Electronic Parts/Guidelines - infoHouse

4.3 Recycling and the Economy
others are based upon fundamentals experts cannot agree upon. Some of these
include:
the length of time required for materials to degrade (litter)
what degradable materials should ultimately yield (e.& oxygen and water),
what conditions must be present for degradation (versus the conditions that
are present in modern-day landfills)
the value of additives designed to speed or enhance material degradation if
the material will instead be incinerated or recycled.
The impact of these proposals is more easily understood by reviewing specific
proposals that regulate or restrict the use of packaging materials or methods.
The demand for recycled materials fluctuates with the economy. In periods of
economic growth. the demand for recycled products is much greater than the
readily available supply. The hOUSing industry, which is very sensitive to eco-
nomic trends, uses a signlficant portion of recycled paper in building compo-
nents including roofing Shingles, fiberboard or wallboard, siding, flooring, tar
paper, and insulation.
Another major purchaser of recycled papers is the foreign market, whose fluctu-
ations are subject to worldwide economic trends. In future years, it is believed
the demand for recycled paper will grow despite recession trends. This is pri-
marily due to the insufficient quantity and poor quality provided by overseas
markets where forest sources are limited.
Dealers diSCOUrage StOCkpiling during a period of oversupply. When the world
economy is in a period of recession, the consumption of waste material declines,
and additional collection is unwarranted. The growing popularity of mandatory
collection of recyclables may also result in the oversupply of waste material.
Germany, with its legislated compulsory recycling, is an excellent example of an
area which has collected an oversupply of recyclable materials
4.4 Outlets for Recycled Materials
Most packaging materials are recyclable. Their recyclability. however, is depen-
dant upon the existence of an outlet for the secondary material. An outlet for
recycled material can be estimated by reviewing costs associated with its:
collection
separation (from heterOgeneOUS mixtures or waste)
cleaning (if required)
reprocessing
transportation (300 miles is generally considered the outer limit)
administrative costs (including sales)
The resultant costs must be competitive with the cost to manufacture similar pro-
ducts from virgin material. This is most easily demonstrated using an example:
The costs involved in reclaiming aluminum from a previously used can may
compare quite favorably to costs associated with manufacturing aluminum from
ore as energy consumption is reduced by about 95%. The differential provides
the material recycler with the opportunity to build additional efficiencies into the
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