I am becoming a bit disillusioned about some peoples views on the benefits of and commitment towards recycling following some recent press and media reports on the lack of market for recycled produce, i.e. stacks of paper being stockpiling in warehouses around the country.

However, people are beginning to think “what is the point of sorting my waste if it is just being stockpiled”. Well I will tell you the point, if it was not sorted then those large piles of paper, etc that you are seeing will end up in landfill and wasted, this is not what we want. I would encourage you all to keep recycling and to put pressure on your local authorities to continue recycling schemes which they may currently feel is uneconomical in financial terms, but as we all know it is not just money that matters in the world today.

What I would suggest in the meantime is a bit more micro household recycling and reuse. Just simple little things. Reuse plastic bottles rather than buying yet another bottle of water, use both sides of paper when printing, put waste paper in your compost bin, use shredded paper as pet bedding, and so on. This is much more efficient and productive than sending it to the local authority in the present economic climate. You may even see an improvement to your own ‘bottom line’ as a result!!!

Hi all,

I have just added two more information articles on paper production and paper recycling.

Paper Production

Until the mid 19th century paper was produced mostly from recycled cotton cloth, linen or hemp fibers. With the increased demands of the Industrial Revolution and widespread desire for more books and writing materials, a cheaper alternative was sought for and found with wood pulp. A financially viable mechanical pulping machine was developed in Germany in the 1840’s and by the turn of the twentieth century various chemical means to pulp wood into paper fibers was developed. [...]

Benefits of Recycling Paper

Each year, the people of the United States uses no less than eighty-six million tons of paper, of which this country recycles only about nineteen million tons of this waste paper. If we were to recycle all of the remaining paper, we could recycle up to forty-six million tons. Recycling those forty-six million tons could save at least seven hundred eighty six million trees, or at least several forests worth. This would save the habitats of many endangered species.[...]

Hi all,

Just drawing your attention to two new articles I have posted on aluminium:

Aluminium Production:

As one of the lightest and most plentiful metals in the Earth’s surface, aluminum has become the premiere material for constructing beverage containers since its first use for this purpose in 1965. It is also one of the most environmentally and economically feasible products in use today for the purposes of recovering and recycling previously used aluminum containers and cans [...]

Recycling Alumimium:

It’s amazing just how much we could help clean up our environment if people would just recycle the aluminum cans they thoughtlessly throw into the trash a send to the landfills every single day. The American people throw away no less than thirty-five billion aluminum cans every single year! [...]

I welcome the news that Aberdeenshire Council are adopting an innovative approach to increasing recycling efforts through reverse vending machines at bus stations. Passengers gain points for every can and bottle they recycle. As the Park and Ride location they are using attracts 100,000+ users a year this could help reduce a significant number of bottles and cans from landfill. It is much easier to take your can and bottle on a trip you are making anyway than having to go out of your way to the recycling centre.

For every 50 green points (1 item = 1 point) that a passenger accumulates they receive a 20p bus travel voucher, and 100 points earns them a 50p travel discount. It maybe does not sound a lot but to be honest the amount you receive is not the determining factor, it is still a small incentive.  It is more about increasing accessibility.

Hopefully it will prove successful with “new recyclers” appearing and consequently the system is rolled out in other areas.

I would just like to draw your attention to two new articles I have uploaded to the site on glass production and the benefits of recycling:

Glass Production

Glass products have been with us through a great deal of our known history and have always been an energy intensive product to create. While the basic materials of glass are fairly common they still require some energy expenditure to collect. The basic ingredients are fine silica sand or pulverized sandstone rock with a bit of calcium, oxide and lime. Depending on the quality of the finished product it can also contain an alkali of soda or potash which is used to lower the melting point and conserve at least a small bit of the energy required to melt these substances together [...]

Benefits of Glass Recycling:

Just in one month, nearly every single American throws out enough glass bottles and jars to fill up a giant skyscraper!  Every single one of these jars are 100% recyclable!  Just the energy saved from recycling one glass bottle alone can run a 100-watt light bulb for four hours, not to mention it also causes about 20% less air pollution and over 50% less water pollution than when a company has to make a new bottle from raw materials [...]