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UNIT 4: ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Preparation of Waste for Recycling
If waste is to be successfully prepared and used for recycling, it must be uniformly
sorted and cleaned, and free from bottle-caps, food, metal, plastic, etc. Compactors
can be used to reduce waste volume. This lowers the space required to collect and
store waste and increases its value as a recyclable material. But compactors can
be expensive and are only worthwhile in large properties with significant waste
volume.
Plastic and paper waste usually needs to be baled and compacted before collection
for recycling. Advice needs to be obtained from local and/or municipal waste
collection and recycling schemes on the preparation of waste, use of compactors,
baling specifications, and the market price for recyclables.
COMMON QUESTIONS How high are revenues from selling waste for
recycling?
Revenue from recycling waste depends on the type and volume of waste
separated and made available for collection, the local market for recycled
products, and local policies on the recycling of post-consumer waste. For best
returns, the waste must be sorted and contamination-free. Working closely
with recycling dealers will enable effective sorting and collection plans to be
developed and returns to be optimised.
Is recycling the most environment-preferable option for post-consumer
waste?
All recyclables need to be sorted, cleaned, and baled before collection from
commercial sites, homes and businesses. They then have to be transported to
material handling facilities where they are further sorted, cleaned, and crushed
(or pulped in the case of paper) before they can go to manufacturing sites for
reuse. The transport involved in recycling increases if people drive to waste
collection points to dispose of their waste.
These processes and transport requirements can consume large amounts of
water, power, fossil fuels and other materials, and emit wastes and emissions.
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The key question is:
Are the resources used and waste generated by the recycling process higher
than the resources used and waste generated if virgin materials were used for
the same purpose?
The answer requires detailed environment, life-cycle and economic studies and
will vary with each recyclable material. Consideration must also be given to the
entire organisation, profitability, and growth prospects of the recycling market
in question.
Some recent and controversial studies in the UK and the US show that for
paper and plastic, incineration with energy recovery can be a better business
and environment-preferable alternative than recycling; the parameters are too
numerous to discuss here. But it should not be forgotten that incineration
plants are very capital-intensive to build and operate, and even state-of-theart
incinerators can emit harmful gases, including dioxins. Another argument
against incineration with energy recovery is that it drives down incentives for
waste reduction.