"Collecting recyclables is fairly simple. There are many options on what materials are collected, how they are collected, how often to collect, etc. The real dilemma comes after you have collected the recyclables. How often do you process these materials, if you process them at all, and to whom do you sell them? How much revenue can you expect and what will be the expenses?"
"The answers to all of these questions begin with finding the right 'market' for your recyclables. That may be as simple as giving all your materials to a local processor (you will still save on trash collection costs and disposal fees), or processing the materials yourself and selling those materials to a recovered materials buyer or broker."
(The preceding information is from the Midwest Assistance Program publication Missouri Directory of Markets for Recovered Materials.)
Assistance on recycling, composting, setting up a community drop-off site, establishing a curbside recycling program or scheduling a program for your school, community organization or business can be obtained from the Region F Solid Waste Management District. Other assistance is available from the Solid Waste Management Program of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the Midwest Assistance Program, and other sources throughout the state and nation.
Interesting Recycling Facts
(from the William Paterson University website)
Most cereal boxes, aluminum and steel cans and glass bottles have some recycled content.
Anything made from steel in the US has a minimum 25% recycled content.
Nine jobs are created for every 15,000 tons recycled, according to an estimate by the Washington-based Institute for Local Self-Reliance.
Every hour, we throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles.
Making paper from recycled material uses 30 to 55 percent less energy than making paper from trees and reduces the air pollution involved in the paper-making process by 95 percent.
Each Sunday, 500,000 trees are made into newspapers that aren’t recycled.
Every three months, we throw away enough aluminum cans to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet.
Making aluminum from recycled material uses 90 to 95 percent less energy than making aluminum from bauxite ore.
Recycling a glass bottle saves enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for 4 hours.
If Americans recycle their phone books for a year, an estimated 650,000 tons of paper could be saved.
If you’re an average American, it’s going to take 465 trees to provide you with a lifetime of paper.
Americans throw away the equivalent of more than 30 million trees in newsprint each year.
Americans discard 4 million tons of office paper every year. That’s enough to build a 12 foot- high wall of paper from New York to California.
Recycling one stack of newspapers about 6 feet tall saves the life of one tree 35 feet tall.
Recycling approximately 1 ton saves 17 trees.
The junk mail Americans receive every day could produce enough energy to heat 250,000 homes for 1 day.
Recycling office waste paper saves valuable landfill space.
Recycling fosters good will among employees and community.
Recycling half the world’s paper would free 20 million acres of forest land.
Throwing away an aluminum beverage container wastes as much energy as pouring out the same sized can half-filled with gasoline. Failing to recycle a daily edition of the
Washington Post or London Times wastes just as much energy.
Aluminum Recycling
Aluminum is produced from Bauxite, a clay-like ore which is the most common element in the earth’s crust. It takes 4 tons of ore to produce 1 ton of aluminum. Ninety five Percent (95%) of the energy necessary to turn bauxite ore into metal is SAVED when new metal is made from recycled aluminum instead of from raw materials. Recycling aluminum not only saves energy, it conserves raw materials and reduces the need for power plants and foreign energy.
The recycling of one aluminum can saves enough energy to keep a 100 watt bulb burning for 3 ½ hours. By recycling more than 1.6 billion pounds of used cans in 1989, the aluminum industry saved enough energy to meet the residential electric needs of a city the size of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for about six years. More than 12 billion kilowatt hours of electricity were saved in 1995. That’s the energy equivalent to some 20 million barrels of oil.
In 1970, six aluminum beverage cans were recycled for each person in the United States. In 1986, 138 cans were recycled for each person in the United States, an increase of 2300 percent. In 1989 about 61% of the aluminum cans produced - over 49 billion cans- were recycled, and in 1994, Americans recycled 64.7 billion aluminum cans. Since 1972, recycling has diverted more than 14 million tons of aluminum cans from landfills. These 660.1 billion beverage cans, placed end-to-end, could stretch to the moon some 290 times.
The aluminum can is 100% recyclable. It can be recycled and reused over and over again in a never-ending process of resource and energy conservation. Used aluminum cans are often recycled and back on store shelves in the form of new beverage containers in as little as 90 days.
Computers/Electronics Recycling
Interesting Computer Facts:
| Half of all Americans own a personal computer
The average lifespan of a PC is just 2 years 500 million PCs will become obsolete between 1997 and 2007 This year alone, 63.3 million PCs will become obsolete For every nine PCs made this year, only one will be recycled 75% of obsolete computers are sitting in storage A computer monitor contains an average of four pounds of lead E-Waste is responsible for 70% of all heavy metals found in U.S. landfills More than half of computer waste collected is exported to countries such as China where workers often are exposed to toxins and where waste is mishandled |
Glass Recycling
Because using recycled glass reduces energy consumption, raw materials use, and wear and tear on machinery, ensuring a steady supply of recycled glass, or cullet, has become crucial to the industry's success.
Recycled glass is called cullet. Glass container manufacturers recycle cullet, combined with soda ash, limestone and sand, to create "new" glass. It's important to know what kind of glass the industry needs. Cullet should meet four criteria:
| Cullet must be separated by color
Cullet must be contaminant free Cullet must meet market specifications Cullet must be container glass |
Approximately 41 billion glass containers are produced in the United States each year. Since glass does not degrade, a bottle that is thrown in the landfill today may still be around in the year 3000.
Glass containers represent approximately 5% of the municipal solid waste by weight and 1.5% by volume. One of the best characteristics of glass is that it features "closed loop" recycling. Every glass bottle and jar can be crushed, melted and molded into a new container over and over again, making it 100% recyclable. There are no waste by-products.
Recycling 1 glass bottle saves enough energy to light a 100 watt bulb for 4 hours. Each ton of glass that is recycled saves the equivalent of 9 gallons of fuel oil. Using "cullet" (broken or recycled glass) to make glass containers allows producers to run their furnaces at lower temperatures, thereby reducing energy input and atmospheric emissions.
According to the Glass Packaging Institute, each glass container produced in the United States contains on average, 30% recycled glass.
Glass that cannot be recycled includes mirrors, window glass, ceramic cups and plates, clay flower pots, crystal, light bulbs, drinking glasses and heat resistant ovenware.
Paper Recycling
Paper and paper items are the most common materials in our trash and make up over 40% of our national waste stream. Most of this paper winds up in landfills and incinerators, but could easily be recycled.
Because Americans use so much paper - 67,000,000 tons each year or 600 pounds per person - it is important to understand how much of our energy and natural resources are conserved through recycling. Industries estimate that over 200 million trees are saved each year through recycling efforts.
It requires 17 trees to make one ton of virgin paper. 17 trees represent 3 2/3 acres of forest. By recycling one ton of paper, we save 17 trees, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 2 barrels of oil, 7,000 gallons of water and 4,100 kilowatt hours of electricity - enough energy to power the average American home for 5 months. The recycling process saves 62% of the energy required to make paper out of trees.
The average person generates 100 pounds of NEWSPRINT per year. One tree, approximately 30 feet tall, is required to make a three foot stack of newspapers, which weighs 100 pounds. It takes more than 500,000 trees to produce the newspaper Americans read each Sunday, yet only 30% of all newspapers are recycled.
Plastic Recycling
Plastic containers, packaging and wraps account for about 8% of the volume of solid waste in landfills, but because of their bulkiness, plastics take up to 20 to 30 % of landfill space. Plastic packaging comprises 25% of the plastics produced each year and over 50% of the plastics found in municipal waste.
Because products are packaged in various types of plastics, these plastics need to be easily identified for sorting and processing purposes before they can be recycled. The Plastic Bottle Industry has designed a national voluntary coding system for the most common plastics (which range from 1 to 7) can be found on the bottoms of the containers.
codes are:
| terephthalate (PET) | bottles | |
| Density Polyethylene (HDPE) | Jugs | |
| Chloride (PVC) | siding, pipes | |
| Density Polyethylene (LDPE) | bags | |
| (PP) | containers | |
| (PS) | ||
| combination of any of the above |
At this time, most recyclers collect code #1 ( PET polyethyleneterephthalate) and code #2 (HDPE high-density polyethylene). PET #1 are clear beverage bottles such as plastic soda bottles. HDPE #2 are milk bottles, liquid detergent and shampoo bottles, and bottled water. These are clearly marked on the containers with the number inside the recycling symbol.
TIRE RECYCLING
An environment free of waste tires is important to the public health of all Missouri citizens. Waste tires harbor mosquitoes, snakes and other vermin. West Nile Virus, transmitted by mosquitoes, is a serious health threat. The removal of waste tires in Missouri is a priority for the Solid Waste Management Program’s Waste Tire Unit. Missouri citizens generate approximately five million waste tires annually.
By 1990 illegal tire piles in Missouri had become so widespread that the State Legislature passed Senate Bill 530. This legislation allowed waste tires to be regulated as a significant part of the waste generated in this state and established the waste tire fee. All waste tire activities are done with the revenue received from the 50-cent fee on purchases of new tires. This fee was extended once in 1999 and will expire in January 2004 unless it is extended by the legislature.
White Goods/Appliances*
White goods (major appliances such as refrigerators, washers and dryers that are part of the ferrous scrap stream) were recycled at a very high rate throughout the 20th century. The Major Appliance Resource Management Alliance, MARMA, estimates that 60 million new appliances were sold in the U. S. in 2000. During that year approximately 41 million appliances were discarded and about 35 million (85%) were recycled.
The State of Missouri had experienced similar recycling success. Missouri's major solid waste management legislation, known as Senate Bill 530, banned white goods from disposal in landfills because they were so easily recycled. The scrap value of major appliances was high enough to sustain a cottage industry of collectors. These collectors picked up and delivered white goods to scrap yards in both rural and urban locals earning a modest income for their work. However, over the past few years the recycling of white goods has become less and less profitable. In fact the disposal/recycling value of many appliances has gone from a positive to a negative value.
*Information taken from The Study of White Goods Recycling and Disposal in Missouri prepared by the Midwest Assistance Program, Inc. in June of 2003.
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