Recycling means taking something that has already been used and treating it so that it can be used again. For example, old newspapers can be treated by removing the ink and mixing them with water under pressure so that they become pulp and can be made into paper again.

Recycling: Reclaiming Materials For Further Use

A) NATURAL RECYCLING: Everything in nature is recycled. Animal & vegetable remains feed the soil, which nourishes new life. The concept of rubbish is a very recent idea peculiar to modern man.

B) MASSES TO RECYCLE: 20 million tones of rubbish from houses, shops & offices is buried in Britain every year, this includes 6 billion bottles & 9 billion cans.

C) RECYCLING AS FUEL: Burning rubbish can be better then burying it. Ground up 4 mixed with oil, rubbish with burn, cutting fuel costs at some power stations by 20%.

D) FRESH PULP: Each tone of paper pulp uses 170 trees. At the moment the worlds forests are getting smaller by the size of a football pitch every second.

E) RECYCLING AS COMPOST: Rubbish with hapo bits removed, can also be ground up, mixed with sewage & sold as compost.

F) RECYCLED PAPER: Britain uses about 7.5 millions tonnes of paper , cardboard a year 20%. 15 recycled but it is theoritically possible to increase this to 60&.

G) UNWANTED PAPER: Unfortunately, the demand fro waste paper fluctuates wildly. It was recently been low because of the recession. This means less demand for paper. The strong pound makes imported paper cheaper. The discovery that no one wants their waste paper has discouraged many councils from collecting it.

H) RECYCLING PLASTICS: There are so many types of plastics. They are almost impossible to seperate for recyclnig. Howewer assorted plastic waste can be compressed to make building boards like plywood, shoe heels & even fence posts! Using a new Belgian machine.

I) RECYCLING & DEPOSITS: Oregon introudced a alw in 1971 demanding that a deposit be paid on all drink containers, reusable or not. Drinks in reusable containers thus became chepaper & over 95% of cans & bottles are now returned. Friends of the earth have introduced a similar bill for Britain which is now going through the house of lords.

J) HOW YOU CAN RECYCLE ALUMINIUM CANS: Unlike glass, aluminium can be recycled much more cheply than it can be made from ores. Alcoa is paying 1p for each returned all-aluminium can.

K) BOTTLE BANKS: The glass industry has placed bottle banks(skips fro old bottles). In many shopping centers unfortunatelly, grinding up old bottles & remelting them uses nearly as much energy as making new glass from sand.

L) HOW TO RECYCLE: Most branches of friens of the earth will tell you where you can take waste paper/plastics/metals/foreign coins/old clothes/stamps/spectacles/bottles/coat hangers.