Space Zoo Patrol – Energy Conservation – Recycling

By Anne Germain, National Waste Recycling Association

Background

  • What is this technology called?

Recycling

  • How does it work?

Most Americans recycle their single-use packaging (aluminum, plastic, glass) and paper at home through single stream recycling. This means they have a single container where they put all their recyclables and it gets taken to a materials recovery facility (MRF – pronounced murf) where it can get separated and sold to manufacturers to make new products. One thing to be aware of is contamination, which refers to any materials that are not accepted by the recycling program. This could be trash or unacceptable recyclables. For example, lithium batteries might be recyclable under some circumstances, but they cause fires at the MRF which could damage property, injure workers and contaminate the other recyclables. This is why only program recyclables should be put in the recycling containers.

  • Who invented it? And when and where?

Recycling has been with us as long as their have been materials that have reached their end of life.

Advantages

  • What are the environmental advantages?

Recycling saves resources. Since there are finite resources available, recycling allows the materials at the end of their life to be remanufactured into a new product. This saves space in landfills but it also reduces resource extraction. In addition, the energy and water demands of extracting raw materials from the earth is generally more intensive than recycling which means that recycling has a smaller environmental footprint overall.

  • What are the life cycle financial advantages?

Recycling applies to many different materials. Some materials are more valuable than others which means that the financial advantages differ depending on which material is being recycled. In general, manufacturers will utilize whatever material is the lowest price so recycled materials have to be competitive with “virgin” materials.

This is changing. Many manufacturers are now making commitments to use a certain amount of recycled materials in their products which could mean that the price of recycled materials might decouple from virgin materials. This is particularly true of plastic packaging.

  • What jobs are created?

Recycling creates jobs in collection and sorting. Because it is demanding to sort through materials, recycling creates many more jobs than landfilling.

Energy Conservation

  • How efficient is this technology?

Recycling saves energy. Recycling aluminum beverage cans uses 90% less energy than creating it from scratch and recycling steel food cans 75% less energy than making it from virgin. (Source: Can Manufacturers Institute)

Recycling glass saves 30% of energy costs. (Source: EPA)

Recycling paper uses only 60% of the energy rather than making it from scratch. (Source: EPA)

  • What percentage of material is recycled today?

In 1960 only 7% was recycled, but by 2019 32% is recycled.

  • What percentage of total population (US, world) could use this technology?

Eventually everyone could recycle.

  • What geographical areas can this be used in?

Everywhere!

Engineering / Mechanical

  • How is it manufactured?

Recycling is collected from drop-off locations or from the curbside by trucks where it is sent to a MRF. At the MRF, the trucks tip the materials onto the floor of the MRF. A loader will then scoop up the recyclables and place it on a conveyor belt where it starts its journey. A gravity screen takes fiber (paper & cardboard) up while containers fall to another conveyor. Sometimes trash gets into the recyclables – so workers remove trash from the conveyor. Steel containers are sorted from aluminum containers by a magnet. Heavy glass will remain on one conveyor while light weight plastics will get air-blown onto another conveyor. The plastic will then get sorted into types by optical sorters. The fiber, steel, plastic and aluminum are baled and sent to market. The glass is usually sent to a secondary processor for further sorting.

  • Where is it manufactured?

MRFs are common across the country.

  • What maintenance is required?

As materials change, MRFs are updated. Increasingly robots with artificial intelligence are utilized for sorting.

  • What classes should I take in school to work on this technology?

Students can study environmental science, environmental engineering, and material science.

  • Energy Conservation - Recycling 1

    Collecting

  • Energy Conservation - Recycling 2

    Sorting

  • Energy Conservation - Recycling 3

    Returning materials to factory (bales of plastic shown here)

  • Links:

National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA)  Wasterecycling.org