Education

Education is the key to improve your understanding of waste and recycling issues

We live in a fragile and sensitive environment that has been neglected and harmed for many years. As resilient as it is, the long term effects of man’s abuse are now starting to be recognised & we are told we are quickly reaching a point of no return.

Issues such as climate change and carbon awareness have however started to change our environmental focus. Whilst it can be difficult to see what positive advantage our individual efforts can have, there is one area in which we can ALL make a difference.

This is recycling. Instead of sending all our used items to landfill, we need to recycle as much as possible. And why does recycling make good sense?

For starters, we use a lot less energy in reprocessing recycled items as opposed to creating them from natural resources.

The classic example is aluminium cans. We use just one twentieth or 5% of the energy in making new cans from old instead of starting from scratch with bauxite. Thus we cause less pollution by using less energy such as burning coal for power, we create less damage by not destroying the environment to mine or dig up raw materials, and we conserve our natural resources for future generations.

Another area of benefit is reducing the volume of material going to landfill. As buried waste decomposes, it produces greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide, both major contributors to climate change. In addition there is leachate, the sometimes toxic liquid containing chemicals and heavy metals which is also produced from decomposing waste. If not properly contained, this can pollute the surrounding area including rivers and water supplies.

So let’s all do our bit and recycle whatever we can. From putting your recycling in the correct bin to taking unwanted items to a Tip Shop, it will all help both us and the generations to come.

One of the main questions we get asked is “What really happens to my recycling once the truck empties the bin? Does it really not go to the dump?”

Well, if your serviced by a JR Richards & Sons recycling truck, we can guarantee your recycling will end up at one of our Material Recovery Facilities (MRF’s). This is a fancy name for what is in effect a factory.

Trucks bring commingled recyclables in and through a variety of automated and manual processes, we produce bales of products and transport these back to manufacturers to reprocess into new items.

Products recovered include:

• Paper and Cardboard
• Steel
• Aluminium
• Glass – sorted into Brown, Clear and Green
• Various types of Plastics