If you’re planning to build a new home, and want it to be durable, unique, environment friendly and supremely livable, and then you might want to consider STEEL!
The concept of steel house may be strange to most of the people. These steel houses are slowly gaining bit popularity these days. it is a growing trend, especially in countries like India. Some communities in the United States condominium and townhouse association halls, and new health care facilities are being designed with steel, and the concept of residential steel buildings and homes is being tested in the U.S. with good results.
WHY STEEL?
To start with, the Steel House demonstrates the use of lightweight steel components to create a robust, transportable dwelling with a modernist aesthetic. Steel has many advantages as a structural material. It has a very high strength to weight ratio – a little goes a long way in structural terms. Although steel uses considerable energy in its initial manufacture, it can be formed into precisely engineered sections to ensure that no material is wasted. And steel can be easily re-used and re-cycled at the end of a structure’s life. In addition, a steel frame does not warp or rot, it doesn’t burn or add fuel to bush fires, and it is impervious to termite attack.
Everyone might think that the temperature inside a steel house would be very high during hot summer months, but that is not true. The proven fact is that, the steel houses built in India revealed that, on average, the steel house was one degree cooler in summer than a concrete home. The chief architect of these Indian steel homes says that is because steel walls are smoother than concrete and reflect more light, and because many of the materials he uses in designing the steel structure have an aluminum coating that increases reflective capacity.
Some of the key features of the steel houses are:
• Lightweight and readymade construction
• Weather-proof design
• Protection against cyclone, floods
• Steels homes could be built in shorter time frame using pre-fabricated steel and local materials
• Long lasting and easy maintenance
• Environment friendly
• Easier to build in rural areas where the bricks, sands, stone chips are scarce.
• Use of water above plinth level is minimized as steel homes are dry constructions.
• 10 per cent more living space than traditional homes.
• Less skilled labor is needed for construction
We will be seeing lots of such environment friendly steel houses in the near future.
For more, have a look at www.recycleinme.com
According to Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan, the Union steel Minister of India, the prices of steel will not increase till the first week of August 2008. This conclusion is based on an agreement between Dr. Manmohan Singh (The Honorable President of India) and the steel manufacturers. Though there is a considerable hike of steel prices in the International market, Indian steel prices will remain unchanged till August.
“If the raw material prices increase in the International market, domestic steel producers will have to revise their rates too” , said Mr. Paswan. Moreover, a steel monitoring committee is represented by the Ministry to monitor the prices of various steel products.
A Global Programme for sustainable ship recycling was formed earlier in 2007 to ensure the improvements in workers health & safety and the environmental conditions in the south Asia region. This programme has been developed in close consultation with two other international organizations with an interest and expertise in ship recycling: the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Labor Organization (ILO). The Secretariat of the Basel Convention seeks to work with all ship recycling stakeholders to ensure the future sustainability of the industry.
THE CONCEPT
The concept of this programme is very simple and is based on four basic principles:
• The first principle is a life-cycle approach, recognizing that action is required within the confines of the ship recycling yard and beyond.
• Second principle being the inclusion of ship recycling into national development and poverty reduction strategies, noting the important role the industry plays as an employer and source of raw materials
• Third principle is, making collaboration with a wide array of stakeholders, including representatives of governments, ship recycling associations, workers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) of ship recycling countries, donor countries and ship owner representatives. The active involvement of all relevant stakeholders will be instrumental in securing a commitment to improve the global ship recycling industry in a sustainable manner;
• Finally the continuity, recognizing that the Programme should build on the considerable work that has been done in the past and put into place processes and procedures for the long-term, to ensure the future sustainability of both the Programme and the industry.
All these four basic principles are maintained to ensure a greener tomorrow in the ship breaking industry.
THE NEED OF THE PROGRAMME:
Ship breaking is the key industry of the south Asian countries like India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. This industry provides jobs for thousands of people and the indispensable steel needed for the development of these countries. Ship breaking is inherently sustainable as more than 95% of a ship could be recycled. Ship recycling countries provide a valuable service to the global economy, recycling ships that are no longer operable, which otherwise might be abandoned or sunk. Given over 90% of the world’s trade is conducted via shipping, ship recycling is an issue in which the majority of the world’s population has a stake, although its direct effects, both positive and negative, often go unseen at the global level.
In theory, the ship breaking process seems to be sustainable. However, there is often little regard for worker health or safety, with worker injury and illness, and sometimes worker fatality, being commonplace. Ships contain highly toxic materials, including asbestos, PCBs, heavy metals and oils and fuels, the dangers of which are not always understood by the workforce which results in limited precautions being employed to protect worker health and the environment. The concerns over standards in the industry are compounded by the impending phase-out of single-hulled tankers, which will result in thousands more ships requiring recycling over the coming ten years, the majority of which will find their way to the beaches of South Asia.
Now anyone who has read this passage would have understood the need of the ‘Global programme for sustainable ship recycling’ This Global programme seeks to achieve:
• Promotion of the sustainability of the ship recycling industry by enhancing the application of internationally recognized standards relating to occupational safety and health (OSH) and environmental protection
• Promotion of effective implementation of the future Convention for the “Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships” being negotiated under the auspices of the IMO, by building upon existing technical assistance activities promoting the guidelines of the IMO, ILO and Basel Convention, and elements of the new Convention (as developed)
• Promotion of an integrated approach to the ship recycling industry, by addressing infrastructural and other needs in the participant countries in and beyond the ship recycling yards.
THE ACTIVITIES OF THE PROGRAMME:
The activities of this global programme include:
• Development of model facilities in each of the participant countries to couple both operational and infrastructural improvements in a phased manner, providing a blueprint for other yards to follow suit.
• Development of Government-to-Business certification scheme(s) to provide a yardstick by which ship owners and governments may assess the adherence of a yard to internationally accepted OSH and environmental standards.
• Policy development to assist ship recycling countries in preparing for the entry into force of the IMO Convention on the “Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships”.
• Establishing linkages with related development programmes being implemented in the participant countries.
• Training and workshops to encourage knowledge-sharing and collaboration between all stakeholders in the ship recycling process, including government agencies, ship recycling facility owners, operators and workers, NGOs and external experts.
With all these measures, the programme ensures a greener and a safer tomorrow for the ship breaking Industry.
Find more Global programs at: http://www.recycleinme.com/events/EventsCalendar.aspx
Reports indicate that the import of steel to India has been increased by 70% during the period of April 2007 to march 2008. One of the key reasons for this mammoth increase in the import rate is that there is a fast growing demand for steel in India. The fast growing demand of steel is not the only reason of increased steel import in India. The other important factor being the lowered import duties and the relaxed rules and regulations of scrap metal import (Not the safety measures). Import duties of steel have been lowered from 15% to 5% during the period of 2007.
However there was a sudden increase in the import of steel in India in the year 2008. The reason being, the 5% import duty on iron, steel melting scrap, and aluminium scrap was totally scrapped in the government’s budget of 2008-2009 (i.e. Import duty is now 0% ). Moreover the general excise was reduced to 14% from 16%. We hope that this sudden cut down of import duties and general excise was to increase the availability of steel in the domestic market. Anyway this is absolutely good news to metal traders in India which keeps them smiling wide. The Indian steel imports has raisin in such a way that it exceeds the exports.
I don’t want anyone to get overwhelmed by the numbers above. To make it simple, let me tell you something about the impacts of this change in the import duty, general excise and the relaxed rules.
The reduction of import duty of steel will allow Indian steel producers to access raw materials at lower prices.
This act also boosts the consumer demand for the finished products in India.
Also this reduction in import duty of scrap steel will enable India to produce steel at much lower cost than China.
If automobile manufacturers pass this reduced excise duty in the form of lower prices, the demand of steel will increase and hence helping the companies like TATA to supply steel.
Reduction in customs duty for on aluminium metal scrap will benefit the secondary aluminium manufacturers.
The reduction in excise duty will enhance the housing and infrastructure activity.
The excise duty reduction will bring down the prices of automobiles and also eventually increase their demand.
The rule and regulations of scrap metal import are very much relaxed as they seemed impractical in India (virtually to promote the trade).
The imports of scrap steel and aluminium will become easier and convenient than any other countries.
Hence this total cut of import duty of scrap metal in India will take India’s metal trade to the peak in the global scrap metal market. And also the new rules and regulations of scrap metal import, laid by the Indian government where withdrawn because of the impracticality of those rules. The old rules said that unshredded scraps were only permitted from suppliers who have been registered by the government. However this rule has been totally scrapped off. Don’t get confused with the facts and figures mentioned above. The thing is that “the gateway of India is wide open for metal trade; all are welcome to do the metal trade in India! So come let’s do the trade!”
It is important to distinguish resource renewability and material renewability. The materials such as wood which do not retain its properties when recycled, due to degradation are called non-renewable materials. In that case, steel is a renewable material as they have the ability to retain their metal properties when recycled.
This ability of steel to retain its properties has a considerable positive impact on the environment. However, based on a practical point of view, the amount of environmental benefit through steel recycling greatly depends upon the recycling rate. The higher the recycling rate, the greater will be the benefit to the environment. For example, one tonne of steel recycled 20 times with a recycling rate of 85% enables the production of approximately 6.5 tonnes of steel with the same quantity of primary raw materials. Moreover, with the 20 cycles of recycling, over 9 tonnes of CO2 emissions could be avoided. Have a look at the graphical representation for more info.
THE DEMAND:
Despite the increase in recycling rates these days, the appetite for steel still continues to be intense as before. Hence it is high time to have a look at the demand rate and steel scrap availability for the future needs.
The increase in demand of steel is expected to sky rocket in the next decade. It is predicted that the immense demand growth for steel will outpace the supply with ease in the forthcoming 10 years.
This increase in steel demand in the future should be met with the supply of steel that is recycled from the scrap. Hence it is very much important to be aware of the availability of steel scrap.
The statistical data shown below will give you a clear picture about the steel scrap availability till 2015. The data shown here are the predictions and not accurate values.
STAINLESS STEEL SCRAP AVAILABILITY IN ASIA:
The actual scrap steel availability in Asia has fallen down to a considerable amount, following the Asian financial crisis. However, the availability of steel scrap has followed a constant increase afterwards.
STEEL SCRAP RESERVE IN ASIA
The data shown here corresponds to the steel scrap reserve in Asian countries- India, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam and Bangladesh.
STAINLESS STEEL SCRAP AVAILABILITY IN UNITED STATES:
STEEL SCRAP RESERVE IN UNITED STATES:
STAINLESS STEEL SCRAP AVAILABILITY IN EUROPE
SCRAP RESERVE IN EUROPE
STEEL SCRAP AVAILABILITY IN JAPAN
STEEL SCRAP RESERVE IN JAPAN:
STAINLESS STEEL SCRAP AVAILABILITY IN CHINA
STEEL SCRAP RESERVE IN CHINA
GLOBAL STEEL SCRAP RESERVE
The representation shows the Global steel scrap reserve. The data till the year 2006 are the actual values. The predictions are made from the year 2006-2015
The increase in demand for steel, in conjunction with the long service life of an average steel product means that for a foreseeable future, attention should be focused in improving the recycling rates inorder to maximize the utilization of all available scrap.
Ships of all types will only have a limited life span and must be ultimately be dismantled with wastes properly disposed of and metals recycled. These scrap ships are huge sources of steel. From the approximate 45,000 ocean going ships, 700 of them are taken out of service every year. 95% of the mass of these retired ships, made of steel could be recovered. Till the early 60s it was believed that ship breaking is a highly mechanized operation that could only be done in industrialized countries like United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Italy. However, today to maximize profits ship owner’s sent their vessels to the scrap yards of India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Vietnam, where health and safety standards are minimal and workers are desperate for work. It is estimated that over 100,000 workers are employed at ship breaking yards worldwide.
Alang, in India, has retained its position as the world’s largest scrapping site for ocean going ships, accounting for an average of 70% of tonnage, and an average of 50% of worldwide demolition sales. Bangladesh retained second position after India in terms of volume of recycling.
Some of the important factors that lured the ship breaking activities towards Asia are that:
Asia is:
• The largest resource of low paid labor.
• Relatively less concerned about environmental and social standards.
• A lucrative local domestic market for steel and other scrap material. For instance, the yards now supply 80-90% of Bangladesh’s steel. In India, it accounts for 15% of the country’s total steel output, at about half the cost of regular furnace-based plants.
• Suitable climate in which ship breaking can take place most of the year, and an infrastructure to transport the scrap to its market place.
• A convenient geographical location: the proximity of the main eastbound trade routes has been an important factor in the development of the South-Asian ship breaking industry.
• Another element to be taken into account is the exchange rate movements, relative to the US dollar and to the currencies of other ship breaking nations.
STEPS INVOVLED IN SHIP BREAKING
The owners of the ship breaking yards are kept abreast of the ships to be sold for scrap by brokers operating from London, Dubai, Singapore and Hamburg. All ships are sold by the ton, at a price ranging from 110 to 150 dollars per ton depending on the market price. As soon as the ship is purchased the clock starts to tick for the owner, who must have it dismantled as fast as possible to recover his investment. So once the ship is bought they sail towards sustainability- to the demolition sites. Once the ship arrives to the demolition site, it is anchored in the waters and the first administrative steps are set in motion. Based on the rules, the ship is checked and is confirmed that it is gas free. Once all the legal formalities are complete, the ship is permitted to enter the territorial waters for bleaching. Vessels are beached by own propulsion power at high tide and during low tide vessels are lying stable on their flat bottom. The ship must be placed in this exact position and above all come to ground as high up on the beach as possible to facilitate dismantling operations. Beaching has a crucial impact on the final cost; the time needed for dismantling can be doubled, if the beaching operation is not successful. This completes the first phase of ship breaking.
During the second phase, cutters and their helpers start cutting the vessel into parts. The breaking operation is undertaken based on the structural design of the vessel. The larger parts are dragged to the dry part of the shore with the help of motorized pulley. A large number of workers are also engaged in this operation. Though the motor does the main job, workers need to help the pulley driver in dragging the part to the dry area of the shore. Another group of cutters, helpers and workers start cutting the dragged parts of the ship into truck-able parts as per order of the purchasers. Heavy equipment like boilers, motors, capstan stocking etc. are carried to stack yards by moving crane. The unskilled workers carry metal plates, metal bars or pipes on their heads or shoulders, start walking in synchronized steps with the rhythm of the singers call up to a definite destination and then pile up metal plates in stack yards or load them on trucks. The supervisors control the group of workers; the on-looker guides them and helps them in pilling up the heavy metal plates in stacks.
Finally, the ship is cut down into different pieces and winched to the shore at high tide and further large portion is cut into suitable pieces on the beach for easier loading and transportations. The valuable components (e.g. small motors and pumps, generator, navigation equipments, life saving equipments, furniture, electrical cables, utensils etc.) are dismantled and sold to second hand market situated on both sides of the Dhaka-Chittagong highway. It is estimated that it takes 5-6 months to dismantle a typical cargo ship.
The interesting fact is that nothing in a demolished ship goes to waste. Even the last drops of oil from the tanker is drained and resold.
THE BRIGHT SIDE
Ship breaking activities hold potential as it creates economic opportunities for thousands of labourers and contribute to the economic growth of regions in need of private sector investment. Practically 100% of the ship is recycled. In this perspective, ship breaking can be claimed to be a sound sustainable industrial activity. Ship demolitions remove large volumes of obsolete tonnage from fleets and recycle many of the materials used in a ship’s construction. Moreover, it is a major employer in the main ship breaking areas
DARKSIDE OF SHIP BREAKING:
Though ship breaking improves national economy and plays an important role in steel recycling, it always poses threats to the ambient environment and working people. It is estimated that an average of one ship breaking worker dies at the yards in Bangladesh every week and every day one worker gets injured. These repots however can’t be seen in the official reports. Ship breaking, however is not risky by itself. Lack of safety facilities and illiteracy of the workers about their health, safety and the dangerous effects of the poisonous chemicals makes this process a risky one. Moreover, accidents are not reported or recorded. It seems that nobody really bothers about the tears of ship breaking workers; they are treated as replaceable instruments for the yard owners. One is lost, so get another to replace him.
A little progress has been made towards installing a better working environment at the ship breaking yards in developing countries. However, ship breaking has to sail a long way to sustainable management before it’s completely safe for both the environment and the workers.
For more: www.recycleinme.com/recyclemag
The first aim of paper recycling is forest preservation. About 90% of paper pulp is made of wood. Recycling of paper certainly reduces the usage of wood. It takes about 17 trees and 1500 liters of oil to produce one tonne of paper. It means that “throwing away of one kg of newspaper every week is equal to one tree a year”.
About 20% of domestic solid waste collected is paper. Like an old saying “They kill good trees to put out bad newspapers”, yes it is, “newspapers are dead trees with information smeared on them”. In a survey it was stated that the count of newspaper readers in India was a whooping 203.6 million! It seems there are 203.6 million murderers of trees in India. Though the statement above may seem to be a joke, it is the fact.
Anyway there's no good substitute for papers. “We'll never know the worth of water till the well is dry”. So it's very much important to conserve the trees also. And both the need for forest conservation and requirement of papers can be satisfied only by recycling.
There was an interesting question in news. The question is, if recycling paper can solve these problems, who is going to be the one that does it? The answer is simple enough; just hold up a mirror in front of your face. That is the person in charge of recycling in your household.
The main benefit is forest preservation. Recycling about 1 tonne of copier paper about saves 2 tonnes of wood. Also it has been estimated that recycling half the world's paper would avoid the harvesting of 20 million acres of forest land.
The second aspect is reduction of energy consumption. The requirement of electricity will be greatly reduced by the practice of paper recycling.
Third is the landfill use. About 35% of municipal solid waste (before recycling) by weight is paper and paper products. In a report it was highlighted that recycling 1 tonne of newspaper eliminates 3 cubic meters of landfill.
Finally recycling paper reduces water and air pollution by 35% and 75% respectively.
“If civilization has risen from the Stone Age, it can rise again from the Scrap paper Age”. Recycling of papers provides many job opportunities and a lot of people can make a living out of it. The only thing that cannot be recycled is wasted time. So let's be a part of this paper recycling and save our time and environment because, as Joyce Kilmer said “Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree”. And we are not environmentalists, but “EARTH WARRIORS”.
About the Author:
More information on paper recycling can be found at www.recycleinme.com . You can also find scrap paper exporters and importers there.
In this short passage, we will guide you through the steps in making a key out of steel to open the doors to waste reduction and we'd explain the importance of steel in making the key! Don't get confused. To know more about what we are about to say, just keep reading
Steel use is dominated by the automobile, household appliance and construction industries. There is hardly any product that people use that does not contain steel included or not made of steel. Among all other steel based products automobiles are highly recycled nowadays. Cars now are simply valuable to be left to get rusted and vanish.
Steel is also mined from an ore. Iron ore stripped from a blast furnace can be used for steel production. Let's make it simple. Here is an example to show the extend of steel being used. “Each household uses approximately 600 cans per year”. Anyway all these cans will be scrapped after use. It is reported that only 70% percentage of scrap steel is recovered and the remaining 30% is landfilled.
Recycling of one tonne scrap steel saves 80% of CO2 emissions. Recycling 7 steel cans saves enough energy to power a 60 watt bulb for 26 hours. Steel cans contain 25% of recycled content and are completely recyclable. Virtually every car that has been driven on road can be recycled if wasted. Or, else they could cause a traffic jam circling the Earth more than one three quarter times. When the steel in just six cars are recycled we can get enough steel to build a new house. And the very important fact about steel is that we cannot make new steel without recycled steel.
About 75 percentages of all major appliances are made of steel. So is the scrap produced also and all the steel scrap is recyclable. And the main property of steel recycling is, steel never looses its strength. Major part of industrial waste produced is steel. They can be absolutely recycling into new steel and the waste can be reduced.
So we hope everyone understood how to make a key to waste reduction using steel. All we need is to recycle the scrap steel. The importance of making this key is to reduce wastage, to reduce the dependence of natural resources, reduction in pollution and the reduction in energy required and the main thing is to fulfill the demand of steel without depleting the natural resources. So let’s all hold “the key”.
About the Author:
You can find thousands of offers to buy and sell scrap metal and scrap metal dealers at www.recycleinme.com .
The best way of learning things is, trying them by ourselves. Starting a a paper recycling process is the simplest among the other scrap recycling processes . For example there is a paper recycling plant in India by the name TARA (Technology And Rural Advancement) where certain schools have installed their paper recycling plant and using it extensively. It’s clear now how simple paper recycling is. So if they can do it, there is no reason that we can’t do it.
Paper recycling in a small scale will be easy. What about the process if it’s done as a business? Simple, everyone can earn a respectable income by collecting and selling paper to the recycling plants. And as everyone knows this does not require any specialized skills or great technical education.
“A man willing to work, and unable to find work, is perhaps the saddest sight” is an old saying. But things have changed a lot nowadays. Anyone willing to work (educated or not) can get into the process of paper recycling. Believe it or not there are certain paper recyclers making more than $100,000 per annum. It’s hard to believe, but that’s true.
“A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business”. But in case of the paper recycling industry, people can earn money for their livelihood and also it provides them an opportunity to preserve the environment. Sounds great!
So what will be the investment requirements to start a recycling plant and are they affordable? Definitely the answer is yes. The following are the requirements to start an own paper recycling plant. First of all the source is very important. But in case of paper that is not a problem at all. As we all know we live in a paper world. Second thing is collection of the material. The collection mode depends upon the scale of the business establishment we plan to begin. Large scale plants will need trucks and pickup vans. Small scale plants can hire people for collection. The main concern is the plan of transportation. An improper route of operation of collection can affect the business adversely. Then comes the requirement of land. It also depends upon the recycling plant. Finally the machinery. There are a lot of machinery suppliers for this process in the Country itself. And the important requirement of any industry is publicity. “The Internet is the world's largest library. It's just that all the books are on the floor”. So effective advertising can be done on the internet. Anyway don't waste time learning the "tricks of the trade." Instead, learn the trade.
The process of paper recycling is a ten step process as below:
Adding water and applying mechanical action to separate fibers from each other.(PULPING)
Using screens, with either slots or holes, to remove contaminants that are larger than pulp fibers.(SCREENING)
Spinning the pulp slurry in a cleaner causes materials that are more dense than pulp fibers to move outward and be rejected.(CENTRIFUGAL CLEANING)
Passing air bubbles through the pulp slurry, with a surfactant present, causes ink particles to collect with the foam on the surface. By removing contaminated foam, pulp is made brighter. This step is sometimes called deinking.(FLOATATION)
Mechanical action is applied to fragment contaminant particles.(DISPERSION)
Small particles are removed by passing water through the pulp. (WASHING)
If white paper is desired, bleaching uses peroxides or hydrosulfites to remove color from the pulp.
The clean (and/or bleached) fiber is made into a "new" paper product in the same way that virgin paper is made.(PAPER MAKING)
Process water is cleaned for reuse. (DISSOLVED AIR FLOATATION)
The unusable material left over, mainly ink, plastics, filler and short fibers, is called sludge. The sludge is buried in a landfill, burned to create energy at the paper mill or used as a fertilizer by local farmers. (WATER DISPOSAL)
BOTTOM LINE:
Improvement usually means doing something that we have never done before. So why waiting for someone to start the business first? Paper recycling needs very low investment and many people also get benefited by getting employments. The main thing in this industry is publicity and exposure to the industry. The are lot of websites that provide promotion and bundles of information regarding this field. Like the saying “National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway”, certain websites like www.recycleinme.com provide lot of information about the recycling industry, provide trends in international market and also they provide lot of support to improve the firm. Still do you think all these are impossible? Then it’s like “THE IMPOSSIBLE IS OFTEN THE UNTRIED”.
About the Author:
More information on paper recycling can be found at www.recycleinme.com. You can also find scrap paper exporters and importers there.
Indian plastic industry is in the path of an impressive growth now. So what is the position of India in global plastic recycling market? When compared to the usage of steel and aluminum, the usage of plastics is more on volume basis. But India was the last in consumption of plastics among America, Europe and China. However this comparison was done by the year 2003. So what is the current position of India in global plastic market and what will be its future?
Indian economy and plastic industry:
In the year 2000, India was 10th in plastic consumption. But owing to the growth through 2000-2008, it’s expected India to be the 3rd largest consumer of plastics by 2010. Obviously by this great leap in this industry the total contribution of plastic industry to Indian economy will also jump to 44Bn USD by 2010.
Employment in plastic recycling industry:
In a report, it was stated like “plastic recycling system can turn a menace into employment opportunity for millions”. When compared to a plastic manufacturing firm, a plastic recycling firm can employ approx 7 times more people. As well as India is a concerned, Indians require more employment opportunities also. As the plastic recycling also contributes a good will to the environment, this industry definitely has a great future.
Processing units in India:
There are over 22,000 plastic processing units and over 150 plastic processing machinery manufactures in India. The machinery units supply over 2500 machineries per annum. There are some associations like All India Plastic Industries Association which was incorporated in 1982 to solve various issues in Import duty of polymers etc. And also the first international trade exhibition named PLASTEC-2008 is to be held at Chennai, the gateway of Tamilnadu to benefit plastic manufacturing industries in the south.
Sources of plastic waste (Scrap plastic):
It was estimated that India generates 5600 tones of plastic waste daily. The two main sources of scrap plastic in India as classified into two categories namely consumer waste and industrial waste. The consumer wastes include the wastes household waste, hospital waste and street waste. And as the name indicates, industrial waste includes all the waste plastic from industries. Plastic waste demands the highest cost in the recycled market i.e.12-15 INR per kg. In the year 2002 around 2 million tones of plastic waste was collected countrywide.
Environmental factors:
Considering the damage created by the plastics to the environment, the government tries to ban the usage of plastics in the country. But thousands of families in India make there living out of the money earned through plastic waste recycling. Any such total ban in this sector will also adversely affect the countries economy negatively.
Conclusion:
So what should we ignore? Is that the environmental factors or the economic growth of the country and Poor’s livelihood? As both of them are equally important we should find an answer for this menace. In the attempt to clean up one segment should not result in “throwing the baby out of the window along with the bath water”. As India has a great resource of man power and technology, plastic recycling can be developed more and the environmental bugs can be fixed. As an old saying, “give me a rock, I will turn it to a masterpiece”, these waste plastics can be processed and reused. That will provide a lot of employment and also contributes a lot to economy, the two main aspects that India needs today.
About the Author:
More information on recycled plastics and plastic scrap can be found at www.recycleinme.com
I remember those good old days, when the air was clean to breathe, water was clear to drink and the land was full of fresh green vegetation to have healthy food. However a lot of environmental problems now affect the entire world. I am even unable to breath due to this pollute air. Today to drink some fresh water, it has to be purified using several methods. We can find fresh green vegetables no more.
According to me, of the various kinds of problems faced by our planet, the depletion of non-renewable natural resources is the major concern. The increased demands of Aluminium nowadays claim more energy and mineral resources. However, based on my experiences, every problem will have its causes, effects and most importantly a solution. In the case of depletion of natural resources, the unique solution is to “Recycle.” The usage of recycled metal saves both energy and mineral resources needed for primary production.
The well known fact about aluminium is that anything made of Aluminium could be recycled for ‘n’ number of times and can be reused. Moreover the atomic structure of the same never changes, no matter the number of times it has been recycled. Moreover, recycling one kilogram of aluminium can save up to 8 kilograms of bauxite, four kilograms of chemical products and 14 kilowatt hours of electricity. It is the good news regarding the increased usage of Aluminium. The only thing is, we have use recycled Aluminium .
Aluminium scrap is collected and recycled everywhere in the World. Recycling of Aluminium plays a key role in Europe, North America and Japan. By the year 2020, the metal demand is projected to shoot up to 70 million tonnes. The challenge for the metal Industry is to satisfy the ever increasing demand for Aluminium, at the same time reducing any negative impacts to the environment. Recycling of Aluminium is the best way to meet the emerging Industrial needs and to eliminate environmental risks and conserve energy. Also, recycling aluminum creates 97% less water pollution than producing new metal from ore.
We will never know the worth of water until the well is dry. It is high time to act to stop the depletion of non-renewable natural resources and conserve non-renewable energy sources. So recycle and reuse whatever it is possible to do so and save the grinning Planet.
“Good Planets are hard to find, don’t blow it”-Quoted in time.
About the Author:
Join the recycling community at the online scrap marketplace www.recycleinme.com . Recycle, Reduce and Reuse
Let us start with the life cycle of aluminium can. Metals don't have life anyway. To make this passage interesting, let's assume that metals are living things
Here in a processing unit, an aluminium-can is born. Meanwhile let me tell you a fun fact, every 3 seconds, a human baby is born, in mean time 140 cans are born! Alright here a new born aluminium can goes to the self of a beverage store and ready to be sold. Someone purchases the beverage, enjoys it, and the empty aluminium can is thrown in a recycle bin. This scrap aluminium can is easily separated from other scrap and are taken for the recycling process. There he is melted in a furnace, rolled into sheets in mills and then new beverage can is made.
However this recycling process completes within 60 days. So after 60 days, the old dead beverage can gets a rebirth. He is back on the self again for business, yelling “I am back.” Yes the fact is aluminium never wears out, it can be recycled forever. “Aluminium never dies!” And the important fact about aluminium is that it never looses its properties. So a scrap aluminium-can becomes a new one in 60 days, it’s “can to can in 60 days”
Though this story is imaginary, the facts told about aluminium are true. That is, the scrap aluminium-can can be recycled within 60 days and reused as a new can without any loss in the metal properties. And aluminium can be recycled for many number of times. So if anyone sees an aluminium-can lying in roadside, it is not just a waste, but it is a living aluminium-can crying that “I am still alive”. So “SAVE THEM!”
THE RECYCLING PROCESS
The recycling of Aluminium can is a simple four stage process.
1. Shredding- Aluminium cans which arrive in bales are shredded into pieces to the size of a walnut in a shredder. The shredded pieces are then passed to a magnetic separator to remove the impurities.
2. Decoating- Decoating is done to maximize energy efficiency. Lacquer from the branded and decorated cans is removed by blowing hot air (around 500ºC) through the shreds in a decoater, on a slowly-moving insulated conveyor.
3. Melting- The hot, shredded, decoated aluminium is fed into the furnaces and melted. The furnaces have state of the art regenerative burners and a burner management system to reduce the amount of energy used.
4. Casting- Ingots are cast by tilting the holding furnace and pouring the molten metal- via a two-stage process to remove any remaining minute non-metallic particles and gases - into a vertical casting unit. Chemical composition and metal cleanliness are then tested on each cast. As the metal flows into the mould, it is chilled by jets of cool water being pumped around the mould, and a solidified outer shell is formed. The ingot solidifies gradually during the casting process, which takes approximately three hours. The ingots, which each contain around 1.6m used drinks cans, are then shipped on to a mill for rolling into the sheet from which can makers subsequently produce new cans.
Aluminum cans distinguish them as the most recycled and most recyclable beverage container in the world. An awesome 105,784 cans are recycled every minute nationwide.
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More information on aluminium scrap can be found at www.recycleinme.com . You can also find daily aluminium prices and charts at the fast growing scrap portal.
As a country move towards prosperity, and growth in every aspect, the need of resources will definitely increase. So is the need of metals. The demand of metal in turn increases the consumption of natural resources.
We all know that most of the natural resources used in production are non-renewable. If we do not control the usage, they will not be available for the future use. In a report by the TATA steel company, it was told that the consumption of steel is much more than the consumption of food! Sounds funny? However that is true.
For 200 years we have been conquering Nature, now we are beating it to death. If the need for natural resources is not controlled now, all the resources will be depleted in a short span of time. And let's understand that when soil disappears, soul disappears. The four basic ways to control this demand are:
* Innovations in technologies of processing
* Finding a substitute for one resource that is scarce.
* Technologies to recycle metal scrap
* Researches in product design that will use fewer resources than before.
Of these four solutions, recycling is found very much effective. The reason being, recycling reduces the usage of resources and energy. This reduces the environmental, social, and the economic cost of manufacturing.
These scrap metals behave as the secondary raw materials. Because materials like aluminium can be recycled indefinitely as there is no change to the original materials. These recycled materials are purer than the actual ones.
Recycling is slightly more complicated than just collecting a bin full of empty cans and old newspapers to keep them out of the waste stream. There are certain rules laid by the Government. It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment. Just joking! Nevertheless the order to all of us by the environment is that
• Reduce.
• Reuse.
• Recycle.
We all know that there is no use of running fast in a wrong path. All of us can agree that the economic growth in the country is extremely fast. However the geophysical scarcity will retard or even stop the economic growth in future. So a substitute for the usage of raw materials is essential. Definitely recycled scrap metal could be used as a secondary source of raw material. If we take care of the earth and she will take care of us!
So "TAKE CARE."
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Find offers to buy and sell scrap metal and scrap metal dealers at the fast growing online marketplace for scrap, www.recycleinme.com
By the year 2020, the Aluminium demand is projected to get increased to 70 million tonnes, with over 30 million tonnes obtained from recycled scrap. Recycling Aluminium that is currently in use as cars, commercial vehicles, ships, airplanes etc would equal up to 18 years of primary Aluminium output. The amount of Aluminium produced from old scrap has been growing from 1.4 million tonnes in 1980 to a whooping 6.8 million tonnes in 2004. The transport sector has been the most important resource of recycled Aluminium. Today recycled Aluminium is produced from 44% transport, 28% packaging, 10% engineering and cables and only a mere 7% from building applications due to its long use phase. Shown in the fig is a graphical representation of Aluminium scrap sources .
However, Aluminium recycling will undergo major changes through the next decade. Buildings that contributes only 7% of aluminium scrap now; will represent up to 33%, recycled aluminium from transport will fall down to 32%. The schematic representation of the forecast is shown in the fig.
The growing markets for Aluminium are supplied by both primary and recycled metal sources. The increase in demand for Aluminium and long life time of the products mean that the overall volume of primary metal will continue to be noticeably greater than the volume of recycled metal.
It will be clear from the representation that the volume of primary metal will continue to be much more than recycled Aluminium if recycling rate is not increased.
GLOBAL ENERGY SAVINGS DUE TO ALUMINIUM RECYCLING
Recycling Aluminium saves up to 95% of energy required for primary Aluminium productions thereby avoiding harmful emissions including green house gases. Improving overall recycling rate of Aluminium is very much essential for sustainable development. Today, recycling of Aluminium scrap saves up to 80 million tonnes of green house emissions per year, which is equivalent to the emission of 15 million cars. The reduction in Co2 emissions in future by the End-life Aluminium recycling is predicted and shown below.
The objective of the Aluminium industry for 2020 or beyond is to reduce the green house emissions, conserve less energy and avoid dependence on natural resources; with the help of recycling. All the energy inefficient materials used today will be replaced by Aluminium (especially transport applications). And so the demand for the same will shoot up. Inorder to eliminate the energy losses during the production of Aluminium due to this increased demand, recycling of Aluminium scrap has to be followed from now!
About the Author:
More information on aluminium scrap can be found at www.recycleinme.com . You can also find daily aluminium prices and charts at recycleinME.
The hot topic today, in the world of Aluminium recycling is Airplane 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 major concern today is the disposal of these scarp aircrafts. Some of these old aircrafts are used for ground training purposes, while some of them are left to rot next to the runways. In an effort to address this problem many organizations have started environment friendly recycling programs. 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.
HUGE SOURCE OF ALUMINIUM
For decades, thousands of obsolete private, civil, and military aircraft have been lying in “graveyards,” while the demand for recycled aluminum continues to increase. The aircrafts provide an absolute source of the valuable metal, ‘Aluminium.’ 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.
CHALLENGES IN ACHIEVING COST EFFECTIVE AIRCRAFT RECYCLING
The principal challenge that must be dealt with in creating this ideal aircraft recycling scenario includes the following:
a. Identifying decision options for dismantling aircraft to simplify recycling;
b. Identifying and optimizing technologies for automated shredding, sorting, and re-melting.
c. Identifying the range of representative compositions likely to be obtained from recycling aircraft components.
d. Identifying the combination of performance requirements and compositions that would make useful aircraft components from recycled metal, even though they may not achieve the highest achievable levels of toughness;
e. Identifying useful byproducts to handle elemental residual unable to be used in recycled metal.
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.
www.recycleinme.com helps members to buy and sell scrap at very competitive rates. You can find aircraft scrap dealers and aircraft aluminium scrap importers there.