Recycling Research

Recycling is the process of making or manufacturing new products from a product that has originally served its purpose. If these used products are disposed of in an appropriate, environmentally friendly way, the process of recycling has been set in motion.

Here are some good facts about recycling in the UK.

30.5 million tonnes of waste was produced in UK households in 2003/04, of which 17% was collected for recycling (source: defra.gov.uk). Some of our neighbouring EU countries recycle over 50% of their waste. This figure compared to the UK’s is high. There is still a great deal of waste which could be recycled that ends up in landfill sites which is harmful to the environment.

Recycling is an excellent way of saving energy and conserving the environment.

•   1 recycled tin can would save enough energy to power a television for 3 hours.

•   1 recycled glass bottle would save enough energy to power a computer for 25 minutes.

•   1 recycled plastic bottle would save enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for 3 hours.

•   70% less energy is required to recycle paper compared with making it from raw materials.

Interesting Facts

•   Up to 60% of the rubbish that ends up in the dustbin could be recycled.

•   The unreleased energy contained in the average dustbin each year could power a television for 5,000 hours.

•   The largest lake in the Britain could be filled with rubbish from the UK in 8 months.

•   On average, 16% of the money you spend on a product pays for the packaging, which ultimately ends up as rubbish.

•   As much as 50% of waste in the average dustbin could be composted.

•   Up to 80% of a vehicle can be recycled.

9 out of 10 people would recycle more if it were made easier.

Items that are made from materials such as aluminum, plastic water bottles, and certain kinds of paper (plus many more) can be separated from your regular trash and put in an appropriate recycling bin.

Here are some facts and benefits of materials that can and should be recycled.

Aluminium

 

 

•   24 million tonnes of aluminium is produced annually, 51,000 tonnes of which ends up as packaging in the UK.

•   If all cans in the UK were recycled, we would need 14 million fewer dustbins.

•   £36,000,000 worth of aluminium is thrown away each year.

•   Aluminium cans can be recycled and ready to use in just 6 weeks.

Glass

 

•   Each UK family uses an average of 500 glass bottles and jars annually.

•   The largest glass furnace produces over 1 million glass bottles and jars per day.

•   Glass is 100% recyclable and can be used again and again.

•   Glass that is thrown away and ends up in landfills will never decompose.

Paper

 

•   Recycled paper produces 73% less air pollution than if it was made from raw materials.

•   12.5 million tonnes of paper and cardboard are used annually in the UK.

•   The average person in the UK gets through 38kg of newspapers per year.

•   It takes 24 trees to make 1 ton of newspaper.

Plastic

 

•   275,000 tonnes of plastic are used each year in the UK, that’s about 15 million bottles per day.

•   Most families throw away about 40kg of plastic per year, which could otherwise be recycled.

•   The use of plastic in Western Europe is growing about 4% each year.

Plastic can take up to 500 years to decompose.

Greener packaging

You can reduce your impact on the environment by choosing products with less packaging, or packaging that can be recycled.

Major retailers have started to change the way products are packaged to help cut down on the amount of waste.

What can I do?

•    Choose packaging which can be recycled locally – cans, glass or cardboard. Check the labelling – some packaging can even be composted at home.

•    Avoid over-packaged food and products. Buy loose fruit and vegetables. Leave unwanted packaging at the checkout.

•    Join a local fruit & veg box scheme which generally use less packaging. Buy milk from your local milkman.

•    Choose concentrated products in smaller containers such as fabric conditioners or squash.

What are retailers doing?

Nearly 6 million tonnes of packaging waste is thrown away every year.

Retailers are changing the way products are packaged to help cut down waste. Working with the Government's Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), new solutions are being developed, including ways to:

•    reduce packaging weight and increase the amount of recycled content in packaging

•    reduce food waste by increasing the shelf-life of products and using resealable packaging.

Visit the WRAP website.

Major retailers, brands and suppliers have signed up to an agreement called the Courtauld Commitment, which pledges to:

•    design greener packaging

•    identify ways to tackle the problem of food waste.

More about the Courtauld Commitment (WRAP).

Labelling on packaging

Retailers have agreed to use similar labelling on packaging to make it easier for customers to see whether packaging can be widely recycled, locally recycled, or not currently recycled.