2. REUSE
To reuse is to use an item again after is been used. This includes
conventional reuse where the item is used again for the same function, and
new-life reuse where it is used for a different function. In contrast, recycling
is the breaking down of the used item into raw materials which are used to
make new items. By taking useful products and exchanging them, without
reprocessing, reuse help save time, money, energy, and resources. In
broader economic terms, reuse offers quality products to people and
organizations with limited means, while generating jobs and business
activity that contribute to the economy.
Current environmental awareness is gradually changing attitudes and
regulations, such as the new packaging regulations, are gradually beginning
to reverse the situation.
One example of conventional reuse is the doorstep delivery of milk in
refillable bottles; other examples include the retreading of tires and the use
of returnable/reusable plastic boxes, shipping containers, instead of single-
use corrugated fiberboard boxes.
3. ADVANTAGES OF REUSE
Reuse has certain potential advantages:
Energy and raw materials savings as replacing
many single use products with one reusable one
reduces the number that need to be
manufactured.
Reduced disposal needs and costs.
Cost savings for business and consumers as a
reusable product is often cheaper than the many
single use products it replaces.
Some older items were better handcrafted and
appreciate in value
Refurbishment can bring sophisticated
sustainable well paid jobs to underdeveloped
economies
4. DISADVANTAGES OF REUSE
Disadvantages are also apparent:
Reuse often requires cleaning or transport, which have
environmental costs.
Some items, such as free on appliances or infant auto
seats could be hazardous or less energy efficient as they
continue to be used.
Reusable products need to be more durable than single-
use products, and hence require more
material per item. This is particularly significant if only a
small proportion of the reusable products are in fact
reused.
Sorting and preparing items for reuse takes time, which is
inconvenient for consumers and costs
money for businesses.
5. RECYCLING
• Recycling is a resource recovery practice that refers to the collection and reuse of waste
materials such as empty beverage containers. The materials from which the items are
made can be reprocessed into new products. Material for recycling may be collected
separately from general waste using dedicated bins and collection vehicles are sorted
directly from mixed waste streams and are known as kerb-side recycling, it requires the
owner of the waste to separate it into various different bins (typically wheelie bins) prior
to its collection.
• The most common consumer products recycled include aluminium such as beverage
cans, copper such as wire, steel food and aerosol cans, old steel furnishings or
equipment, polyethylene and bottles, glass bottles and jars, paperboard cartons,
newspapers, magazines and light paper, and corrugated fibreboard boxes.
• . The recycling of complex products (such as computers and electronic equipment) is
more difficult, due to the additional dismantling and separation required.
• The type of material accepted for recycling varies by city and country. Each city and
country have different recycling programs in place that can handle the various types of
recyclable materials. However, variation in acceptance is reflected in the resale value of
the material once it is reprocessed.
6. ADVANTAGES OF REYCLE
Waste recycling has some significant advantages:
It leads to utilization of raw material.
reduces environmental impacts arising from waste
treatment and disposal.
makes the surroundings cleaner and healthier.
saves on landfill space.
saves money.
reduces the amount of energy
required to manufacture new
products.
7. DISADVANTAGES OF RECYCLE
Separate factories must be set up for the recycling of materials, and
this will just cause more pollution and energy consumption for
transport, sorting, cleaning and storage;
Pollutants produced by the recycling process itself, including
chemical stews when breaking down different products;
Only the recycling of aluminum really makes any money. Reclaiming
metals is feasible and fairly easy, whereas plastics and paper are
expensive, wasteful and overly difficult;
Like for example all the extra bins you have in your back garden,
One for normal rubbish, one for tins, glass etc, paper basket, food
waste and a garden waste one, and all of these extra bins means
more trucks coming to pick them up.
8. • Recycling involves the collection of used and discarded
materials processing these materials and making them into
new products. It reduces the amount of waste that is
thrown into the community dustbins thereby making the
environment cleaner and the air more fresh to breathe.
• Surveys carried out by Government and non-government
agencies in the country have all recognized the importance
of recycling wastes. However, the methodology for safe
recycling of waste has not been standardized. Studies have
revealed that 7 %-15% of the waste is recycled. If recycling
is done in a proper manner, it will solve the problems of
waste or garbage. At the community level, a large number
of NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations) and private
sector enterprises have taken an initiative in segregation
and recycling of waste (EXNORA International in Chennai
recycles a large part of the waste that is collected). It is
being used for composting, making pellets to be used in
gasifies, etc
9. • Some items that
can be recycled or
• Glass and ceramics
reused Bottles
Plates
• Paper Cup
Old copies Bowls
Old books • Miscellaneous
Paper bags Old cans
Newspapers Utensils
Old greeting cards Clothes
Cardboard box Furniture
• Plastic
Containers
Bottles
Bags
Sheets
10. • The steps involved in the process prior to
recycling include
a) Collection of waste from
doorsteps, commercial places, etc.
b) Collection of waste from community dumps.
c) Collection/picking up of waste from final
disposal sites.
• Most of the garbage generated in the household
can be recycled and reused. Organic kitchen
waste such as leftover foodstuff, vegetable
peels, and spoilt or dried fruits and vegetables
can be recycled by putting them in the compost
pits that have been dug in the garden. Old
newspapers, magazines and bottles can be sold
to the kabadiwala the man who buys these items
11. HOW IS PAPER RECYCLED? And reused?
Collection and
Transportation
• You may take your sorted paper to a
local recycling center or recycling
bin.
• Often, a paper stock dealer or
recycling center will collect
recovered paper from your home or
office.
• Your local dealer can tell you the
options available in your community.
• At the recycling center, the collected
paper is wrapped in tight bales and
transported to a paper mill,
• where it will be recycled into new
paper.
12. Storage
• Paper mill workers unload the
recovered paper and put it into
warehouses, where it is stored until
needed.
• The various paper grades, such as
newspapers and corrugated
boxes, are kept separate, because the
paper mill uses different grades of
recovered paper to make different
types of recycled paper products.
• When the paper mill is ready to use
the paper, forklifts move the paper
from the warehouse to large
conveyors.
13. Re-pulping and Screening
• The paper moves by conveyor to a big
vat called a pulper, which contains
water and chemicals.
• The pulper chops the recovered paper
into small pieces.
• Heating the mixture breaks the paper
down more quickly into tiny strands
of cellulose (organic plant material)
called fibers.
• Eventually, the old paper turns into a
mushy mixture called pulp.
• The pulp is forced through screens
containing holes and slots of various
shapes and sizes.
• The screens remove small
contaminants such as bits of plastic
and globs of glue.
• This process is called screening.
14. Cleaning
• Mills also clean pulp by
spinning it around in large
cone-shaped cylinders.
• Heavy contaminants like
staples are thrown to the
outside of the cone and
fall through the bottom of
the cylinder.
• Lighter contaminants
collect in the center of the
cone and are removed.
• This process is called
cleaning.
15. Deinking
• Sometimes the pulp must undergo a “pulp
laundering” operation called deinking (de-
inking) to remove printing ink and “stickies”
(sticky materials like glue residue and
adhesives).
• Papermakers often use a combination of two
deinking processes.
• Small particles of ink are rinsed from the pulp
with water in a process called washing.
• Larger particles and stickies are removed with
air bubbles in another process called flotation.
• During flotation deinking, pulp is fed into a
large vat called a flotation cell, where air and
soap like chemicals call surfactants are injected
into the pulp.
• The surfactants cause ink and stickies to loosen
from the pulp and stick to the air bubbles as
they float to the top of the mixture.
• The inky air bubbles create foam or froth which
is removed from the top, leaving the clean pulp
behind.
16. Refining, Bleaching and Color
Stripping
• During refining, the pulp is beaten to
make the recycled fibers swell,
making them ideal for papermaking.
• If the pulp contains any large bundles
of fibers, refining separates them into
individual fibers.
• If the recovered paper is colored,
color stripping chemicals remove the
dyes from the paper.
• Then, if white recycled paper is being
made, the pulp may need to be
bleached with hydrogen peroxide,
chlorine dioxide, or oxygen to make it
whiter and brighter.
• If brown recycled paper is being
made, such as that used for industrial
paper towels, the pulp does not need
to be bleached.
17. Papermaking
• Now the clean pulp is ready to be
made into paper.
• The recycled fiber can be used alone,
or blended with new wood fiber
(called virgin fiber) to give it extra
strength or smoothness.
• The pulp is mixed with water and
chemicals to make it 99.5% water.
• This watery pulp mixture enters the
head box, a giant metal box at the
beginning of the paper machine, and
then is sprayed in a continuous wide
jet onto a huge flat wire screen which
is moving very quickly through the
paper machine.
• On the screen, water starts to drain
from the pulp, and the recycled fibers
quickly begin to bond together to form
a watery sheet.
continued
18. • continued
• The sheet moves rapidly through a
series of felt-covered press rollers which
squeeze out more water.
• The sheet, which now resembles paper,
passes through a series of heated metal
rollers which dry the paper.
• If coated paper is being made, a coating
mixture can be applied near the end of
the process, or in a separate process
after the papermaking is completed.
• coating gives paper a smooth, glossy
surface for printing.
• Finally,, the finished paper is wound into
a giant roll and removed from the paper
machine.
• One roll can be as wide as 30 feet and
weigh as much as 20 tons!
• The roll of paper is cut into smaller rolls,
or sometimes into sheets, before being
shipped to a converting plant where it
will be printed or made into products
such as envelopes, paper bags, or
boxes.
