14 DAY TRIAL // Recycling prevents useful material resources being wasted, reduces the consumption of raw materials and reduces energy usage, and hence greenhouse gas emissions, compared to virgin production; it's a key concept of modern waste management and is the third component of the waste hierarchy.
Recyclable materials, also called "recyclables" or "recyclates", may originate from a wide range of sources including the home and industry. They include glass, paper, aluminum, asphalt, iron, textiles and plastics. Biodegradable waste, such as food waste or garden waste, is also recyclable with the assistance of micro-organisms through composting or anaerobic digestion.
But could trash from your house go back into building it?
Yes, it seems last year's trash could become next year's home model, thanks to the invention of a new type of construction material made entirely from waste products.
"Bitublocks," created by engineer John Forth of the University of Leeds in England, are composed of recycled glass, sewage sludge, incinerator ash, the by-products of metal purification and pulverized fuel ash from power stations.
The engineer hopes his new invention will revolutionize the building industry by providing a sustainable, low-energy replacement for concrete blocks, which are not only expensive, but are also themselves a source of pollution, as the cement industry is in fact a pretty big pollutant through its byproducts and chemicals used in the process.
"Bitublocks use up to 100 percent waste materials and avoid sending them to landfill, which is quite unheard of in the building industry. Less energy is required to manufacture the Bitublock than a traditional concrete block, and it's about six times as strong, so it's quite a high-performance product," Forth said.
The waste products are bound together by bitumen, a sticky substance used in paving roads, before they are compacted into a mold to form a solid block. The block is then heat-cured, which causes the bitumen to harden like concrete.
Using bitumen means a higher proportion of waste products can be used in the blocks than if cement or clay were used to bind the materials. These blocks could put to use millions of pounds of crushed glass and incinerator ash.
Can you guess what the engineer's next bright idea is?
He wants to develop a "Vegeblock" using waste vegetable oil?