The definition of recycling has been described as the process to turn waste materials into new products. They can have similar properties as the original use, such as plastics and papers, or into parts of other useful goods.
Recycling is an important practice giving the positive impacts it leads to the environment, thus the populations living in it. Using materials otherwise going to be wasted and turn them into useful products accommodates for the increase in sustainability of raw materials, less energy usage for related productions, and therefore reduces pollution.
The government has developed ways and strategies, along with the implementation of resources to encourage the public to recycle. There are noticeably increasing numbers of areas allocated for dumping recyclable waste materials. Instead of waiting for the rubbish to mountain before disposing it at some later time, mainly due to the fair distance of dedicated recycling points and the type of residences people live in, the public can now spare only a few minutes to do this on their way out to work, or even while out and about in town. Numerous councils have recently provided recycling bins for flat buildings and all around business centers. It is obvious that such strategy works wonders, in terms of ensuring clean surroundings, supports recycling, and promote a healthy environment overall. It also works in a way that there is the presence of a common awareness. One would likely to mimic certain behaviours of others in his surrounding. Disposing your rubbish while you are out is far more organized these days. Replacing the old conventional rubbish bins into separate bins dedicated for specific recyclable materials were without a doubt a clever move.
Although sorting out the rubbish accordingly in part of our contribution to the environment may be manageable, the complete circle of recycling and what it is about proves to be a little more complicated. Once these waste materials are disposed into their dedicated bins, they need to be collected, processed, and used. A number of environmental studies have come up with suggestions that there are a number of obstacles that may disrupt the recycling system to work as a whole. The increasing availability of areas which provide recycling bins may not have been matched up with the availability of their collections. The greater the areas of collections, the more vehicles, time, and also man power required. More vehicles are needed to make sure that rubbish is being collected at the correct time. This will reduce any unnecessary pollution caused by over flowing of rubbish, which includes preventing any presence of bugs and insects attracted by the smell, and to avoid contaminations of the surrounding areas.
Once these waste materials are collected, they will enter production to make new products. As mentioned above, these products should be used in order for the idea of recycling to work. As long as people still buy and use products made entirely from new materials, recycling will not be achieving its maximum potential to safe the environment.
The challenge here is to spread the full understanding and awareness of what recycling can do to the environment, and the benefits to the public in many aspects including health. A clean and healthy environment, supported by the availability of natural resources and wise utilization, has been suggested to contribute to an improved public health.
Figures showed that 20 % worth of energy could be saved on manufacturing products from recycled waste materials rather than from newly extracted raw materials. It is worth to know that for example; one recycled tin would mean saving energy for around 3 hours of television power, and recycled glass contributes to powering a computer for 25 minutes. In addition, recycling waste paper materials allows up to 70% less consumption of trees, hence forest and soil conservation. Recycled plastics are good to produce certain parts of fillings for sleeping bags and duvet, office accessories, carrier bags and plastic bottles.
Furthermore, one can argue that recycling is not really straightforward. There are a number of waste materials unsuitable for recycling. At present, almost all packaging is labeled with information regarding what parts are suitable or unsuitable for recycling. It is fair to say that understanding these labels can be quite hard at times. A plastic water bottle could display information referring that the bottle part is recyclable as plastic container, the cap itself should be recycled as a different category, and the product label is not currently recyclable. This alone may deter the public to practice recycle as a habit. While some households are lucky enough to be able to provide space for the different types of recyclable rubbish, others may only just manage to fit one single rubbish bin in the corner of their home.
However high it is our willingness to be kind to the environment, especially when health and future generation is taken into consideration the process itself can sometimes feel confusing and far from simple.