Materials and Energy: Recycling

In a sustainable world, resources are preserved through recycling. Instead of creating new products from raw materials, we reuse existing materials, reducing the amount of waste and saving energy.
Glass, metals, paper, and plastic are the most common materials that can be recycled. This process saves raw materials, thus preserving our natural resources, reducing pollution, and conserving energy.
The recycling process involves collecting recyclable materials, separating them into different types of materials, and then processing them into new products.
Many metals are recyclable, including aluminium and steel. Aluminium can be recycled without losing its quality. Recycling aluminium saves around 95% of the energy needed to produce it from raw materials.
Similarly, steel is recyclable and its recycling process saves energy and reduces carbon emissions.
Limestone is a raw material used in iron extraction. Recycling iron reduces limestone quarrying, which would otherwise be used in steel production.
Recycling paper can significantly reduce the number of trees cut down, thus conserving forests and the species that inhabit them. However, the paper can only be recycled a limited number of times before it loses its quality.
When plastic is recycled, it usually can’t be turned back into the same quality material it was before. It’s typically downcycled into a lower-quality plastic.
Recycling has numerous energy benefits. Manufacturing products from recycled materials typically requires much less energy than producing goods from virgin raw materials.
Despite the benefits of recycling, not all waste can be recycled. Non-recyclables will need to be disposed of in other ways, like landfill, which has its own environmental impacts.
Reducing consumption and throwing away less waste is an important part of sustainable living. This concept is captured in the waste hierarchy: ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’.
Products designed with the end of their life in mind can aid recycling. This concept, known as ‘Design for the environment’, considers environmental impacts in the design phase. An example could be designing a product to be easily disassembled for recycling.