Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability 1

What Can You Do?Other examples of reusable items are metal orplastic lunchboxes and plastic containers for storinglunchbox items and refrigerator leftovers, instead ofusing throwaway plastic wrap and aluminum foil.Manufacturers can use shipping pallets made ofrecycled plastic waste instead of throwaway woodpallets. In 1991, Toyota shifted entirely to reusableshipping containers. A similar move by the XeroxCorporation saves the company more than $3 millionper year.Another example of reuse involves tool libraries(such as those in Berkeley, California, and TakomaPark, Maryland) where people can check out a varietyof power and hand tools.Figure 24-7 lists several ways for you to reusesome of the items you buy.24-5 RECYCLINGReuse• Buy beverages in refillable glass containers insteadof cans or throwaway bottles.• Use reusable plastic or metal lunchboxes.• Carry sandwiches and store food in the refrigeratorin reusable containers instead of wrapping them inaluminum foil or plastic wrap.• Use rechargeable batteries and recycle them whentheir usefull life is over.• Carry groceries and other items in a reusablebasket, a canvas or string bag, or a small cart.• Use reusable sponges and washable cloth napkins,dishtowels, and handkerchiefs instead ofthrowaway paper ones.Figure 24-7 What can you do? Ways to reuse some of theitems you buy.What Is Recycling? An EnvironmentalSuccess StoryRecycling is an important way to collect wastematerials and turn them into useful products thatcan be sold in the marketplace.Recycling involves reprocessing discarded solid materialsinto new, useful products. Recycling has a numberof important benefits to people and the environment(Figure 24-8). Recycling also reduces unsightly andcostly litter. Picking up litter thrown along highwaysby thoughtless consumers costs the United Statesabout $500 million a year. Households and workplacesproduce five major types of materials that can be recycled:paper products (including newspaper, magazines,office paper, and cardboard), glass, aluminum, steel, andsome types of plastics.Materials collected for recycling can be reprocessedin two ways. Primary or closed-loop recycling occurswhen waste is recycled into new products of the sametype—turning used newspapers into new newspaperand used aluminum cans into new aluminum cans, forexample.Secondary recycling, also called downcycling, involvesconverting waste materials into different products.For example, used tires can be shredded andconverted into rubberized road surfacing and newspaperscan be converted to cellulose insulation.Environmentalists distinguish between two typesof wastes that can be recycled. One is preconsumer orinternal waste. It consists of waste generated in a manufacturingprocess and recycled instead of being discarded.The other is postconsumer or external wastegenerated by consumer use of products. There is about25 times more preconsumer than postconsumer waste.It is important to recycle both types.In theory, just about anything is recyclable, butonly two things count. First, will the item actually berecycled? Sometimes separated wastes collected for recyclingare mixed with other wastes and sent to landfillsor incinerated, mostly when prices for recycledraw materials fall sharply.Second, will businesses and individuals completethe recycling loop by buying products that are madefrom recycled materials? If we do not buy those products,recycling does not work.But we cannot close the loop and do our bit in creatinga market for recycled materials unless we caneasily identify whether a product is made entirely orpartly from recycled material. This would be clear ifgovernments require that all products made from recycledmaterials have an easily recognized logo and alabel clearly showing the percentage of recycled materialthey contain, perhaps with a highly visible stripwith a green bar extending from 0 to 100%.Switzerland and Japan recycle about half of theirMSW. The United States recycles about 30% of itsMSW—up from 6.4% in 1960. This roughly 5-fold increasein recycling is an impressive achievement. Butthe country’s total amount of solid waste has continuedto increase although the MSW per person has leveledoff since 1990. Studies indicate that with economicincentives and better design of waste managementsystems the United States and other developed countriescould recycle 60–80% of their MSW.540 CHAPTER 24 Solid and Hazardous Waste