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Recycling is an
important part of daily life in most
countries around the world. Research
shows each week 1% families and
businesses are changing to sensible
recycling habits.
A further five per cent have access
to local drop-off recycling centres.
At the last count, the average
household was diverting a quarter of
weekly garbage into recycling crates
making that effort in the belief
Recycling is good for the
environment' and will help shape a
better Planet for future
generations.
Government agencies and councils
insist on waste minimisation, They
have become a keen advocate of
recycling in the context of economic
and Environmental sustainability.
After all is said and done,
Governments are the people's
representatives, inside a decade we
are finally listening to our
scientists.
The Scientific Studies
People can be reassured that
recycling is an appropriate
environmental solution, thanks to
two recently completed Australian
scientific studies:
The first, Life Cycle Assessment for
Paper and Packaging Waste Management
In Victoria, is a Melbourne-based
research project carried out by a
group of universities to fully
investigate the environmental
benefit (and detriment) of recycling
versus waste to landfill. This study
was primarily sponsored by
EcoRecycle Victoria.
The second is an Australia-wide
study, commissioned by the National
Packaging Covenant Council (NPCC),
entitled Independent Assessment of
Kerbside Recycling in Australia. The
most comprehensive study of
recycling undertaken in Australia,
this report measures the financial,
environmental and social impacts of
recycling, translating the
environmental impacts into dollars
to compare costs and benefits.
Each of the above studies used the
latest internationally respected
methodological insights to analyse
and compare the impacts of recycling
to simply dumping waste into
landfill.
Now we know that recycling is
environmentally sound, just how is
it?
Creating such great benefits?
CUTTING GREENHOUSE GASES:
According to the LCA report, almost
half of the greenhouse savings made
by recyclers were found to be from
avoiding the production of methane
gas, this would have been generated
at landfill as paper waste breaks
down. (That figure even assumes that
55% of that methane would be
captured for power generation).
The rest of the greenhouse savings
were due to the avoidance of 'virgin
material production'. In other
words, if a product was made from
raw material rather than recycled
material, more CO2 and other
greenhouse gases would have been
generated.
SAVING ENERGY:
Most recycled products showed
savings in embodied energy - that
is, energy used in every part of the
production of the product, from
mining or harvesting of virgin (raw)
materials, through to processing and
disposal or recycling.
Embodied Energy Savings per kilogram
in the production of recycled
product as compared to an equivalent
virgin product:
- Product Embodied Energy Savings
- Newsprint 34%
- Corrugated board-unbleached 22%
- Steel Slab 79%
- Aluminum Ingot 93%
- HDPE 79%
- PET 76%
- PVC 80%
- Glass 57%
REDUCING SMOG:
For recycled plastics (PET and HDPE)
steel and (to a lesser extent)
newsprint and paperboard, potential
smog pollution from production of
virgin materials and use of landfill
is larger than from collection and
recycling processes.
PRESERVING WATER:
The savings in water use resulted
from reduced water consumption when
using recycled materials for
production, compared to the amount
of water used in production from
virgin materials.
Let's Explore Some Urban Myths
Now we have the scientific data,
let's address some common
misconceptions about recycling and
its effects on the environment and
community.
THE 'ENERGY' MYTH
"The amount of fuel wasted to power
the trucks that pick up recycling
crates undo any good recycling does.
We're just using up fuel and pumping
more exhaust fumes into the
atmosphere...."
FALSE: In the LCA report, all of the
environmental savings found to be
made by recycling were made taking
into consideration 'embodied
energy', which is energy consumed in
every part of a product's life
cycle, including production and
transportation.
In other words, the study's results
take into consideration any negative
effect of truck fuel usage.
THE 'LANDFILL CRISIS' MYTH
"We only started recycling
because places like New York ran out
of land on which to bury their
litter. Australia's a big country.
We don't have that problem... There
is no landfill crisis!
Recycling is a waste of time."
FALSE: Recycling is about more than
finding space in which to dump our
unwanted materials! It is about
saving natural resources, conserving
energy, curbing the greenhouse
effect, and reducing water usage.
The LCA report finds that, compared
to dumping in landfill, recycling
makes significant environmental
savings in all of these areas!
We also know that nobody wants a
landfill 'in his or her back yard'.
This is just another reason why it
makes sense to support recycling as
a waste minimisation solution.
THE 'RUBBISH IS BIODEGRADABLE'
MYTH
"Litter degrades anyway. If we throw
away our rubbish it gets put into
the ground, so we're giving back
what we take out."
FALSE: Firstly, your waste bin isn't
full of 'rubbish", it's full of
valuable untapped resources.
Secondly, not all rubbish degrades.
Even with organic matter (such as
paper), which is the most efficient
of materials to degrade, there are
arguments about the speed with which
it actually breaks down. Modern
landfills are designed specifically
to prevent leaching of residues;
unfortunately the same technology
that stops leaching also blocks air
and water from entering the landfill
and thus the breakdown of materials
is hindered.
When organic materials do break down
at landfill they create CO2 and
methane. It's currently assumed
that, on average, 55% of that gas is
captured for power generation. Half
of the remaining amount is lost to
the atmosphere to become a potent
greenhouse gas.
THE 'RECYCLING ISN'T WORTH IT'
MYTH
"Recycling isn't worth it. It's
all very well saving resources, but
in practical terms we have economies
to run. Communities are wasting
money on kerb side recycling."
FALSE: As the NPCC study shows,
recycling has a net environmental
benefit to the community. The report
concludes that, taking into
consideration the financial costs of
recycling and the environmental
'dollar' costs, the overall national
benefit is an estimated $266 million
per year!
Keep on Recycling...and Reducing and
Reusing!
The best way to preserve natural
resources, reduce air pollution,
save energy and cut greenhouse
gasses is to avoid creating waste in
the first place.
- REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF WASTE
GENERATED
- REUSE PRODUCTS WHEREVER POSSIBLE
- RECYCLE UNWANTED MATERIALS.
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