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Recycled Information Recyclable Information Biodegradable Information |
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Recycled |
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Recycling programs are increasing across the nation and around the world as a means of reducing the amount of landfill space needed for waste. But collecting papers and bottles is only half of the process. Consumers need to purchase products made of recycled materials to complete the cycle. Because Nature recycles everything-100 percent-every blade of grass, butterfly, fish, leaf, bird, all degrade back into the soil-every life form is made from recycled material. Even our own bodies are made from recycled food, broken down into basic nutrients and reassembled into cells. In the world of manufacturing consumer products, a "recycled" product is a new product made from materials that would otherwise have been waste, broken down (melted or pulped) into a basic substance from which a new product can be formed. Even though the word "recycled" is commonly used to mean reusing something in any way, legal definitions require the old product to be broken down into its basic material and a new product formed for it to be called "recycled." Recycled products have an almost universally-recognized symbol-the three "chasing arrows." It was originally developed in the 1970's by the American Paper Institute (API) for use on recycled papers, but is it now widely used on products of all kinds and has become the unofficial national symbol for recycling of anything and everything. The recycling symbol appears on products in two forms. API suggests that solid chasing arrows within a black circle represent "recycled content" in a product or package and that the arrows appearing in outline signify that a product or package is "recyclable". Permission to use the API chasing arrows symbol is given freely to any manufacturer without a fee. However, many products use the symbols without permission or guidance as to their meaning. Many people-consumers and manufacturers alike-do not understand these fine distinctions and either use the symbols incorrectly on the label, misunderstand the intended meaning of the symbol, or both. Look for other descriptive words explaining the meaning of the symbol for clarification. There are three general levels of recycled products that can all be called "recycled". The first (appropriately called "primary recycling") is the reprocessing or remanufacturing of discarded materials into the same product which can then be recycled again, such as a glass container into a glass container or a steel product to a steel product. The second level ("secondary recycling") is the reprocessing or remanufacturing of discarded materials into a different, but similar, product which is technically recyclable-old corrugated cardboard boxes into cereal boxes, for example. The third level ("tertiary recycling") is the reprocessing or remanufacturing of discarded materials into a product which is not likely to be recycled, such as recycling mixed office paper into bathroom tissue. There is much controversy among manufacturers, distributors, regulators, and consumers over what constitutes a "real" recycled product. There are two kinds of recycled material that can go into making a recycled product. Post-industrial waste" or "pre-consumer waste" is that waste generated by industrial manufacturing processes that would have otherwise gone to a landfill (not included are wastes that have customarily been "put back in the pot" in the factory). "Post-consumer waste" or "PCW" is the bottles, cans, plastic milk jugs, and newspapers we collect and recycle after we are done using them. There are those who believe that only products made from post-consumer waste should be called "recycled." Considering that for every pound of consumer waste there is twenty-five pounds of manufacturing waste, pre-consumer waste has it's place in products called "recycled," too. Products just need to be labeled correctly so consumers can make their own choices. |
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Recyclable |
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As recycling programs are increasing across the nation and around the world as a means of reducing the amount of landfill space needed for waste, more and more products are becoming part of the goldmine of raw materials from which new products can be fashioned. A "recyclable" product is, simply, one that can be collected and made into a new recycled product. But when considering the recyclability of a product there are two separate and distinct issues: 1) Can a product or material technically be recycled? 2) In real life, can a product or material practically be recycled? The difference between these two definitions of "recyclable" is the subject of hot controversy in the product/packaging labeling world. Some say that any product or material that can technically be recycled should be labeled "recyclable." Others say that the attribute "recyclable" should only be used on a label if, in fact, it can really be recycled in the community where the product or package is sold. While recyclables such as glass or newspapers can be recycled almost everywhere, other recyclables like plastics or motor oil can only be recycled in the limited number of areas where programs have been set up. Because of inconsistencies in labeling laws and guidelines, consumers who want to buy a product or package they can recycle can't rely on the label to indicate what can and can't be recycled. Many manufacturers have removed the word "recyclable" from their products and packages altogether. Other manufacturers call their products and packages "recyclable" regardless of the availability of a local recycling center. Recyclable products have an almost universally-recognized symbol-the three "chasing arrows." It was originally developed in the 1970's by the American Paper Institute (API) for use on recycled papers, but is it now widely used on products of all kinds and has become the unofficial national symbol for recycling of anything and everything. The recycling symbol appears on products in two forms. API suggests that solid chasing arrows within a black circle be used to represent "recycled content" in a product or package and that the arrows appearing in outline signify that a product or package is recyclable. Permission to use the API chasing arrows symbol is given freely to any manufacturer without a fee. However, many products use the symbols without permission or guidance as to their meaning. Many people-consumers and manufacturers alike-do not understand these fine distinctions and either use the symbols incorrectly on the label, misunderstand the intended meaning of the symbol, or both. Look for other descriptive words that indicate the intended meaning of the symbol. Whether or not is economically feasible to recycle a product is yet another question. Often, virgin raw materials are cheaper than recycled materials (thanks to government subsidies and policies). Transportation issues can also come into play-is it better for the environment to use a local raw material or recycled material transported from a great distance? The shipping costs of moving collected recyclables to a distant processing plant can eat up all the profit. And, recently, there have been gluts of recyclable material-especially newspapers-that become worthless when there are not enough buyers of recycled products. All these problems can be worked out. It's important now to support the market for recyclable material by buying recycled products, and not simply give up on recycling as impractical. The primary markets for recycled materials right now are aluminum and other scrap metals, glass, paper and plastic. These are easily recognizable even without the word "recyclable" on the label. Because recyclability of any product is so specific to your local community, it's important to know which products technically can be recycled, and which can practically be recycled where you live. Take an hour or two to find out how and where your recyclables can be recycled, then make convenient arrangements in your home for collection, and take recyclables to the collection center (or put them out for pick-up) on a regular basis. Now that we are faced with the need to conserve resources and limited landfill space, recycling will become as normal a part of our lives as taking out the garbage. In the last few years, the collection of recyclables and the manufacture of recycled products has becomes a multimillion dollar industry. We are beginning to see that recycling is the most effective and economical way to handle the waste we produce in this country. A very large portion of our waste is recyclable or otherwise reusable. If we recycled all of our paper and paperboard (40%), all of our metals (9%), all of our plastic (8%), and all our glass (7%), we would reduce our total garbage by 64 percent! If, in addition, we reclaimed our wood (4%), rubber (3%), and textiles (2%) for other uses, we would be down to only 27 percent of our current garbage. By composting yard wastes (18%) and food wastes (7%), we're left with only two percent of our current solid waste to place in a landfill or otherwise dispose of. Of course, this is idealistic, but it's an sustainability goal worth pursuing. Though the national recycling average is only 13%, some individual states have higher recycling rates: Washington 28%, New Jersey 25%, Oregon 25%, Vermont 18%, Illinois 18%, and Maine 17%. It can be done. | |
| Biodegradable | |
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A "biodegradable" product has the ability to break down, safely and relatively quickly, by biological means, into the raw materials of nature and disappear into the environment. These products can be solids biodegrading into the soil (which we also refer to as compostable), or liquids biodegrading into water. Biodegradable plastic is intended to break up when exposed to microorganisms (a natural ingredient such as cornstarch or vegetable oil is added to achieve this result). Sustainable disposal of any product requires that its wastes return to the earth and are able to biodegrade. Nature biodegrades everything it makes back into basic building blocks, so that new living things can be made from the old. Every resource made by nature returns to nature-plants and animals biodegrade, even raw crude oil will degrade when exposed to water, air, and the necessary salts. Nature has perfected this system-we just need to learn how to participate in it. By the time many resources are turned into products, however, they have been altered by industry in such a way that they are unrecognizable to the microorganisms and enzymes that return natural materials to their basic building blocks. Crude oil, for example, will biodegrade in its natural state, but once it is turned into plastic; it becomes an unsustainable pollution problem. Instead of returning to the cycle of life, these products simply pollute and litter our land, air, and water. Of all the environmental buzzwords, "biodegradable" has perhaps been the most misused and is perhaps the most difficult to understand. Because in the past there have been no guidelines or regulations, many products have called themselves biodegradable without any real justification. Unfortunately, the word biodegradable has frequently been applied to products that generally aren't (such as detergents or plastics) and almost never used for products that really are (such as soap or paper). A leaf is a perfect example of a biodegradable product: it is made in the spring, used by the plant for photosynthesis in the summer, drops to the ground in autumn, and assimilated into the soil to nourish the plant for the next season. The basic concept seems straightforward enough; however, there are several factors to consider in determining the biodegradability of a product or material. The first is the question of the inherent biodegradability of the material. Any material that comes from nature will return to nature, as long as it is still in a relatively natural form. Therefore any plant-based, animal-based, or natural mineral-based product has the capability to biodegrade, but products made from man-made petrochemical compounds generally do not. When a manmade compound is formulated in a laboratory, combinations of elements are made that do not exist in nature, and there are no corresponding microorganisms to break them down. The next issue is how long it takes for the material to actually break down. In nature, different materials biodegrade at different rates. A leaf takes approximately a year to become part of the forest floor. An iron shovel, on the other hand can take years to rust away to nothing, and a large tree can take decades to completely break down. Common sense tells us that any material will ultimately biodegrade, even if it takes centuries. So what is the proper rate for a material to be biodegradable? It really depends on the material itself. The leaf example suggests that the proper rate is that which is appropriate to the ecosystem. A liquid going into a waterway should biodegrade fairly quickly, whereas there's no harm done if it takes a while for a newspaper to break down. Plastics, on the other hand, will not biodegrade in anyone's lifetime, and certainly will never break back down into the petroleum from which it was made. And then there is the question of what exactly does the product or material break down into, and are there any toxic substances formed along the way or as the end result. In his book The Closing Circle, ecologist Barry Commoner gives the example of the benzene unit in synthetic detergents being converted as it biodegrades into phenol (carbolic acid), a substance toxic to fish. To be truly biodegradable, a substance or material should break down into carbon dioxide (a nutrient for plants), water, and naturally occurring minerals that do not cause harm to the ecosystem (salt or baking soda, for example, are already in their natural mineral state and do not need to biodegrade). The characteristics of the environment that the substance or material is in can also affect its ability to biodegrade. Detergents, for example, might break down in a natural freshwater "aerobic" (having oxygen) environment, but not in an "anaerobic" (lacking oxygen) environment such as sewage treatment plant digesters, or natural ecosystems such as swamps, flooded soils, or surface water sediments. Many products that are inherently biodegradable in soil-such as tree trimmings, food wastes, and paper-will not biodegrade when we place them in landfills because the artificial landfill environment lacks the light, water, and bacterial activity required for the decay process to begin. The Garbage Project, an anthropological study of our waste conducted by a group at the University of Arizona, has unearthed hot dogs, corn cobs, and grapes that were twenty-five years old and still recognizable, as well as newspapers dating back to 1952 that were still easily readable. When the conditions needed for biodegradable materials to naturally biodegrade are not provided, major garbage problems are the result. Once it is determined that a substance or material will actually biodegrade under particular conditions, then there is the problem of actually using the product in those conditions and in an amount that can be sustained by the ecosystem that is receiving it. The sustainable rate of biodegradation is that amount which a given ecosystem can absorb as a nutrient, and if necessary, render harmless. Soap, for example, is a natural, organic product that is inherently biodegradable. The soapy greywater from a single household may biodegrade easily in a backyard, however, if that same soap went down a sewage line that fed into a waterway along with the soap used by a million or more residents that live along that waterway, there may be waves of soapsuds on the beaches, simply because more soap would be going into the waterway than it has microorganisms to biodegrade. Oil spills are devastating not because oil doesn't biodegrade, but rather because the amount of oil is much greater than the number of microorganisms available to degrade it. It has been estimated that it will take 50 years for the oil spilled in 1989 by the Exxon Valdez to degrade. Lakes and streams have become polluted because the amount of sewage dumped into them has been overwhelming. As much as we need to consider the biodegradability of the product, we need to consider the capacity of the system the biodegradable substance or material is being placed into. Those who have attempted to define biodegradable for product labels run into the same dilemma encountered when defining recyclable: should a product be called biodegradable if it inherently has the ability to biodegrade, or should it only be called biodegradable if it also is commonly disposed of in a way in which it really will biodegrade? For example, should a paper grocery bag be labeled biodegradable? It will biodegrade if placed in nature, however it won't biodegrade in a landfill because the conditions aren't right. Here's how long it takes for some commonly used products to biodegrade, when they are scattered about as litter: For more information on choosing environmentally friendly products visit www.worldwise.com |
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