Recycling in Great Britain and Germany A comparison between both countries Thorben Eckhoff Christian Tumpach
Introduction Recycling is processing used materials (waste) into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution (from incineration) and water pollution (from landfills) by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse gas emissions as compared to virgin production. Recyclable materials include many kinds of glass, paper, metal, plastic, textiles, and electronics. Although similar in effect, the composting or other reuse of biodegradable waste such as food or garden waste is not typically considered recycling. Materials to be recycled are either brought to a collection center or picked up from the curbside, then sorted, cleaned, and reprocessed into new materials bound for manufacturing. The recycling of waste has many advantages, on the one hand is less energy needed than in the process of gaining the materials out of the natural resources and on the other hand it is cheaper. There are some exceptions but this statement is true for the lion s share. Recycling combines the prevention, minimisation, reuse and energy recovery of waste. We will compare the recycling-processes of paper, plastic and metal in Germany and Britain.
Ethics The time to change our relation with the resources we use is due. Our wealth based on the use of naturally limited resources like oil and metals. The products that getting produced with these materials are part of our everydaylife. Cars, trains, petrol, medical tools, packings, bottles, computer and on and on. Our wealth is limited. We have to reduce our consumption and recycle as much waste as possible to obtain the modern life-standards that we live and love. Experts predict that the last drop of oil will be flowed in about 70 years. Medical care would be extreme expensive and a lot of surgery could be impossible to do. The plastic-bag of today is the medical equipment of tomorrow. It s up to you how the future generations are going to live, so please be careful with the waste you produce!
Recycling of paper in Britain Paper is getting used in many different forms such as newspapers, magazines, office paper or cardboard. The source for them is the same: Trees. As you can imagine that s not very well for the environment. The British people consume about 12,5 million tons of paper and cardboard annually. 24 trees are needed to produce one ton of paper, that makes an awful amount of 300 million trees a year. The average household waste in Britain contains about 30% paper that could be recycled. That would save millions of trees. The paper gets collected by the local waste-management via the standard recycling-bin. It s an easy way to protect the environment. But a lot of it gets thrown in the wrong bin. Furthermore many people don t use there office paper very economically. They could use both sides of a sheet to save paper.
Paper-recycling in Germany With more than 15 million tons per year, the German s are champions in the collection and recycling of waste paper. No other country in Europe is as consistent as Germany. The importance of the coveted raw material waste paper and its benefits to the environment has seen the German paper industry decades ago. In the production of recycled paper, saving significant environmental effects. About 60% of water and energy can get saved in comparison to the production of virgin fiber paper. In the production of 300 tons of recycled paper saves as nearly two million kilowatt hours of energy. An amount sufficient to the football stadium in Klagenfurt for a year to provide electricity and heat. Even small amounts of recycled paper can make a big difference. In the production of only 3500 sheets of recycled paper saves enough water to let a complete football team take a shower. The blue angel germany also has the most ambitious eco-labels in Europe. The blue angel for recycled paper is the highest environmental standards and significantly lessens the natural resources. By using 100% recycled paper, the forests are protected, at the same time is protected through the use of harmless chemicals to the environment. Over the last thirty years, recycled paper with the Blue Angel has done a real quantum leap. Years of research and technological innovations now permit production of high-recycled paper that meets the highest standards of quality and aesthetics.
Plastic-recycling in Britain Plastic exists in a huge variety of forms. Every special plastic is optimized for a single use. You can find it everywhere around you. Oil is needed to produce plastic and as you know the oil-deposits are shrinking from day to day. In approximately seventy years they are empty. The biggest part of packagings are plastic. Great Britain consumes about plastic-bottles per day and there are many more temporary uses for it. Some people talk about the plastic-age. But this age will not last forever, so we have to recycle and reuse as much plastic as possible. The easiest way is to avoid plastic-packagings and bags when you go shopping. Furthermore you can help by throw your unpreventable plasticwaste in the right litter. There are special litters on the streets and your local waste management accept it in it s recycle-bins. Most of the plastic is easy to recycle or at least a good source for energy.
Plastic-recycling in Germany A large part of the plastics produced becomes within a relatively short time as a waste disposal or recycling. Plastic waste can be disposed in landfills and incinerators. Storing plastic waste in landfills is the worst solution, because the material will be removed from any further use. In the incineration plastic waste is used as a substitute for primary fuels (coal, oil, gas). The resulting combustion heat is used for district heating, steam production or power generation. A big problem with plastic recycling are the many different plastics and the many additives. Even if the dyes and plasticizers would be visible by marking, it is not economically viable to carry out this separation, because the soobtained plastic (recycled material) must compete in the market with cheap newly produced plastics. In addition, the final properties of the recyklats are often worse than those of the new plastics because just can not be separated exactly.
Recycling of metal in Britain The recycling of matel in Britain is quite the same recycling as for plastic und paper. In comparison to germany the britains uses a lot of aluminum cans this is probably affected by the refund we have. The anually consumption of aluminium for packaging in britain is about 51.000 tonnes. The non-recycled "waste" of aluminium per year is 36.000.000 pound worth. It s really important to reuse this metal for it saves an enormous amount of energy if the already used material gets recycled. Furthermore it s necessary to save our envrionment by creating less green house gases or save the natural landscape by mining less mining. Alumunium is not very rare but the sources are limited so we should reuse and recycle it if we want to profit from it s attributes.
Metal-recycling in Germany The recycling of copper scrap, copper alloy scrap and other recycled materials in addition to the processing of copper concentrates a central area of the copper production. Metal recycling is also synonymous with securing raw materials and environmental protection. Non-ferrous metals and precious metals are excellent for recovery. The recycling of copper, silver, gold and other nonferrous metals does not lead to loss of quality of metals and can be repeated indefinitely. Germany has a high demand for copper, but is poor in natural resources. Metal Recycling opens the bound metal reserves in products and thus contributes significantly to the supply of copper and other metals. Copper meets the criteria of sustainable development and is based on a modern circular economy. It saves natural resources, reduces energy consumption and avoids loss of valuable materials to the final. The most modern recycling techniques, as used in the application Aurubis work, the heterogeneous recycled raw materials efficiently, ensure environmentally friendly production and allow the production of high quality products.
The importance of recycling After these information you should know why it s so crucial to care about the waste we produce. Our environment has plenty of methods to keep the balance but the mankind has such a critical affect to it that it s not possible to heal itself as fast as we destruct it. The stopping of overexploitation of natural resources and careless use of them is the first step to offer our children a healthy and peaceful planet. One of the frequent reason for war is the lack of resources. So we could defend the enviroment and peace for coming generations by trading careful with our material-based wealth and waste. It s hard to see the neccesity of recycling in such good and peaceful times but we must find a way to make our consumption sustainable for the environment. Please make the first step and start recycling!