Every ton of recycled steel saves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,000 of coal, and 40 pounds of limestone.
- There is no limit to the amount of times that aluminum could be recycled.
- More aluminum goes into beverage cans than any other product
- A 60-watt light bulb can be run for over a day on the amount of energy saved by recycling 1 pound of steel. In one year in the United States, the recycling of steel saves enough energy to heat and light 18,000,000 homes
- 1.8 billion drinks cans are made of steel
- The recycling rate of all steel packaging is 46%; aluminum has a 23.4% packaging recycle rate
- All steel cans contain up to 25% recycled steel
- Its not just food and drink cans made from steel! - most of your deodorants, hairsprays, polishes, paint cans and other household and DIY products are made out of steel too!
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