Recycling Tips & Resources
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 75% of our waste is recyclable. This is grand news, particularly because the American Forest and Paper Association states that 87% of the U.S. inhabitants, or 268 million people, have access to curb-side or recycling programs. The delay is a lot of people are [...]
You might be surprised to know that a lot of heavy machinery is used in your local recycling programs. This recycling equipment is used to sort, compact and help to process your recycling materials into marketable bulk materials. Let’s take a quick look at some of the most common recycling machinery used in recycling centers around the U.S.
They include: One of the most common pieces of recycling equipment is the can crusher. Aluminum is a wonderful metal to recycle because it is 100% renewable. The can crusher helps to remove anything which the consumer may have stuffed into a can, and then crushes the cans down as small as possible for transport to an industrial aluminum recycling plant. Often can crushers also wash the cans in the process!
Can Crusher:
Baler: Another very common piece of recycling equipment is the baler. Balers come in many sizes and types depending on what they will be used for. Just as a hay baler turns hay from a field into bales of hay for farms, the recycling baler turns your used recyclable materials into bales of plastic and paper. The size of the bale made depends on the baler used in the process. These bales of plastic and paper are tied and then sold to scrap companies who cart them off to the industrial recycling plants for plastics and paper products. A handy little Can Crusher for Home and lite business use try Northern Industrial Tools Automatic Feed Can Crusher.
Conveyor: Conveyors are commonly used in recycling. They are used to move heavy bales and scrap metals from one area of the recycling center to another.
Sometimes they are used simply to take heavy items from consumers and dump them into a large recycling container, other times they are used to move the large bales from the baler into trucks or storage areas.
Shredder: When we think of shredders we generally think of the small office models we all use to shred our unwanted personal or business papers. Commercial shredders are big pieces of recycling equipment which are able to shred large amounts of paper all at one time. The large paper and document shredders at your recycling center turn your unwanted paper into large bags of shredded material. This material is then sent off industrial to paper recycling plants where it is converted back into paper pulp and new paper and corrugated supplies are made from it.
Solvent Recycling Equipment: Another common piece of recycling equipment is used for solvent recycling. This equipment generally uses a distillation process to turn harmful solvents back into water and useful components.
Tire Shredder: Another popular piece of recycling equipment is the tire shredder. This impressive machinery takes a tire and shreds it down into more manageable pieces of rubber. This rubber is then used in things like road pavement and playgrounds.
As you can easily see there are many kinds of large equipment used in the recycling process. See which ones you can spot on your next trip to your local recycling center!
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One of the easiest things for you to recycle is the plastic and metal containers which your food and household products come in. Everything from your soda cans and bottles to your shampoo bottle can easily be recycled at your local recycling center. By simply washing out your containers, sorting them by type, and taking them to the local recycling center and placing them into their recycling container, you can know that you personally help the environment by recycling.
Some communities use curb-side recycling where you are asked to place your aluminum, plastics, and glass into a special recycling container. You put your recyclable items into the recycling container and then place the container on your curb on your regular trash collection day. On your trash collection day the local trash company will come by and pick up your recyclable items and take them to a local recycling center. This is one of the simplest ways you can help the environment by recycling. It takes so little time and effort, but saves so much material from ending up in the landfill. 
Another simple way you can help the environment by recycling is to compost your kitchen garbage whenever possible. Composting does not require any special composting equipment, but simply a kitchen compost recycling container and a place in your yard where you can put its contents. You can use something simple like a recycled plastic margarine tub as your kitchen compost container.
You will want to fill it with the scraps from your meals preparation and meals you have eaten. (You do not want to place any meat or animal waste products in your compost – ever!) At the end of the day simply take out your kitchen compost container and dump it into your compost pile.
Every few days take a pitchfork or shovel and turn the pile. In no time you have both helped to save the environment by recycling and created wonderful soil for planting a garden or flowers in.
On of the most important ways you can help the environment by recycling is to utilize electronic recyclers. When you are finished with your home computer you will need to recycle it. Monitor disposal is a big issue today because your monitor contains toxic metals and gasses. Thankfully most communities now offer free home computer recycling at least once or twice per year. If you area does not you might want to check your local electronic recyclers or see what the cost is to recycle your old computer at your local landfill. Generally the cost is about $10.00. That is a pretty low amount to be able to do your part in helping the environment by recycling.
As you can see, everyone, everywhere, can do some very simple things to help the environment by recycling. With the availability of recycling containers and recycling centers today, there is not excuse for not recycling.
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When asked why they do not recycle, the number one answer people give is that they do not have an area in which to store their recyclable materials. The second answer is generally that they are confused as to which items are recyclable and which are not. There are some very simple solutions to both of these issues and with a bit of education more people would begin to recycle.
The first thing you need to do to start a recycling program in your home is to contact your local community recycle center. Your local recycling center is there to help you better understand the process and also to help you with which items can be recycled in your specific area of the country. You can give them a call or visit their location. You will want to ask them about their programs in your area and how they want to see materials coming into their center. For example, do you need to wash out your cans and bottles before bringing them in? Or, do you need to smash your aluminum cans at home before bringing them?
Once you understand what your local recycle center accepts, it is time to work on getting the right recycling bins for your needs. Recycling bins are available in a lot of different shapes, sizes and colors. How many bins you will need depends on which items you will be recycling, and how much space you have readily available for you to work with.
Most community recycling centers today will accept aluminum, plastic, glass, cardboard and newspapers to be recycled. You may want to have bins for each of these different types of materials, or you may want to keep just one or two bins and separate your materials before you get to the center.
Aluminum Recycling Bins: For aluminum cans you will want a large bin if you drink lots of soda which comes in cans. You do not need an aluminum recycling bin if you do not drink soda.
Plastics Recycling Bins: For plastics you will want at least one recycling bin and possibly more, to save space consider stackable recycling bins, if you have a lot of plastic waste in your home. Community recycling centers generally require you to sort your plastic recyclables by plastic type. You can generally find the type of plastics by the number on the bottom of most plastic containers.
Glass Recycling Bins: You will probably only need one recycling bin for glass, however you will have to sort the glass into colors at the recycling center.
Cardboard Recycle Bins: If you use a lot of boxed products, then you will find a recycling bin for cardboard will come in handy. Newspapers and other paper can generally be kept in a paper grocery bag and taken to the recycling center in that.
If you have a small space, but a lot of materials you want to recycle on a regular basis, consider purchasing stackable bins. Stackable recycling bins use vertical space and are widely available for purchase. Another option is to use recycling bins which sit in bottom cabinets in your kitchen. These bins sit on sliders and you pull them out of your bottom cabinet to insert your recyclable materials into them. Also, check out this recommended resource Eco Books; Inventive Projects from the Recycling Bin
If you have a large garage or other storage area where you can hold more recyclable materials, I would suggest purchasing the ten gallon tubs with handles at your local home improvement store. You can easily put them into your vehicle to take to the recycling center because the are light and easy to carry.
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Natural Home Stainless Steel Compost Bin $29.99 WP77 Features: -Kitchen compost bin.-Durable.-Crock holds 1.3 gallons.-Stainless steel does not leach chemicals. Construction: -Recycled stainless steel construction. Dimensions: -Overall dimensions: 15” H x 7.25” W x 8” D…. |
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EcoSafe GKL032195-1 2-1/2-Gallon Compostable EcoBio Bags, 25-Count $4.50 Compostable bags for mini kitchen organics made with ecosafe compostable plastic.25 – 2.5 gallon bags per box.Size2.5 GALLONColor GREENBCI – 066050… |
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