Did You Know... (Recycling)

Did You Know...
It's hard to believe that babies- so small and innocent- are responsible for 2.5% of all residential waste going into the landfills! Yes, in Canada we throw away 1.7 billion dispoable diapers every year. And the manufacture of disposable diapers in Canada consumes approximately 65, 500 tonnes of pulp, 8,800 tonnes of plastic and 9,800 tonnes of packing material. Cloth diapers are a greener alternative. If you don't want to wash diapers, consider a diaper service.

Plastic
Plactics account for 7% of the total weight of a typical landfill. In fact, Canadians take home more than 55 million plastic bags a week! Many plastics are fully recyclable like HDPE and PET. New, interesting products are being made from empty detergent bottles, milk jugs and other plastic refuse. For example, recycled PET is used to make fabric, insulation for sleeping bags and ski jackets; clothing such as T-shirts and uniforms; furniture; luggage; and carpet. And it is used in business equipment and supplies, such as overhead transparencies, covers, briefcases, 3-ring binders, erasable wall planners, chairs, bookmarks, computer bags and business cards. Recycled HDPE is used to make irrigation pipes, garden hoses and plastic trays for greenhouse plants.

Electrical Waste
As newer and more advanced computer, phones and entertainment equipment keep arriving on the market, older models begin to pile up in landfills. More than 140,000 tonnes of computer equipment, phones, televisions, stereos and small home appliances accumulate in Canadian landfills each year. That's equivalent to the weight of about 28,000 adult African elephants!

The amount of electrical waste is becoming a growing problem for municipalities.

All of this electrical waste does more than just take up land and space- it poses a risk to human health and the environment. Lead, cadmium, mercury and other heavy metals found in electronic equipment need to be properly managed to avoid polluting land and waterways.

Land filling electronic waste is also a lost opportunity because these products normally contain recyclable aluminum, ferrous metals and copper. In 1999, it is estimated that discarded personal computers along contained 4,400 tonnes of ferrous metal, 3,050 tonnes of aluminum and 1,500 tonnes of copper. In 2004, Alberta Environment estimated that more than 190,000 televisions and 90,000 desktop computers were discarded from Alberta households.

Other Recycling Tips

Clinical Waste

• Clinical waste such as nappies, sanitary waste and medical supplies have the potential to be infectious so must be disposed of using special methods.
• Be careful when disposing of needles and syringes.
• Look for doctors or manufacturer instructions of how to dispose of medical waste on the packaging containers.
• Medicine containers can be recycled accordingly once it is empty.
• Such companies are currently implementing clinical waste treatment schemes, such as Medical Waste Solutions, LTD.

Paint or Oil

• Waste of paint, paintbrushes, car oil and oil filters have to be carefully disposed of, as they can be very damaging to the environment.
• Don't pour oil or paint down the drain.
• Donate unwanted paints and varnishes, as others can reuse them.
• Look for disposal or recycling instructions on the packaging of the product.
• Civic amenity sites often take engine oil for recycling.
• Buy products in bulk whenever possible to reduce packaging waste.
• Use eco-friendly alternatives whenever possible.

Vehicle Recycling

• Up to 80% of a vehicle can be recycled.
• Try and fix your vehicle instead of throwing it away.
• Sell unwanted vehicles.
• Report abandonded vehicles to your local council for removal.
• Engine oil can be recycled at civic amenity sites.

Wood

• Take wood to civic amenity sites for recycling.
• Wood can often be reused to make other items, such as a bird table for your garden.
• Wood can often be added to your compost bin, such as saw dust and wood shavings.
• Buy Recycled wood whenever possible.

Clothes

• Donate old clothes to charity shops or take them to a jumble sale.
• Only donate clothes that are still usable.
• Old clothes can be used to make other textile items, such as cushion covers or cleaning cloths.
• When donating shows, make sure they are tied together so they don't separate.

Electrical Equipment

• Most electrical equipment can be reused or broken down into parts.
• If the electrical equipment is still in full working order, sell it in a car boot sale or donate it to a charity shop.
• Contact your retailer as they may take back old products.
• Always try to repair items rather than throwing them away, others may find a use for the item when you no longer want it.
• Try to buy electrical items that have a long life span.

Furniture

• Donate usable furniture to charity shops, schools, community centers, friends or neighbors.
• Sell furniture at garage sales or in auctions.
• Clean and repair broken furniture before you sell/donate it.

What Can Be Recycled?

• Newsprint.
• Magazines.
• Office and computer paper.
• Juice boxes.
• Aluminum and tin cans.
• Glass bottles and jars.
• Boxboard containers (cereal and shoe boxes).
• Flattened corrugated cardboard boxes.
• Milk cartons and jugs.
• Plastic containers.
• Plastic bags.

Steel

• Recycling Steel from construction products, vehicles and mechanical equipment can save a lot of energy pollution.
• One tonne of recycled steel saves 1.4 tonnes of iron ore and 3.6 barrels of oil.
• It takes four times as much energy to make steel from virgin ore as it does to make it from scrap.
• A stell mill using recycled scrap reduces related water pollution, air pollution and mining wastes by 70%.
• Recycled steel cans are used to make new steel cans. Scrap metal can easily be recycled into a wide range of new products.

Battery Recycling

• All waste batteries are classified as hazardous waste and recycling is always the best option.
• Ordinary household batteries do contain some harzardous chemicals so ideally should not be thrown out with the day to day rubbish.
• Rechargeable batteries contain harmful metals, so should never be thrown away with daily rubbish, they should be returned to manufacturer for disposal or recycled elsewhere.
• Contact the battery manufacturer for further recycling advice.
• Ordinary batteries require a lot of energy to make, so in order to savew energy, use rechargeable batteries and electricity mains instead of ordinary batteries.
• Rechargeable batteries are the most environmentally friendly option as can last up to several hundred charging cycles resulting in less waste being produced.

Metal Recycling

Aluminum and Steel

• Metal is usually separated into two groups: aluminum and steel.
• You can test which metal your waste is by using a magnet. Aluminum metal is non-magnetic whereas steel is magnetic.
• There may be a symbol, such as a alu mark, on the product to indicate what metal it is made from.
• Drink cans are usually made from aluminum and food cans are usually made from steel.
• Deposit used cans at your local recycling bank.
• Make sure drink and food cans are clean before recycling.
• Aerosol containers can be recycled, but only when they are completely empty.
• Metallic plastic film, such as chocolate wrappers, cannot be recycled.

Did you know that a littered aluminum can will take 300 years to break down on its own? By recycling aluminum cans, we save landfill space as well as energy. For example, it takes 95% less energy to produce new aluminum from discarded aluminum cans than from raw materials.

Paper Recycling

Paper is separated into the following groups:

• Magazines.
• Newspapers.
• Office paper.
• Cardboard.
• Phone directories.

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• Deposit used paper at your local recycling bank.
• Only recycle gummed paper if specified, such as envelopes and stickers.
• Reduce paper waste by cancelling unwanted deliveries, or read news online as opposed to buying the newspapers.
• Put a "no junk-mail please" sign on your letter box to reduce unwanted mail.
• Reuse paper around the home as scrap paper or packing material.
• Set your printer to print on both sides of the paper.
• Buy recycled paper whenever possible.

Recycling one tonne of newspaper saves: 19 trees, 3 cubic meters of landfill, 4000 kilowatt hours of energy, 29000 liters of water and 30 kg of air pollution effluent. Recycled newsprint can be made into new newspaper, kitty litter, shingles for houses, absorbent for oil spills and insulation. Products made from recycled cardboard use 25% of the energy and create half as much pollution as making them from new materials.

Composting

Composting is an excellent way to recycle kitchen and garden waste. It is very easy to build your own compost bin to help your garden grow. Composting is the decomposition of materials that originated from animals and plants. These organic materials can be things such as plant trimmings, vegetable cuttings, eggshells and teabags. The composting process produces a dark, crumbly matter that can be used as fertilizer in garden soil. The main stages of composting are:

• Adding organic materials to compost bin.
• Micro-organisms, such as bacteria and fungi, break down the soft material.
• This causes the compost pile to heat to around 60°C. This is the ideal temperature for micro-organisms to work at.
• The compost pile then cools to below 30°C.
• Small creatures such as worms and insects then break down the tougher material.
• The whole process usually takes about 3-9 months, and results in a nutrient-rich fertilizer to use in your garden.
• The compost that is ready to use can be taken from the bottom of the pile, leaving the rest to finish the process.

How to Build a Compost Bin

• You can buy a compost bin or build your own. Compost bins are usually sold at gardening stores.
• Build a compost bin by creating a frame out of wood and attach it to the ground using posts.
• Your compost bin should be able to hold about 200-300 liters, try and use a bin with a lid to keep out the rain.
• The compost bin should be placed in a well-lit and well-drained area of the garden.
• Try and keep the compost bin out of the wind.
• Improve drainage by breaking up the soil underneath the compost bin.

What to Add to Your Compost Bin:

• Hair and fur.
• Shredded paper.
• Straw and hay.
• Animal bedding and sawdust.
• Crushed eggshells.
• Grass and plant cuttings.
• Raw fruit and vegetable trimmings.
• Teabags and coffee granules.
• Horse manure.
• Leaves.

What NOT to Add to Your Compost Bin:

• Meat or fish.
• Coal ash.
• Animal waste.
• Nappies and used tissues.
• Dairy products.
• Cooked foods.
• Colored or treated paper.
• Chemically treated wood.
• Diseased plants.
• Persistent weeds.

Glass Recycling Tips

Glass

• Deposit glass at your nearest recycling bank by throwing them into the appropriate container.
• Many supermarkets have glass recycling banks, enabling you to recycling glass on your weekly shop.
• Make sure you wash out the bottle or jar before putting it into recycling bins.
• Reuse glass whenever possible. Jars can be used as small conatiners and bottles can be used as vases.

Glass containers can be recycled again and again. However, each year in Canada, six million tonnes of glass are thrown away. A littered glass bottle will take a whopping one million years to break down! And for every tonne of new glass that needs to be produced, 12.6 kg of air pollution is created; recycling glass reduces that pollution by 14-20%. To put it in perspective, one recycled glass bottle saves enough energy to power a 100-watt light bulb for four hours!