The recycling It is the physiochemical or mechanical process with which an already used material is subjected to a treatment cycle that allows a new raw material or a new product to be obtained.
Thanks to recycling, the disuse of materials that can be potentially useful, while reducing the consumption of a new raw material when new products can be obtained. In this way, the production of garbage in the world is reduced in two ways when the recycling process is carried out.
History of recycling
The origins of recycling They go back many years before Christ, to the extent that garbage has existed since the moment in which the human being appeared on the planet: since the first civilizations it is that the accumulation of waste has been a problem that has been increasing.
Undoubtedly, one of the moments that changed the history of recycling was the Industrial Revolution, the time when the production of new goods became dramatically cheaper, allowing many companies to mass-produce their materials for the first time.
However, the financial difficulties caused by the 1929 crisis, and then by the Second World War, they made the amount of waste limited to the bare minimum, which was decreasing until the 1970s: at that time the public interest in recycling began, and the measures to encourage this practice.
Mechanical and source recycling
Recycling is a fundamental action in the commercial and industrial process, as well as in the home environment. The most widespread recycling is mechanical recycling, a physical process by which elements such as plastic They are recovered for later use.
However, there is also the recycled at source, which is to dedicate itself to the research, development and production of objects using fewer resources: by using less raw material, less waste is produced and natural resources are better used.
Waste separation
One of the essential elements for recycling is the waste separation, to the extent that not all products are equally suitable to face the recomposition process: recyclable materials are called those that can be reused.
In this sense, generalizing the separation of waste is a indispensable action that must be done from the public sector, for which a differentiation was made between the colors of the containers: the blue color is mainly intended for paper and cardboard, the yellow for plastics and cans, the green for glass, the red for hazardous waste , orange for organic waste, and gray for the rest of the waste that does not belong to these groups.
Examples of recyclable materials
| Transport boxes | Forms |
| Food packaging | Folders |
| Papers, both printed and unprinted | Cardboard packaging |
| Common letter envelopes | Perfume and cosmetic packaging |
| Aluminum | Cotton fabrics |
| Food industry transport packaging | Linen fabrics |
| Disposable cups, plates and cutlery | Fabrics of 100% natural origin |
| Pots | Soft drink cans and containers |
| Bottles of alcoholic beverages | Sheets torn from notebooks |
| Ferrous metal | Newspapers |
| Containers from food and drink | Journals |
| Cosmetic jars | Plastic chairs (as well as more furniture elements of this material) |
| Bills |
