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What is waste recycling?
The definition of recycling is to pass a substance through a system that enables that substance to be reused. Waste recycling involves the collection of waste materials and the separation and clean-up of those materials. Recycling waste means that fewer new products and consumables need to be produced, saving raw materials and reducing energy consumption.
Recyclable materials include many kinds of glass, paper, metal, plastic, textiles, and electronics. Although similar in effect, the composting or other reuse of biodegradable waste such as food or garden waste which is not typically considered recycling. Materials to be recycled are either brought to a collection center or picked up from the curbside, then sorted, cleaned, and reprocessed into new materials bound for manufacturing.
Recycling process:
The recycling process is done by two different methods. The two different methods are the collecting the waste materials and the curbside collection.
Collecting the waste materials:
A number of different systems have been implemented to collect recycled wastes from the general waste stream. These systems tend to lie along the spectrum of trade-off between public convenience and government ease and expense. The three main categories of collection are drop-off centers, buy-back centers and curbside collection.
Drop-off centers require the waste producer to carry the recycled wastes to a central location, either an installed or mobile collection station or the reprocessing plant itself. They are the easiest type of collection to establish, but suffer from low and unpredictable throughput. Buy-back centers differ in that the cleaned recycled wastes are purchased, thus providing a clear incentive for use and creating a stable supply. The post-processed material can then be sold on, hopefully creating a profit.
Curbside collection of wastes:
Curbside collection encompasses many subtly different systems, which differ mostly on where in the process the recycled wastes are sorted and cleaned. The main categories are mixed waste collection, commingled recyclables and source separation.
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