RECYCLING AS WASTE REDUCTION,TREND AND PROSPECTS

RECYCLING AS MEANS OF WASTE REDUCTION, TRENDS
AND PERSPECTIVE:
Waste has been a major environmental issue everywhere since industrial revolution. Besides
the waste created at home, school and other public places, there are also those from hospitals,
industries, farms and other sources.
Human rely so much on material things in the environment and they all end up as waste.
Where does the waste end up? This is question that creates a need for reduction, reuse, and
recover all gearing towards recycling of waste material
What is waste (Trash, Garbage, Rubbish, and Refuse)
Wastes are items we (individual, hospitals, industries, offices, schools) do not need and
discard away. Sometimes, there are things we have that the law requires us to discard because
they can be harmful.
Everyone creates waste although some people are very environmentally conscious and create
very little. Likewise, some countries do a very good job creating less waste and managing
rest; others are pretty horrible and have created huge environmental problems for the people
and animals living there.
All over the world, communities handle their waste or trash differently. Some common
methods of managing their waste include Landfilling, Recycling and Composting. Other
communities embark on waste reduction and little prevention or control around at reducing
the production of waste in the first place, some also engage in waste-to-energy plant and
hazard waste disposal programmed.
What are waste managements?
The concepts of waste management involve the collection, removal, processing and disposal
of materials considered as waste. Waste materials can be solid, gaseous, liquid or even
hazardous and are generally generated through human activities.
Develop nations have dealt with their waste by sending it to landfills or burning it in
incinerators which comes with some significant environmental problems.
Wikipedia defined waste management as the generation, prevention, characterization, method
of treatment, handling, reuse and residual disposition of solid wastes.
What is recycling?
Recycling is the process of taking up of old materials and waste products and using them to
make another product to complete the cycle instead of just throwing them away. Much of the
products used for packaging today like paper, plastic, glass, metal, electronics, aluminum
cans are already recycled. In other words, recycling of old products could produce fresh
supply of new same products
Recycling is good for the environment, in the sense; we are using old and waste products
which are of no use and then converting them back to same new products. Since we are

saving resources and are sending less trash to the landfills, it helps in reducing air and water
pollution.
Energy consumption is also reduced by recycling since less energy is required to make a new
make a new glass bottle from a recycled one because it melts at a lower temperature than the
raw materials.
Basically, Recycling serves two purposes: First, it avoid landfills and helps in reducing air
and water pollution and secondly, valuable material like aluminum cans and plastic and glass
are reused in other forms and not wasted.
Recycling starts from home itself. When you are using an old product to something new, you
are actually doing recycling. For e.g.: when you use plastic milk or juice bottles into
magazine holders. At larger level, old consumer goods are collected and processed to make
new fresh products out of them. Paper, plastic, glass, aluminum cans are examples of some
products that are recycled in large quantities.
Steps in Recycling
There are 3 factors which we needs to consider while thinking about how recycling – Reduce,
Reuse and Recycle. You can reduce the amount of waste by just selecting those products
which do minimal waste.
Reduce. "Reduce" means using fewer resources in the first place. This is the most effective of
the three R's and the place to begin. It is also, I think, the hardest because it requires letting go
of some very American notions, including: the bigger the better, new trumps old and
convenience is next to godliness.
But you don't need to let go completely or all at once. "Reduce" is a comparative word. It
says: cut back from where you are now.When you shop, shop differently. Look for things that
will last -- things that are not just durable and well-made, but useful and beautiful enough to
please you for a long time. The extra money you spend on their acquisition will be offset by
the money you do not spend replacing them.
Don't chase the latest fashions. They will age the fastest.With electronics, extravagance may
pay. A super-charged computer will still run the software that comes out two years from now,
and a large monitor will accommodate the ever wider webpages that companies will be
building then. Similarly, a cell phone with a full text keypad (or the iPhone) will see you
through the text-messaging era that is upon us.
When you make a purchase, find out how to keep the item in shape. Then, maintain it
accordingly and repair it when necessary.
In addition, try these ways of reducing your use (and abuse) of resources: Buy products made
from post-consumer recycled materials, especially paper and bathroom tissue.
Choose electronics and appliances that are energy-efficient, also for cars, which you can also
share. Buy stuff made close to home. Less energy was used transporting them to the store.
Buy used. Craigslist and eBay make it easy. Avoid goods made with materials whose
extraction or processing is especially destructive, such as tropical woods and most gold
jewelry. Avoid overly packaged goods. The packaging is a total throw- away. Avoid things

made with toxic materials, such as most household cleansers. Cut back on water use at home.
Waste less energy on lights and equipment. Eat less meat.
Reuse before you recycle or dispose of anything, consider whether it has life left in it. A jam
jar can store leftovers. Food scraps can become compost. An old shirt can become a pajama
top. An opened envelope can become a shopping list. A magazine can be shared. DVDs can
be traded. A dishwasher can be repaired. A computer can be upgraded. A car can be resold. A
cell phone can be donated. Returnable bottles can be, well... returned.
Reusing keeps new resources from being used for a while longer, and old resources from
entering the waste stream. It's as important as it is unglamorous. Think about how you can do
it more.
Reuse involves using the items in the other way rather than discarding them.
With this we can certainly increase the life time of that item and also it doesn’t require any
special skills or knowledge to reuse those items. It also costs less than purchasing the new
product. We can reuse aluminum foils, old magazines, newspapers, old clothes, jars,
envelopes, containers. We can also use rechargeable batteries rather than single-use batteries.
Eat food in steel plates instead of disposable plates.
Recycling is the "R" that has caught on the best. Partly, this is because there are so many
curbside recycling programs today (8,660 as of 2006, according to the EPA), which makes
recycling so darned easy. What keep it from being a total piece of cake is the rules. Every
municipality has its own, and they are not always as straightforward as they could be.
Recycle involves use of the old products in homes or offices for further purposes when you
have tried reduce and reuse. Look out for different easy for recycling paper, plastic, metal and
glass. Buy products that can be easily recycled. Purchase items that are environment friendly
For example, towns are usually particular about the plastics they accept for recycling. Most
only take packaging made from #1 (PET or PETE) and #2 (HDPE) resins. You need to look
at the bottom of the package for the chasing arrow symbol and check that the number is right.
Some towns are even more restrictive. New York City, for instance, accepts #2 containers
with necks, but not wide mouths because the two are formed differently and have different
melting points. The wrong kind of plastic can "contaminate" the whole batch, rendering it
garbage as far as the company with the recycling contract is concerned.
So though it's a pain, try to learn what the recycling rules are in your own community and
follow them whether they make obvious sense or not. It's the easiest way to do your part.
Choose products that can be easily recycled, can be used productively and have minimum
packaging. Carry handmade bags instead of plastic bags.
Search for the products that are more environments friendly. Give away old items which are
not in use or which cannot be recycled to poor people. Instead of paper mail subscribe to E-
paper.
and avoid buying hazardous material. Encourage your friends and family to get involved in
recycling.

History of Recycling
Recycling may be a modern concept today but recycling projects throughout history were
driven by basic needs, supply and demand. Earlier it wasn’t easy to make goods cheaper and
easier so the concept of recycling virtually started from that time.
However, large scale recycling started few decades ago. Another motive behind recycling
was creating new jobs.
Not all the projects were laid down by the government but there were small companies who
tied up with the government and provided job opportunities to the much. Recycling actually
started in Great Britain but was adopted on much wider scale by America in the late 1930’s.
Due to economic recession recycling became the necessity for the people.
In the 1940s, goods such as nylon, rubber and many metals were rationed and recycled to
help support the war effort. In early 1970’s environmental problems and rising energy costs
forced people for more recycling. Though recycling suffered earlier but its acceptance has
increased year after year.
Importance of Recycling
Recycling is important in today’s world if we want to leave this planet for our future
generations. It is good for the environment, since we are making new products from the old
products which are of no use to us. Recycling begins at home. If you are not throwing away
any of your old product and instead utilizing it for something new then you are actually
recycling. When you think of recycling you should really think about the whole idea; reduce,
reuse and recycle. We’ve been careless up to this point with the way we’ve treated the Earth
and it’s time to change; not just the way we do things but the way we think.
We should recycle because:
• To Make Environment Clean
• Conservation of Materials
• To Save Energy
• Reduce Garbage in Landfills
Recycling is good for the environment, in the sense, we are using old and waste products
which are of no use and then converting them back to same new products. Since we are
saving resources and are sending less trash to the landfills, it helps in reducing air and water
pollution.
Energy saving is important if we are to reduce the future effects of global warming. If we
recycle one aluminum can, we are able to save enough energy to run a TV for around 3 hours.
This will obviously depend on the energy consumption of your TV, but it gives you a great
idea as to just how much energy can be saved during the process of recycling products.
It is believed that (the U.S.) cut approximately 40 million newspapers each day, leading to the
equivalent of about half a million trees ending in landfills every week.

We’ve been careless up to this point with the way we’ve treated the Earth and it’s time to
change; not just the way we do things but the way we think. Paper, plastic, glass, aluminum
cans are examples of some products that are recycled in large quantities.
When you think of recycling you should really think about the whole idea; reduce, reuse and
recycle. Think about it; if you don’t need it, don’t get it. If you have to get it, get something
that can be used again and if you get something that needs to be recycled by the
professionals, put it in the recycle bin. Conservation is an important part of recycling issue.
When you produce less garbage it helps in reducing the landfills and also helps in giving the
land back to the nature.
Recycling serve 2 purpose: First, it avoid landfills and helps in reducing air and water
pollution and secondly, valuable material like aluminum cans and plastic and glass are reused
in other forms and not wasted. Be mindful of what you do, pay attention to the items you buy
and always check yourself to see if you really need it or if it comes in a package with less
waste. We can all do our part and we will make a huge difference.
What We People Can Do?
There is handful number of things that you could do to save this planet.
1. Throw away all the garbage in your house that is of no use to you or you think you can’t
utilize it in some other way. If you don’t have these boxes, you can easily purchase a suitable
container for each recyclable product (e.g. paper, plastic, and glass), and then take these
down to your local recycling center
2. Try to avoid the use of plastic bag and plastic paper as much as possible. They not only
pollute the environment but also helps in filling landfills. Also, when you shop try to look out
for the products that have least packaging. Every millions of dollars are spent only in
packaging of these products which ultimately go to the garbage sites.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF RECYCLING
Many of us feel overwhelmed by the tern ‘recycling’. Recycling is nothing but process of
using old or waste products into new products. It makes us feel proud of taking an important
step towards reducing pollution and recycling is a fun activity especially when done in
groups. Surprisingly, recycling process may not always be beneficial and has shocking
effects, unknown to most of us.
Recycling helps to reduce energy usage, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials,
reduce air pollution and water pollution (from land filling) by reducing the need for
“conventional” waste disposal and also reduces greenhouse gases emissions. Before taking
the bold step of recycling, it is crucial to understand the good and bad involved in this
process.

Advantages of Recycling
1. Protects Environment: The foremost benefit or recycling is that it helps in protecting
the environment in the most balanced manner. While many trees are cut down continually,
recycled paper made from certain trees is re-used repeatedly to minimize felling/
deforestation. With re-cycled paper as an outstanding example, a number of other natural
resources can be reused this way.
2. Reduces EnergyConsumption: A large amount of energy is consumed by
processing raw materials at the time of manufacture. Recycling helps to minimize energy
consumption, which is crucial for massive production, such mining or refining. This also
makes the production process very cost-effective and beneficial for manufacturers.
3. Reduces Pollution: Industrial waste today is the main source of all types of pollution.
Recycling of industrial products such as cans, chemical, plastics helps to cut down pollution
levels considerably, as these materials are re-used, instead of throwing them away
irresponsibly.
4: Reduces GlobalWarming: Recycling helps to alleviate global warming and its ill
effects. Massive waste is burned in heaps which produces large amount of greenhouse gas
emissions such as CO2 and CFC’s. Recycling ensure that the burning process is minimized
and any waste is re-generated as a useful product with no or minimal harmful impact on the
environment. Recycling produces less greenhouse gases as industries burn fewer fossil fuels
for eco-friendly products.
5. Judicious and Sustainable use of Resources:Recycling promotes judicial and
sustainable use of resources. This process ensures that there is no discriminate use of any
material when available in plenty in the present. Recycling is encouraged at all levels, starting
from school to corporate offices and at international levels. This means we can preserve all
precious resources for our future generation, without any compromise in the present.
6. Conserves NaturalResources:If old and used materials are not recycled, the new
products are made from extracting fresh raw materials from beneath the earth through mining
and extraction. Recycling helps in conserving important raw materials and protects natural
habitats for the future. Conserving natural resources such as wood, water and minerals
ensures its optimum use.
7. Reduces Amount of Waste to Landfills: Recycling old and waste products into
new products reduces the amount of waste that go to landfills. This helps in reducing water
and land pollution as landfills are a major source in contributing to destruction of natural
environment. Recycling programs keep 70 tons of waste from being deposited into landfills
every year.
8. Create GreenJobs:Recycling is good for the environment and apart from that it also
creates green jobs. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, green goods and
services accounted for 3.1 million jobs in the United States by 2010.

Disadvantages of Recycling:
1. Not always Cost Effective: Recycling is not always cost-effective. Sometimes, there may
be a need to establish separate factories to process reusable products. This may create more
pollution as they would go under the process of cleaning, storage and transportation.
2. RecycledProducts Maynot Last for Long: Recycled products are always not of
durable quality. Such items are mostly made of trashed waste, picked up from heaps other
waste products which are of fragile or overly used. For this reason, recycled products are
cheap and last for a shorter period.
3. Unsafe and Unhygienic Recycling Sites: Recycling sites are often unsafe and
unhygienic. Places where all sorts of waste is dumped are conducive for debris formation and
spread of disease and other dangers caused by harmful chemicals and waste. This not only
causes widespread pollution but is harmful for dedicated people who recycle such products.
Such waste if mixed with water, leads to leach ate formation and leads to toxification of
water bodies including drinking water.
4. Not widespreadon Large Scale:Although recycling is an important step to
minimize pollution, unfortunately this process is just a small part of long-term success.
Recycling often occurs at a small scale- homes or schools and has failed to be useful at a
large level such as at industries or holistically at a global stage. Saving paper at schools
cannot be compared to oil spills or massive tree felling at at industrial level.
5. High Initial Cost:Setting up new recycling unit involves high cost. This huge cost can
come up as a part of acquiring different utility vehicles, upgrading the processing facility,
educating residents by organizing seminars and other programs, disposing of existing waste
and chemicals etc.
After weighing, the pros and cons of recycling, one can wisely take crucial steps involved in
this process. Understanding the impact of recycling is essential on a large-scale which if done
effectively can bring in massive positive results, beneficial to mutual existence of human
beings and environment.
Recycling Material
Recycling has become the major process going on in the industries. Anything that can serve
as the source to make other things is called recyclable materials. The materials that can be
recycled are glass, aluminum, plastic water bottles, metal scrap, different kinds of paper,
electronics –computers, cellular phones, keyboards, batteries and other small electronic
equipment, textile, wood, wire, cables, plastic product, rubber etc.
Apart from this industrial recycling, all the leaves, food leftovers, waste, twigs and other
garden waste are decomposed by worms and saprobes and are converted into fertilizers.
Best and the most economic materials to recycle
As already told that recycling saves energy (almost 70% less energy is required in recycling)
and money, so it is the most economic process. Industrialists are focusing on making the

products that can be recycled later. A great percentage of materials are being recycled and are
being used as households and their number is increasing day by day. The most important
recyclable materials are:
1. Plastic recycling: Many plastic products and bags are in use nowadays. Plastic
recycling serves as a solution to the earthly pollution. Plastics are polymers and are resinous
and they are melted down to make other products. Most importantly plastic container like
water bottles, beverage containers, milk bottles, soap boxes etc. are recycled. Along with it
grocery bags and plastic sacks are also recycled.
2. Electronics recycling:In this world of technology where the gadgets are rapidly
advancing and each new gadget has features different from the old ones, so people buy new
gadget as soon as it appears in the market. The question arises: what to do with the old
electronic? They should be given to other people so that the cycle continues.
Electronics have some toxic and explosive matter in them and they have to be disposed of
properly. So rather than throwing them, we should get them recycled and let their explosive
matter be removed. All the electronics like televisions, monitor, printers, keyboards, scanner,
cell phones, fax machine etc. are recycled.
3. Clothing and paper recycling: Clothes are recycled in industries on a great scale
and quality need not to be compromised. Brand new and good quality clothing is made from
old clothing. Similarly, paper products are recycled to save deforestation and pollution.
4. Vehicles:Big and expensive vehicles are recycled in industries which assist the economy
a lot.
5. Batteries recycling:Rechargeable batteries can be recycled only. The batteries are first
separated from their plastic and insulation coverings then they are heated in large furnaces
and large energy is consumed.
6. Aluminum cans recycling: Aluminum cans are used for preserving or canned food.
As they are in great use now, so they occupy a great part of the waste. There is a great need
of recycling them which not only reduces land pollution but is also an energy saver.
If the industrialists all around the globe aim to make products that can be recycled later and
recreate products from used materials, it will surely decrease problems like pollution and
global warming. The right disposal of materials should be checked. The economy will surely
be supported and money would be saved. So everybody should make sure that their products
are recycled by some means because for the survival on earth, the cycle should be completed.

Plastic Bottles Recycling
Unfortunately the consumption of bottled water has been increased very much in the past few
years. The bottles are made up of plastic. For beverages and other juices, plastic bottles are
used more preferably. So the amount of plastic bottles in landfills is increasing day by day. It
is very unfortunate that they are occupying the space in landfills rather than recycling them
and using them for other purposes. Plastic does not decompose and does not give a good kind
of impression of the green land.
Process ofPlastic Bottles Recycling
Plastic bottles can be simply washed by careful process and reused. Other than that the
recycling takes a longer path and is reformed into other products. The process has following
steps involved:
Collection and Sorting
As there are many types of plastics used in bottles so, it is important that we should know
about the right type of plastic to be recycled so that we can collect them in containers and the
other types of plastics are thrown into dustbins which cannot be recycled.
The Plastic Number
Again to make sure that only the recyclable plastic types reach the industrial sites, check the
number of plastic inside the recycling row. Only bottles made from type 1 and 2 are
recyclable which are Polyethylene Terephthalate and High Density Polyethylene.
Washing
It is necessary to give a wash and rinse to every plastic bottle so that no contaminant enters
the recycling glass. This makes the process of reprocessing easier.
Discard Lids and Caps
The lids and caps of bottles should be removed. The caps are also made from plastics, but of
different types. They should be removed so that they do not disturb the recycling process.
Don’t leave anything behind
Nothing should be left behind in the bottles, so that their recycling is not rejected by the
recycling facility.
Squash and Squeeze
It is better to squash plastic bottles before recycling process so that they occupy less space in
the recycling boxes and conveyors.
This is how they are recycled and remade into other products.

Advantages of Plastic Bottles
There are five departments where the recycling of plastic bottles proves to be beneficial:
1. Oil Reservation: Recycling water bottles can save four barrels a day. As we know that the
prices of oil are increasing day by day, so it is very mindful to decrease its consumption in
houses and industries.
2. Reduction is Greenhouse Gas Emission: It takes less processing in recycling things. It
saves energy and the emission of gasses decreases to a great extent.
3. Conserving Energy: In case of bottles recycling, the bottles are made up of a type of
plastic called Polyethylene Terephthalate. One pound of PET can save as much as twelve
thousand BTUÂ’s energy.
4. Advantages of ‘reuse’: Many people think that the plastic bottles are transformed exactly
into similar bottles but the truth is that they are recycled into someone’s jacket or someone’s
deck.
5. Save our Landfills: The recycling can help decrease landfills. As we know that space in
the landfills is occupied by the bottles to a great extent and the land pollution is decreased.
So, the bottles should be disposed of in the right manner to the recycling bins and proper
organizations for recycling should be made.
What are Recycle Bins?
Recycle Bins are large containers that you must have seen outside your home, in parks or
streets and are used to store recyclable material. Once it is filled with the material the same is
then picked by the local municipal body or local recycling firms to process those and make
new products from them.
These recycle bins are very large and normally placed at local supermarket store or recycling
center. These bins are also separated from inside so that they can contain different types of
material in different compartments. For e.g.: You could wish to separate paper, plastic and
disposable glasses. Local recycling firms then process this garbage which in turn helps in
making the environment clean and reducing the landfills.
In order to make sure that more and more people participate in recycling activity local
municipal corporations are now encouraging home owners to dispose of their waste products
in recycle bins. These bins are provided to the home owners by municipal corporations
themselves. These are normally called household bin are most commonly type of bin today.
Recycle bins is a great way to start recycling. It has helped enormously in last few decades to
process waste products which could otherwise would have ended up in filling up the garbage.
Recycling in other way would help in energy conservation, reducing pollution and landfill
reduction.
Large bins are also placed at major parks, malls and offices so that people throw away the
waste products at appropriate places. Offices dispose large quantities of paper everyday while
malls dispose of large quantity of disposable glasses and plates every day.

Few countries in the world have proper recycling colors and logos to help people identify the
most appropriate bin. This helps people to put proper things in proper places so that recycling
firms can easily separate different items from the large quantities of waste products.
PROSPECTSOF RECYCLING
Some countries might be recycling too much, while some cities have a hard time recycling
anything at all with new developments and innovations for a sustainable in recycling. The
prospects in recycling involving the following:
1. Bans on Plastic
It’s not a secret that most plastics take hundreds, if not thousands of years to photo degrade
(which is still bad for the environment anyway), or that they’re wildly hazardous to local
ecosystems and wildlife. That’s why many cities are starting to address the plastic waste
generated within their borders.
Styrofoam in particular has been discussed widely throughout the years, and cities and towns
across the country have increasingly been resorting to bans on food packaging made out of
polystyrene foam. While it’s cost-effective and durable enough for packaging, its light weight
makes it prone to being easily spread by the wind, and it can seep compounds like styrene
into the earth and groundwater. Between prohibitions on Styrofoam, plastic shopping bag
bans, and even bans on plastic bottles, hopefully the push to phase-out unsustainable and
pervasive plastics like these will continue.
2. from Paperto Digital
In 2012, legislation was signed requiring the EPA to move to a completely digital system of
records by 2015. This would allow retailers and commercial businesses to report their
hazardous waste data directly to the EPA via an “e-manifest,” making industrial and
commercial waste tracking a much more streamlined, efficient process.
The need for digital record keeping has never been needed more across industries and
government institutions, especially in a time where even the Department of Veterans Affairs
has seen such a backlog of physical paperwork that disability claims can be delayed for years.
Considering the efficiency benefits and that digital record system generate considerably less
waste, it's likely that more businesses and institutions will be pressured into jumping on the
digital train as well.
3. Biodegradable Plastics
The market for biodegradable plastic resins has been increasing steadily for years and is
currently expected to increase by 19% a year into 2017. Plant-derived resins like polylactic
acid – a #7 plastic labeled “PLA”– continue to be at the forefront of a campaign to introduce
bio-based resins into a variety of markets and industries.

While some possible applications include car parts, clothing, and even electrical
components, there is still the issue of labeling certain plastics “biodegradable.” Without
proper municipal recycling and composting systems in place to break down the plant-based
material, these plastics won’t degrade.
When polylactic acid packaging in particular is mixed with other types of plastics during
processing, it can even contaminate the entire batch of recycled plastic, rendering it all
useless. This risky push for resins from feedstock can only be properly managed if we start
adopting widespread systems capable of truly composting the material. Otherwise, we risk
simply mitigating consumer guilt without actually providing any real solutions. Skepticism
abounds as the market for these plastics continues to grow.
4. Mandatory Composting
Only 5% of the 26 million tons of food waste in 2012 avoided a landfill. This means there are
still millions of tons of food sitting at the bottom of a landfill that could have otherwise been
turned into a healthy compost material for personal or municipal use.
That’s why more municipalities across the country are starting to institute programs for
organic material composting, and some are even making it mandatory. It’s not just the urban
eco-titan like San Francisco in USA playing with this type of legislation: Rhode Island has
started the discussion, and even New York City did. We can only hope this increased interest
in composting continues to grow.
5. Sustainable Innovation
A Swedish student at the Umeá Institute of Design developed back in 2013 a conceptual
design for the ERO – a robot that can actually recycle buildings made out of concrete and
rebar. The amazing concept even won the designer, Omer Haciomeroglu, a 2013
International Design Excellence Award from the Industrial Designers Society of America.
While only a conceptual project at this point – and an incredibly ambitious one at that – the
fact that an entire concrete building can be theoretically recycled is a groundbreaking
achievement of design.
The possibilities of sustainability are constantly being redefined by innovations like this, and
we can expect to see similar revelations continually evolving at a faster rate.
6. 3-D Printing
3-D printing has opened up doors to manufacturing that were never before thought to be
opened, from commercial use and mass-production, even down to more private, personal use
at home. 3-D printing technology might even be able to build a house in a day. This
technology risks is increasing our dependence on plastic even further.
Thankfully, some are finding grinded-up plastics from around your home – even used Legos
and other plastic waste – can be a viable option for printing. Just imagine if a whole new
market was opened up for plastic waste to be used in 3-D printing? Certain recycled plastics
are often cheaper per pound than virgin plastics anyway. 3-D printing has innumerable

positive applications, but we should ensure that the materials used are as sustainably-sourced
as possible.
7. Energyfrom Organic Waste
California is often a place where budding eco-technology is piloted, and anaerobic digestion
technology is no exception. Sacramento County’s “Sacramento BioDigester” can take food
and other biodegradable waste and turn it into sustainable bioenergy.
This benchmark in anaerobic digestion may be an indication of things to come, especially
when the Sacramento digester is so efficient it can process about 100 tons of organic material
a day. Imagine if there were one of these in every major city across the U.S. and every
country.
8. Recycling Cigarettes?
Whether or not you believe cigarette smoking is a gross habit, the fact remains that 38% of
litter on the road is cigarette and tobacco product waste. It’s a ubiquitous and nasty issue that,
until now, we’ve had to just deal with.
Now, through TerraCycle's Cigarette Waste Brigade recycling program, a person,
organization or business over the age of 21 can actually collect and send cigarette waste
directly to TerraCycle.
The tobacco and paper gets composted and the cellulose acetate filters are recycled into
industrial plastic products like shipping pallets. A similar city-wide program was even
launched by the city of Vancouver last November with the help of TerraCycle. As more
people begin to realize that there actually is a solution to this enormous waste stream, we
hope to see more people and municipalities following suit.
9. IncreasedCorporate Responsibility
It’s easy to make hollow promises lauding “corporate social responsibility,” but more and
more companies and businesses are seeing that actions do indeed speak louder than words.
The age of the conscious consumer and conscious public is upon us, and firms will naturally
be increasing their self-generated waste recycling efforts, as well as being more vocal about
sustainability in general.
Green washing is getting increasingly difficult to manage, as people are more vigilant and
ready to pounce on illegitimate sustainability efforts. Besides, there are upsides to businesses
becoming more sustainable, like increased supply line efficiency and reductions in industrial
waste. We can expect to see more of this as well-informed consumers continue to demand
that the companies they buy their products from be more socially responsible and
environmentally-conscious.

10. Growing Issues with E-Waste
48.9 million tons of E-Waste were generated in 2012, according to the Solving the E-Waste
Problem (STEP) Initiative. The U.S. generated more than 258 million units of E-Waste in
2010 alone, and that was four years ago.
Much of this extremely toxic waste stream gets sent to third-world countries where it sits un-
recycled in giant, electronic mass-graves. Both the United Nations’ Global Partnership on
Waste Management and the EPA have continually tracked international E-Waste generation,
but the E-Waste problem is as pervasive as ever. As the struggle to manage this dangerous
waste stream continues and becomes increasingly difficult to ignore, we can expect to see a
larger international discussion developing.
There’s a lot to look forward to throughout the rest of the year, and there’s still quite a lot that
should be approached with caution. We also continue to hit difficult-to-overcome barriers:
just consider that the recycling rate in the U.S. only went from 30.1% in 2000 to 34.5% in
2012. Still, the near-future holds plenty of new developments and trends that we should be
both excited about and wary of as we look down the long road ahead.

Fig 3: Recycling Create Job Opportunity

RECYCLING: A MEANS OF WASTE
REDUCTION, TRENDS AND PERSPECTIVE
OTUSANYA, KAYODE GEORGE.
PG/14/0038
EMP 708.
(WASTE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL)
November, 2015.

REFERENCES.
1. Confederation of Paper Industries(CPI)(www.paper.org.uk/info/corrugated/fragile.htm
2. Economic Periscope, 25 January 2006 (www.warsawvoice.pl/view/10350/)
3. Mihelcic,J.R. and Zimmerman, J.B., 2010, Environmental Engineering, John Wiley &
Sons, Inc.
4. Waste Strategy for England, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(Defra), May 2007 (www. Defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/strategy/)
5. Wikipedia, 2012, Municipal solid waste’, ‘Compost’ List of solid waste treatment
technologies. http;//en.wikipedia.org/wiki

RECYCLING AS WASTE REDUCTION,TREND AND PROSPECTS

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