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Facts:
• Recycling generates civic pride and environmental
awareness.
• Recycling helps prevent environmental pollution.
• Recycling saves natural resources.
• Recycling conserves raw materials used
in industry.
• Making products from recycled ingredients
often uses much less energy than producing the same
product from raw materials.
• Recycling reduces the amount of material
dumped in landfill sites. Goods are used productively
and prevented from becoming litter and garbage.
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What
Can I Recycle? |
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Most
items can be recycled — but only when there
is a market for the finished product.
So, make sure you buy products that foster the
recycled market. |
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GLASS
Glass is 100 percent recyclable.
Household bottles and jars are made from a melted mixture of silica (sand), soda
ash and limestone. Glass manufacturers can use your old glass in this process.
How
to recycle glass:
• Designate a recycling bin for glass.
• Recycle all glass containers, not
just bottles.
• Use glass bottles, plastic bags,
aluminum foil over and over again before
recycling or disposing.
• Rinse containers.
• Remove lids, corks and caps - labels
can remain.
• Sort glass into refillable and recyclable
(check message on bottles to see which type
they are) .
• Find out if your local school, scouts
or guides collect glass for fundraising.
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PLASTIC:
Try to identify and separate the different
types of plastic. The Plastics Industry Association
has introduced a voluntary system of product coding
to help recyclers and the public.
Types of plastics:
"...
By the Numbers
Often found on the bottom of plastic bottles,
other containers, and shopping bags, the
numbers and letters shown with the chasing-arrows "recycling" symbol
mean the following:
- #1 PETE or
PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate):
used for most clear beverage bottles.
- #2 HDPE (High
Density Polyethylene): used for "cloudy" milk
and water jugs, opaque food bottles.
- #3 PVC or V (Polyvinyl
Chloride): used in some cling
wraps (especially commercial brands),
some "soft" bottles.
- #4 LDPE (Low
Density Polyethylene): used in food storage
bags and some "soft" bottles.
- #5 PP (Polypropylene):
used in rigid containers, including some
baby bottles, and some cups and bowls.
- #6 PS (Polystyrene):
used in foam "clam-shell"-type
containers, meat and bakery trays, and in
its rigid form, clear take-out containers,
some plastic cutlery and cups. Polystyrene
may leach styrene into food it comes into
contact with. A recent study in Environmental
Health Perspectives concluded that some
styrene compounds leaching from food containers
are estrogenic (meaning they can disrupt
normal hormonal functioning). Styrene is
also considered a possible human carcinogen
by the World Health Organization’s International
Agency for Research on Cancer.
- #7 Other (usually
Polycarbonate): used in 5-gallon water bottles,
some baby bottles, some metal can linings.
Polycarbonate can release its primary building
block, bisphenol A, another suspected hormone
disruptor, into liquids and foods. In 1998,
the Japanese government ordered manufacturers
there to recall and destroy polycarbonate
tableware meant for use by children because
it contained excessive amounts of bisphenol
A. Other sources of potential bisphenol A
exposure include food can linings and dental
sealants."
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Information published by Checnet.org.
See PDF: Quick
Start - Plastic Products at a Glance.
Consider
this when you recycle plastic:
• Reuse plastic containers and bags.
• Sort plastics into different types.
• Rinse containers and remove lids.
• Rinse containers.
• Ask your supermarket to recycle plastic
bags.
• Look for the code number on any plastic
item you buy and try to choose those which
can be recycled in your local recycling program. |
ALUMINIUM:
The production of primary aluminum from bauxite
requires great amount of energy. Once it reaches
its metallic form, aluminum can be recycled indefinitely.
Recycling aluminum uses only 5 percent of the energy
needed to produce new aluminum. This saves coal in
energy production in power stations and reduces emissions
to the atmosphere.
How
to recycle aluminum:
• Designate a recycling bin for aluminum
cans.
• Remove other objects (e.g. straws)
that could ruin new aluminum.
• Encourage your school or workplace
to recycle aluminum cans. |
OTHER METALS:
Reusing and recycling metals such as lead,
copper and steel, conserves our raw material resources
for the future.
Processed metals and many alloys require less energy
to recycle than to mine and process from the source.
Lead can be recycled from old car batteries. Service
stations and car battery retail outlets will generally
accept car batteries for trade-in, or you can take
them yourself to a metal recycler for recycling.
Do not empty out battery acid before delivering the
batteries to a collector.
Don't throw away copper from hot water systems, copper
pipes or old car radiators - take them to a scrap
metal dealer. Electric cabling and wiring contains
copper and aluminum, which can be recycled. The plastic
coating found on some wiring can be removed by metal
recyclers in a process called 'granulation'. Using
this process, the plastic is removed and the copper,
aluminum and any steel present are separated magnetically
for recycling.
Brass retrieved from old household fittings can be
restored for use in old houses.
Steel and iron can be reclaimed from car bodies and
engines, disused household or industrial equipment
and building materials. Most household steel scrap
is in the form of human and pet food cans. Scrap
metal dealers may take clean, de-labeled cans but
may not be able to offer payment for them. Steel
cans, including aerosol, are accepted in many recycling
programs.
How
to recycle metal:
• Take metals to your scrap metal
dealer or local drop-off center.
• Recycle lead from old car batteries.
• Recycle copper from water systems,
copper pipes or old car radiators.
• Recycle copper and aluminum from electric
wires.
• Recycle brass from old household fittings.
• Recycle steel and iron from car bodies
and engines, disused household, industrial
equipment, building materials, and steel cans,
including aerosol, etc.
• Don’t include fire extinguishers,
gas bottles, or shock absorbers — they
have the potential to explode. |
PAPER:
Recyclers can produce a variety of recycled
paper products such as printing paper, envelopes,
toilet paper and tissues. Lower grade paper is usually
used to make products such as cardboard and insulation.
Demand for old newspapers can fluctuate. Their short
fibers are unsuitable for recycling uses but good
as packaging material, insulation material or being
recycled back into newsprint.
How
to recycle paper:
General Tips:
• Find information about local curbside
recycling programs and community drop-off
centers, or look under "Recycling" in
the yellow pages. Also call 1 (800) CLEANUP
for state recycling information.
• When printing documents, make two-sided
copies.
• Use the blank side of used printed
paper for notepaper
• Re-use envelopes.
• Purchase recycled paper.
• Separate paper into three groups (following
most commons ways curbside programs will collect
paper).
_
White
office paper
_ Newspaper
_Mixed-color paper
White office
paper:
• Recycle all white office
paper (usually from laser printers
or copiers) together.
• Be sure to remove the wrappers
they come in (color wrapping paper
can be recycle with color paper).
Newspaper:
• Take newspapers, and place
them in brown bags or tie them in bundles
with twine (a natural fiber).
• Colored advertising inserts
can be recycled with newspapers.
• Always be sure to remove rubber
bands, plastic and anything that is
not paper.
Mixed-color
paper
• Group all mixed-color paper
together including anything from magazines
to junk mail.
• No need to remove staples.
• Remove all plastic stickers,
membership cards and anything that
is not paper. |
For more information about
recycling paper contact:
American
Forest & Paper Association
The
European Paper Industry
The
American Tree Farm System
Boise
Cascade Paper: Sustainability Policies |
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