When the waste materials are changed to new products and the ‘wastage’ can be prevented potentially with the creation of utility items – the process is called recycling. In this way we can help the mankind with a better environment for a sustainable future – less fresh raw materials consumption, less air pollution, less energy usage, less waste disposal and lower greenhouse gas emissions are the few advantages of ‘recycling’. The global slogan everywhere is “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle”, which strongly aims for a better world. Unfortunately, the concept of recycling is not very clear to everyone and many myths are associated with it. This article will talk about all such myths and reveal the truths against them for your knowledge –
Myth 1 – Recycling have become essential because we are losing the landfill space.
Fact 1 – This cry started during the 1980s, when the Mobro 4000 garbage load was wandering on the truck along the East Coast looking out for a place to dump its rotten load. However, that was just one instance but it’s definitely not true in the contemporary situation and can be said a myth! We have unlimited space to dump garbage – most of the city municipals does not allow the permission to build a landfill area for the garbage; the realisation should come in time before it’s too late. Records say that USA has 20 years of disposal capacity in the existing landfill area.
Myth 2 – The transport carrying the garbage burns more energy and brings more pollution in comparison to recycling production.
Fact 2 – It’s true that recycling programs do cost quite a hefty amount – almost 60% of the budget of a recycling program is eaten up by the transport that moves around to collect the recyclables. The trucks emit pollution as well; but the cause cannot be neglected for these facts. This pollution can be avoided and energy can be saved if fewer trucks are used and the collecting campaigns are done only twice a year. Rest of the year, the people have to deposit the recyclables at a particular unit of the city – in this way much of the moving around can be cut down. However, new truck designs have been used for the purpose that does not pollute the air and also uses less fuel; it has self dump facility to reduce manpower as well.
Myth 3 – Prices of raw materials are rising due to the recyclables.
Fact 3 – Prices are hiking for all kinds of recyclables; however that just does not count for the reason of raw materials getting expensive. People have now become aware and alert of the globalisation and prefer to buying used materials and organic goods – that is true! But the prices for raw materials are purely increasing for the fact of its utility and manifesting costs. It has nothing to do with the recycling costs.
Myth 4 – the recycled dumps have to be sort out painstakingly by hand into plastic, glass, metal and paper.
Fact 4 – Today, the machines do this work. Back in the 1980s, the recyclers arranged dozen different boxes for that were labelled separately for cans, bottles, papers etc. People did put effort to sort them out, which was expensive hazard as well. These days the authorities planâ€single-stream†item recovery facilities, where the recyclables are dumped in one bin and the machines do the job of sorting out. These machines have magnets to attract steel, infrared spectrometers for plastics, eddy currents for aluminium, and many more technologies for perfect sorting out.
Myth 5 – Almost all papers used today are recycled.
Fact 5 – Unfortunately only 10% of the printing and writing paper in the industry is made from recycled material; rest 90% is the product of virgin raw material.
Myth 6 – The copiers get jammed if recycled papers are used.
Fact 6 – The recycled papers obtained these days are of high quality and technically advanced that are suitable for copiers. If in any case the papers get jammed in copiers, the recycled paper is not to be blamed; may be the ream was not in use for long and it got moistened. Buy papers that are labelled “high-speed” for copiers.
