REUSE, REDUCE AND RECYCLE
Recycling is processing used
materials (
waste) 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 virgin production.
[1][2] Recycling is a key component of modern waste reduction and is the third component of the "
Reduce,
Reuse, Recycle"
waste hierarchy.
There are some
ISO standards relating to recycling such as ISO 15270:2008 for plastics waste and
ISO 14001:2004 for environmental management control of recycling practice.
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 not typically considered recycling.
[2]
Materials to be recycled are either brought to a collection center or
picked up from the curbside, then sorted, cleaned, and reprocessed into
new materials bound for manufacturing.
In the strictest sense, recycling of a material would produce a fresh supply of the same material—for example, used office
paper would be converted into new office paper, or used
foamed polystyrene
into new polystyrene. However, this is often difficult or too expensive
(compared with producing the same product from raw materials or other
sources), so "recycling" of many products or materials involves their
reuse in producing different materials (e.g.,
paperboard) instead. Another form of recycling is the
salvage of certain materials from complex products, either due to their intrinsic value (e.g.,
lead from
car batteries, or
gold from
computer components), or due to their hazardous nature (e.g., removal and reuse of
mercury
from various items). Critics dispute the net economic and environmental
benefits of recycling over its costs, and suggest that proponents of
recycling often make matters worse and suffer from
confirmation bias.
Specifically, critics argue that the costs and energy used in
collection and transportation detract from (and outweigh) the costs and
energy saved in the production process; also that the jobs produced by
the recycling industry can be a poor trade for the jobs lost in logging,
mining, and other industries associated with virgin production; and
that materials such as paper pulp can only be recycled a few times
before material degradation prevents further recycling. Proponents of
recycling dispute each of these claims, and the validity of arguments
from both sides has led to enduring controversy.