This article is about recycling of waste materials. For recycling of waste energy, see Energy recycling.
"Recycled" redirects here. For the album, see Recycled (Nektar album).
The three chasing arrows of the universal recycling symbolMunicipal waste recycling rate (%), 2015
Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the properties it had in its original state.[1] It is an alternative to "conventional" waste disposal that can save material and help lower greenhouse gas emissions. It can also prevent the waste of potentially useful materials and reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reducing energy use, air pollution (from incineration) and water pollution (from landfilling).
Recycling is a key component of modern waste reduction and is the third component of the "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle" waste hierarchy.[2][3] It promotes environmental sustainability by removing raw material input and redirecting waste output in the economic system.[4] There are some ISO standards related to recycling, such as ISO 15270:2008 for plastics waste and ISO 14001:2015 for environmental management control of recycling practice.
Recyclable materials include many kinds of glass, paper, cardboard, metal, plastic, tires, textiles, batteries, and electronics. The composting and other reuse of biodegradable waste—such as food and garden waste—is also a form of recycling.[5] Materials for recycling are either delivered to a household recycling center or picked up from curbside bins, then sorted, cleaned, and reprocessed into new materials for manufacturing new products.
In ideal implementations, recycling a material produces a fresh supply of the same material—for example, used office paper would be converted into new office paper, and used polystyrene foam into new polystyrene. Some types of materials, such as metal cans, can be remanufactured repeatedly without losing their purity.[6] With other materials, this is often difficult or too expensive (compared with producing the same product from raw materials or other sources), so "recycling" of many products and materials involves their reuse in producing different materials (for example, paperboard). Another form of recycling is the salvage of constituent materials from complex products, due to either their intrinsic value (such as lead from car batteries and gold from printed circuit boards), or their hazardous nature (e.g. removal and reuse of mercury from thermometers and thermostats).
^Villalba, G; Segarra, M; Fernández, A.I; Chimenos, J.M; Espiell, F (December 2002). "A proposal for quantifying the recyclability of materials". Resources, Conservation and Recycling. 37 (1): 39–53. doi:10.1016/S0921-3449(02)00056-3.
^Lienig, Jens; Bruemmer, Hans (2017). "Recycling Requirements and Design for Environmental Compliance". Fundamentals of Electronic Systems Design. pp. 193–218. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-55840-0_7. ISBN 978-3-319-55839-4.
^European Commission (2014). "EU Waste Legislation". Archived from the original on 12 March 2014.
^Geissdoerfer, Martin; Savaget, Paulo; Bocken, Nancy M.P.; Hultink, Erik Jan (1 February 2017). "The Circular Economy – A new sustainability paradigm?" (PDF). Journal of Cleaner Production. 143: 757–768. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.12.048. S2CID 157449142. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 March 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
^League of Women Voters (1993). The Garbage Primer. New York: Lyons & Burford. pp. 35–72. ISBN 978-1-55821-250-3.
^Lilly Sedaghat (4 April 2018). "7 Things You Didn't Know About Plastic (and Recycling)". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 25 January 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
to recycling, such as ISO 15270:2008 for plastics waste and ISO 14001:2015 for environmental management control of recycling practice. Recyclable materials...
other symbols. The universal recycling symbol (U+2672 ♲ UNIVERSAL RECYCLING SYMBOL or U+267B ♻ BLACK UNIVERSAL RECYCLING SYMBOL in Unicode) is a symbol...
Recycling codes are used to identify the materials out of which the item is made, to facilitate easier recycling process. The presence on an item of a...
A recycling bin (or recycle bin) is a container used to hold recyclables before they are taken to recycling centers. Recycling bins exist in various sizes...
Plastic recycling Plastic recycling is the processing of plastic waste into other products. Recycling can reduce dependence on landfill, conserve resources...
recycling is important for creating a more sustainable economy or creating a circular economy, using significantly less energy, the scrap recycling industry...
either reused or mechanically/chemically recycled. There has been a shift in recent years toward recycling textiles because of new regulations in several...
difficult to collect and recycle them. Batteries Directive [20] targets on the collection, recycling and other recycling activities of batteries and...
Look up recycler in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Recycler or Recyclers may refer to: Recycling, the process of converting waste materials into new...
Battery recycling is a recycling activity that aims to reduce the number of batteries being disposed as municipal solid waste. Batteries contain a number...
processes, aluminium recycling grew too. In 1904, the first two aluminium can recycling plants were built in the United States; one recycling plant was built...
system. All forms of recycling have feedback loops that use energy in the process of putting material resources back into use. Recycling in ecology is regulated...
"Information about Recycling". Bureau of International Recycling. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 20 October 2007. "Recycle – Save Energy"...
reaction products. However, chemical recycling to other products is also done. For physical recycling, especially for recycle to food contact applications, rigorous...
Greyhound Recycling is an Irish waste collection and recycling company based in Clondalkin, Dublin. The company was founded in 1974 by Bernard and Maura...
Petrodollar recycling is the international spending or investment of a country's revenues from petroleum exports ("petrodollars"). It generally refers...
yard, car spare parts supplier, and recently, auto or vehicle recycling. Vehicle recycling has always occurred to some degree but in recent years manufacturers...
accesses to the ships during recycling Ground view of Hong Kong Convention compliant ship recycling yard in Alang, india Ship recycling in Alang Jafrabad Chittagong...
Radius Recycling, previously known as Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc., is a steel manufacturing and scrap metal recycling company headquartered in Portland...
Concrete recycling is the use of rubble from demolished concrete structures. Recycling is cheaper and more ecological than trucking rubble to a landfill...
Japan has a system of recycling marks, recycling identification marks (リサイクル識別表示マーク), which indicate and classify recyclable materials. They are similar...
telluride modules, the recycling process begins by crushing the module and subsequently separating the different fractions. This recycling process is designed...
Timber recycling or wood recycling is the process of turning waste timber into usable products. Recycling timber is a practice that was popularized in...
unfamiliar with what can be recycled or they believe the item they dispose of for recycling can be made into a useful item. Recycling programs differ by jurisdiction...
papers to get ads." The name was changed to the Recycler to capitalize on the popularity of recycling in the early 1970s. By 1975, the paper had become...
about glass recycling. Glass manufacturers such as Owens-Illinois ultimately include recycled glass in their product. The Glass Recycling Coalition is...
collecting recycled materials can be categorized into the following initiatives: internet-based recycling, brand-led recycling, and government-led recycling. Internet-based...
to facilitate recycling of post-consumer plastics." The system has been adopted by a growing number of communities implementing recycling programs, as...
recycling varies by city and country. Each city and country has different recycling programs in place that can handle the various types of recyclable...
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