RECYCLING IN THE HOME

How to break down the barriers

Despite good intentions, only half of plastic bottles in Britain and France are recycled. Creativity is needed to change habits

Government, industry and consumers in the developed world have known about the environmental and financial benefits of recycling for well over a generation. Yet it’s not something everyone does – despite knowing they should.

In fact, while three-quarters of British and French consumers say they always recycle plastic bottles at home, recycling rates in these countries still fall short, with only around half of all plastic bottles being returned for recycling. So why is it seemingly so difficult to recycle?

A six-month study, Unpacking the Household, conducted by Coca-Cola Enterprises and the University of Exeter and released in March, sought to uncover the different barriers that exist for people recycling in the home.

Despite the circular economy becoming a key phrase in the sustainability lexicon, it hasn’t filtered down to households. A key finding was that some people misunderstand what happens to waste once it leaves the home, not realizing that recycling is a circular – rather than linear – process. Meanwhile, people also perceive the recyclability of materials as a complex issue. And when in doubt, materials tend to be discarded rather than recycled.

The research suggests that recycling is often not a conscious decision but an instinctive routine built into our everyday lives – in other words, an unconscious habit. That isn’t the best recycling behavior, and although it isn’t always easy to break bad habits, the research pinpoints that new ones can be created at certain times when householders are most open to change, such as when they are designing a new kitchen or moving house.

Behavioral barriers differ by age and between generations but not gender. For example, children can make important contributions to household recycling rates. In the study, youngsters frequently recalled recycling information they had learnt and practiced at school and relayed it to their parents – helping identify opportunities to break habits and motivate adults to change their own behavior.

Source:
TheGuardian.com
Professional/Guardian Sustainable Business

August 28, 2014July 29, 2015

Recycling Our Community

Changes to Charlotte County’s recycling program made the process easier for residents, causing participation levels to spike. We go behind the scenes.

BY EVAN WILLIAMS

floridaweekly.com

Six days a week, about 20 hours a day, crowded streams of metal, paper, plastic and glass flow along conveyor belts at the recycling plant.
The bold yellow headline of a celebrity rumor rag shouts at you even from its spot squeezed amid a long, thick line of recyclables rolling in a single stream up a conveyor belt — the equivalent of three stories up into a huge warehouse near the Port of Tampa. The stream includes most household items that can be recycled, and — the bane of a modern recycling plant — quite a few things that can’t. Inside is a system of conveyor belts, about a mile of them, and heavy machinery that Rube Goldberg might have designed.Here, the crowded stream of metal, paper, plastic and glass from Charlotte County — as well as Pinellas, Sumter, Polk, Sarasota and Hillsborough counties, and the city of Tampa — are separated, sorted, cleaned of contaminates and pressed into one-ton-plus bales. Workers are stationed at “quality control” checkpoints throughout the warehouse, which is run by Waste Management, a solid waste and recycling behemoth that holds a contract with Charlotte and numerous other government and private entities in the United States. Its fleet of trucks picks up recyclables once a week from residents in unincorporated Charlotte, each day in different sections of the county, about 84,000 homes in all.Besides reducing carbon emissions and preserving natural resources for the future, recycling reduces the material constantly filling Charlotte’s landfill, which is projected to last through 2034. But that projection doesn’t take into account a recent spike in the number of residents who participate in the recycling program, which officials said was due to the current method of so-called “single-stream” recycling, which began here in 2010, along with larger new bins it rolled out last November.

Workers at the Tampa MRF sort out contaminants like plastic bags, hoses or large metal pieces. EVAN WILLIAMS / FLORIDA WEEKLYEverything that gets recycled helps extend the landfill’s life as the county’s population grows. A University of Floridastudy shows it growing from its current population of 163,000 to more than 190,000 by 2030.What is not recycled is buried in the landfill, and no one relishes the prospect of building a new one, least of all potential nearby residents. It’s also expensive, at around $500,000 to $700,000 an acre to build, said Richard Allen, the county’s solid waste operations manager.

July 21, 2014September 2, 2015

Why recycle?

Here are the top five reasons to participate:

It’s easy.
It’s free.
It pays.
It saves.
It’s green.

Recycling the unit can have the impact of taking two cars off the road for a year. By ensuring your old unit is safely and responsibly recycled, you save it from rusting away in a landfill and instead re-purpose the materials back into the manufacturing stream.

“Old refrigerators and freezers can use up to three times the energy of newer models and are often expensive to run,” said Tamara Sondgeroth, Focus on Energy’s Director of Operations. “These older devices can be big contributors to household energy costs because of their inefficiency.”

PP:http://www.hngnews.com/poynette_press/news/local/

July 21, 2014September 2, 2015

Leading the way in recycling

Oviedo, Winter Springs lead the way in recycling

While nearby cities including Winter Park struggle to improve recycling up to state standards, Oviedo and Winter Springs continue to lead the way in the push toward lofty statewide goals for recycling and sustainability.

New 96-gallon recycling carts were distributed to Oviedo residents last December, replacing the previous 18-gallon bins at homes at no additional charge.

The All-In-One cart system allows residents to recycle paper, plastic, cardboard, aluminum, metal canisters and glass all from one container.

But that doesn’t mean everything made from metal or plastic can be tossed in the bins; Items that can’t be recycled yet commonly end up in the bins include aerosol cans, aluminum foil, batteries, light bulbs and Styrofoam.

Residents in apartments and condominiums have their own options too. Anyone without curbside recycling can drop off recyclables in bins behind Oviedo City Hall, located at 400 Alexandria Blvd.

Oviedo leads the way for reusing trash in Seminole County, recycling 35 percent of its waste each year, according to figures reported in 2012.

In 2008 the state set a goal of recycling 75 percent of its waste by 2020. No Central Florida cities have reported hitting that number yet.

Oviedo accounted for more than 25 percent of all recycling in Seminole County last year, Mayor Dominic Persampiere said.

Written By Tim Freed: July 11, 2014

July 16, 2014September 2, 2015

Santa Rosa County Restarts Recycling

July 16, 2014July 29, 2015

Recycling Rates Up Statewide

SOME COUNTIES ARE FALLING BEHIND

HOLMES COUNTY New figures from the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation show recycling rates are up statewide. Some areas are doing a better job than others. Holmes county officials say re-educating consumers is a vital part of the process.

Floridians seem to be taking better care of the environment. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection says recycling statewide is up one percent from last year, when the state recycled 11.8 million tons of trash.

In 2012, that amount was just 9.7 million tons.

“I think it’s wonderful that maybe we’re getting more people involved in recycling,” said Holmes County Recycling Center Coordinator Ann Payne. “The more people that will recycle, the better for all of us in the future. Our children, grandchildren.”

Monday officials at the Holmes County Recycling Center were processing more than 100 tons of cardboard.

The center receives everything from cardboard and plastic to old T.V’s and tires. It’s a lot of junk, but Payne wishes there was more.

Many items that come to the recycling center such as paper and plastic are from the public, but Payne says many people still use hazardous ways to get rid of their trash.

“We’re so rural that people in the past have either, burned any kind of cardboard and paper type products. Landfill, or a lot of people use to just dig holes in the area and bury their trash. The fire of course, with the dry areas we’ve had and all the problems, we could get the wildfires. Also, burying things, it can leech down into our water aquifer and contaminate water,” she explained.

Last year the center took in more than 277 tons of cardboard and more than 65 tons of tires.

Payne says the county plans to use advertising and summer programs to make people even more aware of recycling efforts.

Holmes County was ranked 25 out of 45 counties, with a 28% recycling rate.

CHANNEL 7 WJHG.com Updated: Mon 11:00 PM, Jul 07, 2014
By: Brian Hill

March 10, 2014July 29, 2015

Simpler recycling at hit in Hillsborough

By Yvette C. Hammett | Tribune Staff
Published: March 2, 2014

TAMPA — Those hulking blue bins taking up significant space in local garages and side yards are getting a lot more use than Hillsborough County officials predicted.

Since switching to the new automated waste management and recycling program four months ago, the number of households participating in unincorporated Hillsborough’s recycling program has doubled — from 33 percent to nearly 67 percent — said Solid Waste Manager Kim Byer. And the amount of aluminum, cardboard, glass, steel and paper being collected has increased by 90 percent.

Solid waste officials are thrilled with the initial results, and are cautiously optimistic that participation will remain high. “If you take the straight math of it, the first four months of a new program doesn’t show how it will be forever, but we are seeing a very positive trend,” said John Lyons, the county’s public works director.

“Single-stream” recycling collection — putting everything in one bin — is fairly new, but is a nationwide trend, said Ron Henricks, a waste reduction administrator with Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection. “Ten years ago nobody was doing it.” Now, he said, about half of Florida’s nearly 20 million people are served by such programs.

By allowing consumers to put all recyclables in one curb-side cart — instead of separating the items — they tend to find it easier and more acceptable, Henricks said.

Hillsborough County is third, statewide — behind Martin and Lee counties — in the percentage of waste it is recycling, Henricks said. As a whole, he said, Florida is recycling 48 percent of its waste. And according to the Environmental Protection Agency, 34 percent of waste generated nationally was being recycled in one way or another as of 2009.

Last year, before Hillsborough initiated its automated program, haulers reported collecting about 32,000 tons of recyclables, Lyons said. The county now is on target to collect 60,000 tons of materials in this first year of the new program.

Byer, the Solid Waste manager, said her department will study which neighborhoods are doing a good job recycling and which ones might need more education. The county’s new recycling bins are equipped with computer chips so that every time one tips into a recycling truck, a record is made. “Once we get our arms around that data, we will be able to figure out which neighborhoods to gear that outreach toward,” Byer said.

Since launching the new program, the county has taken in $1.38 million from selling recyclables. Previously, county waste haulers owned the recyclables they collected. Now, Progressive Waste Solutions, the county’s processor, receives an average of $120 per ton for recyclables, keeps $50 of that for processing and gives the county nearly 97 percent of the remaining $70, Lyons said. That money will be used to keep collection fees down, he said.

February 19, 2014July 29, 2015

Going beyond the three Rs of waste disposal

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

We’ve all heard it, many of us even practice this mantra. But did you know that these three words are a part of a well thought out waste disposal hierarchy?

Most effective

Reducing is by far the most effective way to cut waste, and therefore it is at the top of the hierarchy. If you reduce the amount of what you consume, you help conserve precious resources and limit the waste you create.

That means doing more with less and putting real thought into what you need versus what you want. Start with something simple like walking to work or school instead of driving or installing an inexpensive water displacement system in your toilets to reduce water usage.

Reuse is pretty self-explanatory. Before you recycle, think about how you can use an item over again, or perhaps several times — think water bottles, plastic food containers, etc. The more we can reuse items, or purchase items meant to be reused like cloth grocery bags and rechargeable batteries, the less reprocessing of these materials will need to occur.

There is also the notion of re-purposing to consider as well. While reusing means to use an item over again in its original form, re-purposing takes an item used for one purpose and uses it another way like turning a pickle jar into a vase for flowers, for example.

Then comes recycling

Recycling takes time and energy to process materials, which is why it’s not at the top of the hierarchy. But that is not to say that recycling isn’t good. So keep filling up those bins you have at home and at work.

If you have an item that had been truly used and needs to be disposed of, find out if it can be recycled. Remember recycling also means buying products that are made from recycled materials, using them to their fullest extent and then returning them to be recycled again.

And the hierarchy goes even deeper.

If you really want to help conserve our natural resources, consider other steps in the hierarchy like composting. Composting is Nature’s way of recycling.

At the bottom of the list are additional steps including waste-to-energy and land disposal, however those steps are usually conducted by a municipality or county.

Written by
Mark Walter
Business Development Manager

February 19, 2014September 2, 2015

Urgent Need to Recycle Rare Metals

Rare earth metals are important components in green energy products such as wind turbines and eco-cars. But the scarcity of these metals is worrying the EU.

The demand for metals such as neodymium (Nd) and dysprosium (Dy) is increasing much faster than production. These metals are used in technologies such as the generators that store power in wind turbines, and the electric motors that propel electric and hybrid cars. But they are also used in everyday products like computers and mobile phones.

Rare earth metals do occur in the earth’s crust, but not in sufficiently high concentrations. This is why only one country – China – has so far been supplying the entire world with these elements. However, in recent years, China has begun to restrict its export of these materials.

Forecasts show that as early as next year, these metals will be hard to come by.

Clean Material

This explains why the recycling of rare earth metals from scrap is fast becoming an important research topic. Seven major European research institutes (Fraunhofer, CEA, TNO, VTT, SINTEF, Tecnalia and SP) have joined forces to invest in a joint programme (Value from Waste) aimed at tackling this important issue.

“The aim is to extract valuable materials from the waste streams. The challenges lie in the fact that the material must be sufficiently clean in order to be recycled, and we have to be sure that it is not contaminated by other harmful materials”, explains Odd Løvhaugen of SINTEF ICT.

Researchers are therefore focusing much of their work on finding out which products could contain pollutants, which methods are best for analysing and measuring the content of the polluted materials, and when such products can be expected to be found in waste.

They are also evaluating extraction methods, techniques to recycle nanoparticles in the treatment process, and how the constituents of ash can be analysed after incineration.

Technology from the aluminium and smelting industry

SINTEF is coordinating this major EU programme, which is using two groups of material technologies in the race to find good analytical and extraction methods. The approach chosen by the researchers involves a technology well-known from the aluminium and smelting industry.

In the search for sources of recycling material, many people have been considering permanent magnets. This is the most significant product to contain rare earth metals – measured both in terms of value and volume.

Discarded magnets

On the basis of tests, SINTEF researchers believe that the electrolysis technology used in aluminium plants can be used to recycle magnetic alloys from discarded magnets and scrap material from magnet manufacturers. It will take some time before there are enough scrap eco-cars to be able to recycle their motors, which is why they are turning to the magnet manufacturers for the magnetic alloys.

However, the process is still slow, and there is a lot of work still to be done before the researchers will know whether they will be able to achieve their goal. If they are successful, they will have found a method that is much simpler than alternative processes based on the use of strong acids.

Solutions needed

Several other problems must also be solved for the stages before the electrolysis process. Among other things, we need collection and disassembly methods for used magnets, and the magnets themselves must also be demagnetised locally, since the long-distance transport of intact permanent magnets is prohibited.

“Other challenges include finding methods that can identify and characterise nanoparticles in gases, water and solid materials”, says Odd Løvhaugen. “And we must create a toolbox of methods to evaluate the behaviour of nanoparticles in waste treatment processes”.

Submitted Feb 18, 2014
http://phys.org/news/2014-02-urgent-recycle-rare-metals.html

January 24, 2014July 29, 2015

Clewiston Residents Heighten Recycle Efforts

Clewiston’s Public Works director calls on residents to recycle

CLEWISTON — “We come up with every excuse in the book not to do something,” said Clewiston’s Public Works Director Sean Scheffler.

That statement rings true for many things — exercising, eating healthy, finishing the home improvements that were started last year and never completed. But besides those resolution-worthy “somethings,” Scheffler hopes the residents of Hendry County will take on recycling as their next “to do.”

The city of Clewiston has been working hard to make recycling as easy as possible for residents. Though curb-side pickup is a thing of the future for residents within the city limits, the city of Clewiston offers two recycling centers on E. Esperanza Avenue and S. Olympia Street.The city has also introduced “single-stream recycling,” meaning residents no longer have to sort through their recycling; glass bottles, aluminum cans, cardboard, paper and plastic can all be thrown in the same bin, both at home and at the recycling centers. Though many of the city’s recycling bins say “plastics only” or “cardboard only” they are all mixed recycling bins. The same applies to the glass recycling bins: residents can choose to sort the glass by color and put it in the separate bin, or put it together in the mixed recycling bin.

Scheffler also explained that residents do not need to worry whether, for example, a plastic container has a recycling symbol on the bottom, or whether that symbol carries a number 1, 2 or 6. It can all be recycled, said Scheffler, no matter the number and no matter the symbol.

Though efforts to make recycling simpler and more convenient for city residents have been made, Scheffler said a change in attitude and habit is necessary to make recycling part of everyone’s daily routine.

“Recycling is something parents need to do so small children see it as a way of life,” said Scheffler. “We need to start developing a thought process in our children.”

Scheffler gave the example of seat belts in cars and trucks. When he was in elementary school, Scheffler said there were no seat belts in cars; and when every car finally came equipped with seat belts, it was not mandatory to wear them, therefore, people often did not. After years of pushing to mandate the use of seat belts and a change in the attitude of drivers and passengers, it is second nature to “click it” when they get in the car.

Scheffler believes recycling will work the same way.

“We can reduce by 80 percent the amount of solid waste sent to our landfills by recycling,” said Scheffler.

Scheffler also offered suggestions to make recycling easier for families. Batteries, for example, are abundant in everyone’s home and are usually thrown out without another thought. Scheffler suggests keeping a sturdy bucket underneath the kitchen sink or near the washing machine (or any place that is convenient for the family) and putting the batteries in the bucket when they die. Once the bucket becomes full, simply call the county to set up a time to bring the batteries to the household recycling center.

By Melissa Beltz
The Clewiston News
Updated January 23, 2014