From Guest Blogger Ashlee: The Small and Large Scale Impact of Recycling

Even the humble act of recycling has become a global business. According to a report by the London based newspaper The Guardian, when a Chinese made television is imported into the United Kingdom, a UK company then sells the empty box and packaging materials back to China, where they’re recycled and made into new boxes and packaging materials. This is due to a number of factors, including the rising price of paper and cardboard, and also the fact that many companies now place an emphasis on using recycled and renewable resources, although the fact that the box ends up crossing the globe a few times might dilute the environmental benefit. Once considered a fringe activity, recycling is now very much in the mainstream, and in the developed world, it’s something that the majority of homes and businesses participate in, although with different levels of commitment. When you’re rinsing out bottles to place in the recycling container, with your nose wrinkling when the hot water hits that last bit of old milk in the bottle, you can’t help but wonder- what impact does recycling have on the world anyway?

Recycling to Beat Pollution

Plastics manufactured using petrochemicals can seep harmful chemicals into the environment for years after they’ve been discarded, both into the air, and into the ground where they’ve been dumped. When these plastics are recycled, this type of pollution simply doesn’t take place- and recycling these materials is far less labour intensive than making entirely new products, so the manufacturing process has a far smaller carbon footprint. Recycling is also cheaper than making something from scratch, which means that the consumer ends up paying a lower price for their orange juice in a plastic bottle.

A Recycled City

Recycling on a massive scale can be fascinating as well as practical, and can even shape the landscape. A number of hills in Berlin didn’t exist prior to the end of WW2, and were made by taking large piles of rubble, compacting the waste and covering them with earth. The results were amazing, with the highest artificial hill, known as the Teufelsberg (Devil’s Mountain), an impressive 80 metres (260ft) in height. Large chunks of rubble were also ground down into cement and made into new buildings and road, which happened again when the Berlin Wall was torn down in 1989. This was a cost effective method of rebuilding, as well as solving the problem of what to do with all the mess.

Doing Your Part

Just how easy it is to recycle is somewhat dependant on your town or city. Some town councils make it much easier than others, and provide homes and businesses with separate bins for glass, paper and plastic, as well as the main bin for non-recyclable waste. Plastics and paper materials are the main household items than need to be recycled, but it’s wonderfully easy- just wash the plastic bottles so that their contents don’t render the bottle or container unrecyclable. With paper, pretty much anything can be recycled, although you’ll need to be careful of papers that contain adhesives (glue), such as envelopes, labels, stickers and some magazine/leaflet bindings. You can tear this portion off and discard it, and recycle the rest. When both large and small appliances come to the end of their life, check your local community for a company that can dismantle and safely recycle the individual components. You’ll want a professional to do this job, particularly when recycling old mobile phones and computers- you’ll definitely want your personal data to be removed.