RECYCLE

INTRODUCTION

With the increasing of human population the needs for the people also increase. But the point of concern is that are there enough natural resources to service all your needs. What if these resource finish, this is one thing we need to ponder upon. We need to start recycling or recycling waste to converse our natural resources. Recycling is simply the process of reusing the items from which utility can still be derived. It is important to recycle waste so that you can at least converse some of our natural resources for generation to come.

There many products that can be recycled such as papers, glass, tin, plastics and more. Recycling are important because many products such as paper, cardboards and cups comes from trees. In facts trees are our naturals assets, you can converse trees cut down a year. This is one form of waste recycling. One should understand and know the importance of recycling waste materials. One simple benefits of recycling is it saves our resources. It will be wise to reuse metal item as metal reserves may be depleting. You can sold your wore out metal items for recycling. As mentioned earlier, recycling of waste papers can save our forests.

Recycling waste not only save our natural resources but also help save energy. By simply recycling an item or making a basic fix to it, we can we save all the energy that would have been consumed in the process of making it. The same example can be taken with plastic items. A large amount of energy can be saved by reusing the plastic items. To recycle waste is simply reduce pollution. By recycling plastic material we can reduce air pollution as well as water pollution. Plastic factories produced large amount of smoke when producing plastic material at the same time if we don’t have proper waste disposal system those waste emissions will cause water pollution. Recycle waste in a way helps reduce pollution.

In simple words, recycling or recycling waste is essential to both natural environment and humans. To sum up, recycling minimizes the need for raw materials so that the rainforests can be preserved. Great amounts of the energy are used when making products from raw materials. Recycling requires much less energy and therefore helps to preserve natural resource. One needs to know the importance of recycling at the same time being friendly can help our planet to be a better place to live in.

BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Meaning

Recycling is a process to change (waste) materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution (from incineration) and water pollution (from landfilling) by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse gas emissions as compared to plastic production. Recycling is a key component of modern waste reduction and is the third component of the "Reduce, Reuse and Recycle" waste hierarchy.

Recyclable materials include many kinds of glass, paper, metal, plastic, textiles, and electronics. Although similar in effect, the composting or other reuse of biodegradable waste such as food or garden waste is considered recycling.

The Universal Symbol Of Recycling

The universal recycling symbol is an internationally recognized symbol used to designate recyclable materials. It is composed of three mutually chasing arrows that form a Möbius strip (an unending single-sided looped surface).

The Universal Recycling Symbol, here rendered with a black outline and green fill.
Both filled and outline versions of the symbols are used.

Packaging symbol

Packaging labels and recycling symbols are now appearing on lots of everyday items, and help us to identify how different types of packaging can be recycled

Example of packaging labels

widely recycled at recycling point
widely recycled
check local recycling
not currently recycle
Metal paint cans
Plastic films
Mobius loop
Tidy Man
Green Dot
Plastics
Glass
Recyclable aluminium
Recyclable steel
Waste electrical
Compostable
Wood

What do the recycling number means?

At the bottom of most plastics containers you can find a small number inside the three arrow of triangle recycling symbol. This number is a references to what type of plastic the container is made of. Each plastic is composed of a different molecule or set of molecules. Different molecules do not mix when plastics are recycled, it is like trying to recycle paper and glass together. For this reason they need to be separated. The recycling numbers are a uniform way of classifying the different types of plastics and it aids recyclers in the sorting process. Note that sometimes other numbers are found on the bottom of the plastic containers, but only numbers inside the recycling symbol are valid for recycling purpose.

Origins

Recycling has been a common practice for most of human history, with recorded advocates as far back as Plato in 400 BC. During periods when resources were scarce, archaeological studies of ancient waste dumps show less household waste (such as ash, broken tools and pottery)—implying more waste was being recycled in the absence of new material.

An American poster from World War II

In pre-industrial times, there is evidence of scrap bronze and other metals being collected in Europe and melted down for perpetual reuse In Britain dust and ash from wood and coal fires was collected by 'dustmen' and downcycled as a base material used in brick making. The main driver for these types of recycling was the economic advantage of obtaining recycled feedstock instead of acquiring virgin material, as well as a lack of public waste removal in ever more densely populated areas. In 1813, Benjamin Law developed the process of turning rags into 'shoddy' and 'mungo' wool in Batley, Yorkshire. This material combined recycled fibres with virgin wool. The West Yorkshire shoddy industry in towns such as Batley and Dewsbury, lasted from the early 19th century to at least 1914.

Industrialization spurred demand for affordable materials; aside from rags, ferrous scrap metals were coveted as they were cheaper to acquire than was virgin ore. Railroads both purchased and sold scrap metal in the 19th century, and the growing steel and automobile industries purchased scrap in the early 20th century. Many secondary goods were collected, processed, and sold by peddlers who combed dumps, city streets, and went door to door looking for discarded machinery, pots, pans, and other sources of metal. By World War I, thousands of such peddlers roamed the streets of American cities, taking advantage of market forces to recycle post-consumer materials back into industrial production.

Beverage bottles were recycled with a refundable deposit at some drink manufacturers in Great Britain and Ireland around 1800, notably Schweppes.An official recycling system with refundable deposits was established in Sweden for bottles in 1884 and aluminium beverage cans in 1982, by law, leading to a recycling rate for beverage containers of 84–99 percent depending on type, and average use of a glass bottle is over 20 refills.

Sorting

Once commingled recyclates are collected and delivered to a central collection facility, the different types of materials must be sorted. This is done in a series of stages, many of which involve automated processes such that a truckload of material can be fully sorted in less than an hour. Some plants can now sort the materials automatically, known as single-stream recycling. In plants a variety of materials are sorted such as paper, different types of plastics, glass, metals, food scraps, and most types of batteries.A 30 percent increase in recycling rates has been seen in the areas where these plants exist.

Initially, the commingled recyclates are removed from the collection vehicle and placed on a conveyor belt spread out in a single layer. Large pieces of corrugated fiber board and plastic bags are removed by hand at this stage, as they can cause later machinery to jam.Next, automated machinery separates the recyclates by weight, splitting lighter paper and plastic from heavier glass and metal. Cardboard is removed from the mixed paper, and the most common types of plastic, PET (#1) and HDPE (#2), are collected. This separation is usually done by hand, but has become automated in some sorting centers: a spectroscopic scanner is used to differentiate between different types of paper and plastic based on the absorbed wavelengths, and subsequently divert each material into the proper collection channel.

Strong magnets are used to separate out ferrous metals, such as iron, steel, and tin-plated steel cans ("tin cans"). Nonferrous metals are ejected by magnetic eddy currents in which a rotating magnetic field induces an electric current around the aluminium cans, which in turn creates a magnetic eddy current inside the cans. This magnetic eddy current is repulsed by a large magnetic field, and the cans are ejected from the rest of the recyclate stream.

Finally, glass must be sorted by hand on the basis of its color: brown, amber, green, or clear.

This process of recycling as well as reusing the recycled material proves to be advantageous for many reasons as it reduces amount of waste sent to landfills, conserves natural resources, saves energy, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and helps create new jobs. Recycled materials can also be converted into new products that can be consumed again such as paper, plastic, and glass.

The City and County of San Francisco's Department of the Environment offers one of the best recycling programs to support its city-wide goal of Zero Waste by 2020.San Francisco's refuse hauler, Recology, operates an effective recyclables sorting facility in San Francisco, which helped San Francisco reach a record-breaking diversion rate of 80%.

Recycling in Japan

Recycling symbols used in Japan
	Paper (紙 Kami^?)
	Plastic (プラ Pura^?)
	Aluminium (アルミ Arumi^?)
	Steel (スチール Suchiiru^?)
	PET bottles

Recycling Plans

On March 25, 2008 the Japanese Cabinet approved a plan that targets to reduce the total waste from about 52 million tons in 2007 to about 50 million tons in 2012 and to raise the waste recycling rate from 20 to 25%. Thermal recycling and a charging system for waste disposal services will be promoted.

Living In Japan: Recycling is an Everyday Thing

Seeing and experiencing the richness of another culture is one of many benefits of living in Japan. I am so amazed sometimes at how different the daily routine is between the American and Japanese cultures. Of course I am fascinated by the smaller living spaces, the safety, and the food, just to name a few things. But, oddly enough, one thing that I find quite thought-provoking is that recycling is a completely normal routine. I wonder how on Earth this country is able to get the vast majority of it’s people to recycle.

I think this mentality exists for a few reasons. Number one, Japan is a small country with lots of people. As a result, I think many Japanese are used to living in smaller spaces and are used to being more mindful about how they consume. There is a Japanese saying that I hear many of my adult students use the phrase “もったいない” or “Mottai nai” which means wasteful. If someone were to do something like throwing trash on a train floor, driving to a store that’s a three-minute walk away, or anything similar, you might hear this phrase.

The second reason I believe may have something to do with World War II. Many of my older students say that essentials were quite scarce in post war Japan. Several students mentioned that getting good toilet paper was difficult (Why toilet paper? I don’t really know exactly). Anyway, living in conditions of scarcity can sometimes have a major effect on a person’s value system. Having to want for things can make you more appreciative of what you have…when you actually get it (this theory can also work in reverse). Japan now has one of the strongest economies in the world, but it’s one of the most humble, most conservative, most economical societies that I’ve ever seen.

I remember trying to recycle in my hometown, and people would literally laugh at me…so I stopped doing it. It’s just not the case here. I don’t consider myself to be “green” by any stretch of the imagination, but I recycle everyday…just like my neighbours do. There’s really no thinking involve; you know which days to set out which trash items, and you just do it. One of the first items I received when I moved to Ibaraki, was a trash schedule:

Current trash schedule

As you can see, it’s details which items are to be thrown out on which days. Occasionally you do find the wrong garbage sitting out on the wrong day, but trash people will actually leave it right there until it’s proper pickup day comes around. It’s pretty different from what I’m used to.

Honestly, I find it so refreshing to live in a place where people have such a respect for the environment around them. It’s definitely having an effect on me…but I think it’s a good thing.

How Do Japanese Dump Trash

When this city recently doubled the number of garbage categories to 10, it handed residents a 27-page booklet on how to sort their trash. Highlights included detailed instructions on 518 items.

Lipstick goes into burnables, lipstick tubes, "after the contents have been used up," into "small metals" or plastics. Take out your tape measure before tossing a kettle: under 12 inches, it goes into small metals, but over that it goes into bulky refuse.

Socks? If only one, it is burnable; a pair goes into used cloth, though only if the socks "are not torn, and the left and right sock match." Throw neckties into used cloth, but only after they have been "washed and dried."

"It was so hard at first," said Sumie Uchiki, 65, whose ward began wrestling with the 10 categories last October as part of an early trial. "We were just not used to it. I even needed to wear my reading glasses to sort out things correctly."

To Americans struggling with sorting trash into a few categories, Japan may provide a foretaste of daily life to come. In a national drive to reduce waste and increase recycling, neighbourhoods, office buildings, towns and megalopolises are raising the number of trash categories - sometimes to dizzying heights.

Indeed, Yokohama, with 3.5 million people, appears slack compared with Kamikatsu, a town of 2,200 in the mountains of Shikoku, the smallest of Japan's four main islands. Not content with the 34 trash categories it defined four years ago as part of a major push to reduce waste, Kamikatsu has gradually raised the number to 44.

In Japan, the long-term push to sort and recycle aims to reduce the amount of garbage that ends up in incinerators. In land-scarce Japan, up to 80 percent of garbage is incinerated, while a similar percentage ends up in landfills in the United States.

The environmentally friendlier process of sorting and recycling may be more expensive than dumping, experts say, but it is comparable in cost to incineration.

"Sorting trash is not necessarily more expensive than incineration," said Hideki Kidohshi, a garbage researcher at the Center for the Strategy of Emergence at the Japan Research Institute. "In Japan, sorting and recycling will make further progress."

For Yokohama, the goal is to reduce incinerated garbage by 30 percent over the next five years. But Kamikatsu's goal is even more ambitious: eliminating garbage by 2020.

In the last four years, Kamikatsu has halved the amount of incinerator-bound garbage and raised its recycled waste to 80 percent, town officials said. Each household now has a subsidized garbage disposal unit that recycles raw garbage into compost.

At the single Garbage Station where residents must take their trash, 44 bins collect everything from tofu containers to egg cartons, plastic bottle caps to disposable chopsticks, fluorescent tubes to futons.

On a recent morning, Masaharu Tokimoto, 76, drove his pick-up truck to the station and expertly put brown bottles in their proper bin, clear bottles in theirs. He looked at the labels on cans to determine whether they were aluminum or steel. Flummoxed about one item, he stood paralyzed for a minute before mumbling to himself, "This must be inside."

Some 15 minutes later, Mr. Tokimoto was done. The town had gotten much cleaner with the new garbage policy, he said, though he added: "It's a bother, but I can't throw away the trash in the mountains. It would be a violation."

In towns and villages where everybody knows one another, not sorting may be unthinkable. In cities, though, not everybody complies, and perhaps more than any other act, sorting out the trash properly is regarded as proof that one is a grown-up, responsible citizen. The young, especially bachelors, are notorious for not sorting. And landlords reluctant to rent to non-Japanese will often explain that foreigners just cannot - or will not - sort their trash.

In Yokohama, after a few neighbourhoods started sorting last year, some residents stopped throwing away their trash at home. Garbage bins at parks and convenience stores began filling up mysteriously with unsorted trash.

"So we stopped putting garbage bins in the parks," said Masaki Fujihira, who oversees the promotion of trash sorting at Yokohama City's family garbage division.

Enter the garbage guardians, the army of hawk-eyed volunteers across Japan who comb offending bags for, say, a telltale gas bill, then nudge the owner onto the right path.

One of the most tenacious around here is Mitsuharu Taniyama, 60, the owner of a small insurance business who drives around his ward every morning and evening, looking for missorted trash. He leaves notices at collection sites: "Mr. So-and-so, your practice of sorting out garbage is wrong. Please correct it."

"I checked inside bags and took especially lousy ones back to the owners' front doors," Mr. Taniyama said.

He stopped in front of one messy location where five bags were scattered about, and crows had picked out orange peels from one.

"This is a typical example of bad garbage," Mr. Taniyama said, with disgust. "The problem at this location is that there is no community leader. If there is no strong leader, there is chaos."

He touched base with his lieutenants in the field. On the corner of a street with large houses, where the new policy went into effect last October, Yumiko Miyano, 56, was waiting with some neighbours.

Ms. Miyano said she now had 90 percent compliance, adding that, to her surprise, those resisting tended to be "intellectuals," like a certain university professor or an official at Japan Airlines up the block.

"But the husband is the problem - the wife sorts her trash properly," one neighbor said of the airlines family.

Getting used to the new system was not without its embarrassing moments.

Shizuka Gu, 53, said that early on, a community leader sent her a letter reprimanding her for not writing her identification number on the bag with a "thick felt-tip pen." She was chided for using a pen that was "too thin."

"It was a big shock to be told that I had done something wrong," Ms. Gu said. "So I couldn't bring myself to take out the trash here and asked my husband to take it to his office. We did that for one month."

At a 100-family apartment complex not too far away, Sumishi Kawai was keeping his eyes trained on the trash site before pickup. Missorting was easy to spot, given the required use of clear garbage bags with identification numbers. Compliance was perfect - almost.

One young couple consistently failed to properly sort their trash. "Sorry! We'll be careful!" they would say each time Mr. Kawai knocked on their door holding evidence of their transgressions.

At last, even Mr. Kawai - a small 77-year-old man with wispy white hair, an easy smile and a demeanor that can only be described as grandfatherly - could take no more.

"They were renting the apartment, so I asked the owner, 'Well, would it be possible to have them move?' " Mr. Kawai said, recalling, with undisguised satisfaction, that the couple was evicted two months ago.

Pay It Forward: Japan Recycles and Rebuilds

My Japanese family is safe from immediate danger, and living near Osaka, but thoughts of the wonderful Japanese people came to me this morning. When I first saw earthquake video online last week, one impression was that we humans are just like ants, powerless against the forces of nature, swept away by a careless footfall or flood. The Japanese are busily responding to nature’s cataclysm as they tirelessly and selflessly clean up and begin to rebuild their homeland. Having just come from a five-week visit in Japan over the holidays, I have an entirely different perspective than I would otherwise have.

I was amused at the newscast where Diane Sawyer pointed out how organized they were in a disaster shelter by putting up a makeshift recycling centre. I’m not sure she fully understood how automatic that is for the Japanese. It would be no different than Americans putting out an all-inclusive trashcan. For the Japanese, recycling is a way of life. It’s not something that just a few ecologically conscious souls practice. The entire nation practices constant recycling. They have no choice. That is how the refuse is collected. There is a calendar on the wall above the trashcan in the kitchen which indicates the specific types of trash to be collected on which days. In each home, mall, highway rest area, every public place, there are bins for separating it all. It is an amazing thing to watch, both in their behaviours and on the days the refuse collectors come to pick up the big items, like TVs, computers, furniture, etc.

During my entire visit to Japan, there were maybe two public restrooms that had paper towels. The Japanese each carry a small hand towel, about the size of a small washcloth, in a pocket or purse. These are either thin terrycloth or fabric like a heavy-duty handkerchief.

At the grocery store you don't get a nickel credit for bringing your own bag. If you forget to bring your own bags you have to pay a nickel for each plastic bag. That's the system the USA needs to adopt.

After arriving and preparing to depart from Osaka-Kansai airport, I noticed that it is situated on an island in the bay. Strangely, the shape of the island is rectangular. I was told that is because the island was made from refuse and there is one similar in Tokyo Bay also with an airport on top. When I watched some personal video posts that were taken during the earthquake, there was one showing the ground cracking across sidewalks and water seeping up there and across the park in the grass. It seemed strange until the explanation was given that this was an island man-made from rocks built up in the water. I would guess it also included refuse.

My first introduction to how the Japanese approach refuse-handling was when Josh, Naho and Yoshifumi (Naho’s brother) came to visit me in 2004 when I was living in Anchorage, Alaska. We had a wonderful visit over the holidays and New Year’s Day was their last day there. In Japanese tradition, all the food for that holiday had been prepared the day before, so Josh and I took the Japanese siblings down Turn again Arm to Beluga Point to see the wonderful sights. We Americans jumped out of the car and scurried over the railroad tracks, which were scattered with the remnants of fireworks from the night before. We looked back from water’s edge to see Naho and Yoshifumi bending over the railroad tracks, picking up all the trash left by thoughtless Americans. We called to them to leave it and come look at the waves and mountains, but they remained dutifully gathering everything into a cardboard box that had also been left behind. We finally gave up our derailed expedition and went back to the railroad tracks where they had finished and Naho politely asked me if she could put the box in my trunk and take it to a dumpster. Yes, of course, but when we got in the car we had words.

First of all, I was embarrassed that our Japanese visitors were cleaning up after careless Americans. I told her that wasn’t necessary, that the railroad company would have someone clean it up. We argued this point with passion and courtesy. Naho would not back down. I knew her English was very good, but still I tried to explain in every possible way, that we did not bring them out there to pick up trash. We wanted them to see the natural beauty of the Alaskan landscape. She insisted that it was not good enough to wait for whenever the railroad company would clean it up. They had been taught to clean up whatever they came upon so that the next person to arrive there would be able to see the beauty without the distraction of trash. She had stopped me in my tracks and the argument ended with us agreeing from then on we would help them, but they had to at least take time to look at the beauty also.

In Japan, one of the first things I noticed was how clean everything was, the cars, streets, homes, yards, public buildings, parks, etc. They are not perfect and are still cleaning up along the Ibogawa River. It was flooded a year earlier and there are still some traces of straggling trash. When I asked Naho to stop the car for a photo op at a pull out along a winding road that overlooked the bay, I noticed a collection of trash scattered there. I had an impulse to start collecting it, but decided not to make it a point, since we now had three children under age four in the car. Ninety-seven percent clean was perfectly clean enough that day and I didn’t want to embarrass Naho. (Now I wonder how she will feel when she reads this).

It will take decades for the Japanese to clean up from the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, but they will get it done collectively and efficiently. They are bonded to their neighbours and relatives in ways Americans cannot fully understand. When you see someone on the newscast grieving the loss of a neighbour, I assure you it’s not just someone who lived down the street. Their neighbours are their personal friends for many good reasons that have evolved over the centuries. But those are stories for another day.

Waste Management in Japan

Recycling Bins in Japan

SIGNIFICATION OF STUDY

We were doing the research just because want to make sure that the community realise that recycle is one of the most important thing that should be apply in their daily routine life . Our every little activity would either help the environment or even destroy it gradually. Hence being aware of our responsibilities is a step towards saving our planet.

By this recycling we might save the mother nature. Recycling will help to reduce the usage of land space. Our landfill sites are filling up fast, by 2010, almost all landfills in the UK will be full. The community also might realise that recycling will reduce the financial expenditure in the economy and preserve natural resources for future generations.

Other than that, the community will realise that recycling could save the energy and reduce pollution. Recycling used materials reduces energy requirements in many manufacturing process such as refining and mining. Recycling an aluminium can conserve as much energy saved in recycling a glass bottle can allow you to operate a computer for 25 minutes. This is the proof that recycling is important to us and should be practice in our daily life.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

· Waste generation is increasing rapidly

· Recycling is stagnant or decreasing, as economic incentives to recycle have diminished

· Resources that could be put to a higher use are disposed in processing facilities or landfills

· Illegal dumping of wastes and associated environmental concerns continues in several areas

· Resource recovery costs are subsidized to compete with landfilling

AIM AND OBJECTIVE

· To create campaign posters throughout my research

· To understand about Recycling

· To deliver good message to others about Recycling

· To encourage people to Recycle for save the mother nature

· To increase the environmental benefits, including greater tonnage and less contamination, of kerbside, industrial and community recycling programs

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we learned a lot of reasons why recycling is important in our community and especially at school or college. We learned about waste and how some waste can be reused or recycled into other products. I hope that this class will stick by their pledge to become students who are committed to recycling in school and out of school. After having thoroughly discussed the issue concerning responsible consumption, we have reached a conclusion that we believe is quite valuable. Although the problem of waste is one of the most worrying ones concerning environment, we do think there is a way to solve or at least to mitigate the effects of rubbish in Nature. The “Triple RE” is our way. Think about Nature. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. It’s in our hands to assure a better future for our children, and leave the world as it was before we arrived. It diminishes the pollution of the environment and the air pollution. It is economic. It saves materials and natural resources also saves energy. And remember, keeping recyclable items inside the Recycling Loop keeps them of out the landfills and reduces pollution.