Sunday, April 15, 2007

Recycling contributed by James Woodruff

*From England*

CAIRNS AND FAR NORTH ENVIRONMENT CENTRE FACT SHEET: RECYCLING
"The Value of Recycling"

Reusing things not worn out, repairing things if possible, recycling materials into other uses, all reduce volume of waste to be carted and buried or burnt. They also reduce the energy and raw materials needed to make new things. They usually save money although at the cost of some time. Most people get satisfaction from avoiding waste.

"Reuse in Cairns"
Reuse in Cairns fluorishes, as a glance at the Yellow Pages under 'Secondhand' will show. Many people are exchanging or giving away goods they no longer need rather than putting them into a waste bin. Many people are checking out used goods not only to save money, but to get things no longer available new, and to reduce waste. Vehicles, clothes, books, furniture and building materials are particularly reused. In recent years reuse of articles taken to the Portsmith dump hasa been officially organised, partly from shame at waste and partly to remove the danger of scavenging. In recent yeaars also vegetation prunings are being shredded and chipped by the council, by pr ivate contractors, and by the electricity supply service as the benefits of mulch on tropical soil and of saving dump space are more widely appreciated.

"Recycling in Cairns"
Recycling in Cairns depends on a market for the raw material concerned that will at least pay for collection and transport to distant places.Metals have long been in demand. C opper, brass, lead, aluminum, iron and steel are all wanted by at least three firms. Most collection is from industry but cages for aluminum cans are widespread. Collection points for glass bottles are common. N.Q. Recyclers dispatches over 20 tonnes per week. Since the opening of a Visyboard factory in Brisbane N.Q. Recyclers collects 80-90 tonnes of cardboard per week from commercial premises, and has competition from Cairns Cardboard. Blue wheelie bins for white office paper (8 tonnes per week) are placed inside offices willing to exclude colour, plastic and cardboard. Paper and coardboard must be seperated at source because any contact with glass which breaks embeds invisible shards which damage machinery. Doubt can condemn a wagon load. Unsold newspapers are shredded for fruit packing. Household newspring is not wanted, but is useful in the garden to smother weeds underneath mulch, or it can be placed with prunings for shredding. Plastic bottles are extracted from domestic recycling bins, baled (over 2 tonnes per week), and sent to be melted to make crates and garden furniture.

Sadly, at least up to writing in 2000, the collection from domestic yellow top bins cost far more than the materials are worth, even allowing for some saving of dump space. The inner city contracter delivers to N.Q. Recyclers, who are paid to sort and in addition keep what they recover. They pay to dump rejected material and may refuse a contaminated load, which the co llecter then pays to dump. The outer city contract has a different history. One firm collects, sorts, and umps rejected material free. Contaminated loads are accepted at curbside and only a small proportion is picked off the sorting belt.

Car batteries are usually returned to the retailer and colected by a metal merchant. Tires are no longer accepted for landfill. The nearest processor is at Townsville. Some are shredded and added to paving mixes: some are used as fuel where a furnace has high temperature and emission control (e.g. the Gladstone cement works). Car bodies are likewise not accepted but stockpiled, crushed by a traveling plant, and sent to a smelter. Lubricating oil is collected from service stations by N.Q. Resource Recovery. Used Cooking oil is collected from kitchens by Harmony Village. The oils are processed and used for fuel.

WHAT CAN I DO?
Buy secondhand; save unwanted goods for charities and fundraising sales.
Buy products that are reliable, repairable, refillable, reusable, recyclable. Avoid plastics, pressure packs, plastic shopping bags, excess packaging.
Buy local produce to cut transport.
Use the seven basic cleaning ingredients:
-vinegar
-bicarb soda
-block soap
-borax
-washing soda
-lemon juice
-cloudy ammonia

Read the Green Cleaner, the Green Consumers Guide and Blueprint for a Green Planet.Kitchen waste and garden clippings and prunings commonly form half of household's rubbish. It can be composted, reducing the load on the municipal garbabge service and benefitting your garden (or a friend's)Save glass jars as storage bottles. Find an opportunity shop for the surplus.Note convenient places where recyclables are being collected. Add your own aluminum cans, glass, white paper, cardboard, engine oil, steel cans.[Original words by Michael Bryan. Reproduced for Penn State by James Woodruff]

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