Recycling Case

1.0 History of Recycling

All around the world, many areas are and continue to be polluted by wasteful materials. By reducing the amount of waste produced each year we can help preserve our environment. This can be done by recycling. Recycling is a word that is common mentioned among various topics. Recycling is manufacturing or creating a new product out of a product that has already served its original purpose. As the world is becoming more and more environmentally concerned, recycling plays a great role in making the world a better place to live in.

Recycling goes back as far as 3000 B.C in the Cretan capital, Knossos, the first recorded landfill sites were created where waste was placed in large pits and covered with earth at various levels (WasteOnline 2013). In these pre-industrial times the waste produced was compiled mainly from ash from fires, vegetable waste, wood and bones. Landfills were used for disposing of waste materials. However, as the industrial revolution came about, there was an increase in availability of materials which led to the increase of waste resulting in the multiplication of landfills. This began to create health hazards as well as raise concerns about the rate of decomposition of certain materials such as plastic.

As of today many countries around the world have come to realize the importance of recycling and have set up various recycling facilities and to help reduce the amount of waste being produced. Recycling is part of the three R’s of the go green movement, Reduce. Reuse and Recycle. Reduce means lowering your consumption and utilizing less resources. This maybe the most difficult for some people as it requires change. For example, shopping for things that are long-lasting and do not have to be replaced often or cutting back on the use of electricity. Instead of disposing of items, consumers can consider whether the item can be used for something else. Reusing keeps new resources from being used for a while longer, and old resources from entering the waste stream (Eisenberg 2008). Recycling, taking out useable materials from items that might be regarded as rubbish and creating new products.

Fig 1. Taken from Division of Environmental Services

The chart above illustrates the most common types of waste materials that are generated.

Recycling is an important part of the world today. On a large scale consumer goods that have been used can be collected, transformed to raw materials and recreated into new consumer goods. Cans made from aluminium, office paper, plastic containers are a few examples of materials that are usually recycled in great amounts.

2.0 Benefits of Recycling

Recycling plays a critical role in benefitting the environment as well as the people. Recycling