Waste Recycling


Recycling is a process whereby used materials are remanufactured into new products.

Producing a new item from a recyclable material gives that material life beyond its intended use. Recycling is commonly thought of as using one material then recycling it, using the material for the same product again. For example, glass bottles being recycled to use again as glass bottles.

In reality the quality of the recycled bottle material is often degraded by use and therefore must be converted for another purpose. The glass cannot be used to make industry standard bottles so it might be reprocessed and used in fibre glass insulation.

Recycling is also the salvage of certain materials within other products due to their high value: precious metals from computer components or lead from vehicle batteries.

It is not deemed to be necessary to recycle vast amounts of clothing as clothes banks or charity shops are a quick and easy way to reuse old items. This not only helps the environment but also the charity shops raise money by selling them.

So why should we recycle?

With climate change being such a pressing problem it is important that we help reduce the effects of this. Energy saved by recycling materials will help.

Recycling also helps to reduce the quantity of raw materials that are harvested from the Earth's natural resources in the making of new products. Recycling old products to turn them into new products requires less energy than it would take to create a new product from the original raw materials.

If more paper and wood were recycled then there would be a reduction in deforestation (harvesting a natural resource). This would mean that fewer trees would be cut down and transported to factories to make a finished product, resulting in far less pollution, not only from carbon emissions from the transportation but also from the reduction in manufacturing emissions (CO2 gases). This in turn would improve the quality of the air that we breathe.

A greater increase in recycling will have other positive effects on society. Reducing the amount of rubbish sent to landfill sites will not only greatly improve the air quality due to the smaller number of vehicles passing through the various sites but will also promote the reintroduction of wildlife.

The European Union thinks that this is so important that it has issued a number of regulations and guidance documents regarding waste management.

Included within the the Waste Framework Directive is a hierarchy of waste management options, with recycling very near the top. You can read more about what the Hierarchy is and what it means here.

There is such a vast list of materials that can be recycled now and it is growing continually.

These include, glass, carpets, paper, cardboard, electronics, metal, wood, textiles, plastics and various hazardous wastes.

Some materials are much harder to recycle than others. Plastic based products can be more difficult than paper based products to break down when recycling but technologies are advancing rapidly and these processes are constantly being looked at and improved for all materials.

RJS Waste can collect and recycle almost any type of waste. Our aim is to minimise the waste produced throughout your processes and then recycle as much of it as is possible. With continually improving recycling techniques, an ever increasing variety of waste streams can now be recycled. As a company we are always exploring these new technologies to increase our recycling percentages and minimise the waste that is sent to landfill sites.

We can tailor a waste package to your needs and help you to hit those recycling and environmental targets.

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