Recycling process

Waste collecting:

• Treatment of urban waste consists of collecting all kinds of waste left in the street containers and its transport to the corresponding treatment plants.

• Selective collection requires the use of different methods for each type of waste. For this, special containers and vehicles are sometimes used, and this requires a more complicated system.

Paper and cardboardPaper is collected from the blue

containers, sorted out according to its quality and arranged in bales

(made by the recycling company) in order to be sent to the paper

companies.

Once in the paper companies, the paper is

treated and the new paper is produced, thus, it will have a new useful

life.

• How is paper recycled in a recycling plant?

In the industrial mixer, the pieces of paper are mixed with warm water, heated and pounded to get a paste.

Clips and all kinds of metal pieces are removed as well as the ink, using a solvent. It is bleached again but then, it is no longer necessary to use a big amount of chlorine .

It is a laborious process whose result is usually a grey mass that is closer to

cardboard than to white paper. But it is fun and it lets you know roughly the most important stages of the process of recycling

paper .

PROCESS:

• How to recycle paper manually?

Did you know that…?

• … to produce one ton of paper we need fourteen trees over

twenty years of age? • … for every ton of recycled paper, we save two cubic metres

of landfill, 140 litres of oil and 50,000 litres of water?

PLASTIC

The process carried out for plastic is similar to

that of paper. Both plastic and metal are

removed from the yellow containers and they are separated in

the selecting companies.

They are separated into the different types and qualities of plastic (PVC, PET, PEAD, PEBD, etc.) and, they are sent to

the container factories .

After the treatment of the received material , new containers are produced

in these places. This recycled plastic is also often used to create

artistic furniture (chairs, lamps...) polar linings,

clothes…

Did you know that ...?

• …a plastic bottle takes between 300 and 500 years to degrade if it's not recycled?

• … the raw material of plastic is oil, a non renewable resource?

Recycling of glass

If glass is recycled we save 40% of energy and for each ton of recycled glass 1.2 tons of raw materials

are saved.

Glass Glass goes into the green igloo

container. This kind of waste is collected and transported directly to

the glass factories.

Once there, the glass is melted and new containers with a new shape are made.

Did you know that…?

• … a glass bottle takes thousands of years to degrade if it

is not recycled ? • … for each bottle that is recycled, we save the necessary

energy to have a television on for 3 hours or the energy

that 5 low energy lamps of 20 w need for 4 hours ?

Tips to consider :

Practise the rule of the three Rs:

• Reduce before reusing • Reuse before recycling

• Recycle before throwing

Students• 1º A Bachillerato

• Irene Morcilo• José Manuel Rojas• Álvaro Sánchez

Teachers:• Miguel Montero• Isabel Ros