What
Happens When You Recycle?
Newspapers
How is recovered newspaper processed into a useful product?
Shredded magazines are added to the newspaper so that their clay content
will separate the ink from the newspaper fibers, which are then turned
to pulp and washed. Screens remove contaminants. The pulp is bleached
and mixed with pulp from wood chips to strengthen it. The pulp is poured
on a screen to drain, then flattened and dried as it passes through
the steam-heated rollers. It is trimmed and rolled to be reused as newspaper.
What products
are made from recycled newspaper?
Recycled newspaper is reprocessed into newsprint and wrapping paper,
manufactured into molded packaging, shredded and fire-proofing added
for blown-in cellulose insulation or manufactured into sheet rock surfacing.
How much energy is saved by recycling newspaper?
Recycling one ton of newspaper saves three tons of wood pulp. It saves
the equivalent of 3,000 kilowatt hours of electricity or 23% of the
energy required to process a ton of newsprint from new pulp.
Cardboard
How is recovered cardboard processed into a useful product?
Corrugated cardboard is pulped and blended with new pulp from wood chips.
The pulp is screened, rolled, and dried into two types of cardboard
called medium (the ribbed inner layer) and linerboard (the smooth outer
layers). Both are sold to a boxboard plant to be formed into new corrugated
cardboard.
What products are made from recycled cardboard?
Recycled cardboard is manufactured into medium, linerboard, and paper
for brown paper bags.
How much energy is saved by recycling cardboard?
Recycling one ton of cardboard saves three tons of wood pulp. It saves
the equivalent of 3,000 kilowatt hours of electricity or 23% of the
energy needed to process one ton of corrugated cardboard from fresh
wood pulp.
Aluminum
How is recovered aluminum processed into a useful product?
Aluminum scrap is ground or shredded into small chips before being melted
and cast into molds. The molds are sent to manufacturing plants where
they are molded or rolled into sheets that can be shaped into various
products.
What products are made from recycled aluminum?
Rolled sheets of recycled aluminum can be formed into many products,
such as car bodies. Aluminum is also cast (molded) or extruded into
many useful forms like pop cans. Recycled aluminum has the same qualities
as newly extracted aluminum.
How much energy is saved by recycling aluminum?
Aluminum is the biggest energy saver of all, saving 64,300 kilowatt
hours per ton of recycled material. That is a savings of 96% of the
electricity needed when compared to using bauxite ore.
Tin Cans
How are recovered tin cans processed into a useful product?
"Tin" cans are really tin-coated steel cans. Removing labels
from cans and flattening them saves space in shipping. The tin coating
on steel cans is removed with a caustic detinning solution then extracted
from the solution by electrolysis. The remaining steel is rinsed, baled,
and sold to a steel mill.
What products are made from recycled tin cans?
Tin and steel are separated. Then the recycled tin is used by the chemical
and pharmaceutical industries, and the steel is remanufactured into
cars, cans and structures. Most steel products contain some recycled
steel.
How much energy is saved by recycling tin cans?
Reclaiming one ton of steel or tin saves 1.5 tons of ore. Tin recycling
saves an estimated 2,600 kilowatt hours per ton. Steel recycling saves
an average of 4,300 kilowatt hours per ton or 47% of the energy required
to process steel from raw materials.
Glass
How is recovered glass processed into a useful product?
A mechanical processing system breaks the glass into small pieces called
cullet. Magnets, screens and vacuum systems remove metals, labels, bits
of plastic and caps. The cullet is blended with silica sand, soda ash
and limestone. The mixture is melted and blow-molded into new glass
containers.
What products are made from recycled glass?
Recycled glass is remanufactured into glass containers and fiberglass
insulation, and construction uses glass such as utility trench backfill
and road base material, glassphalt paving.
How much energy is saved by recycling glass?
Recycling one ton of glass saves 1.2 tons of new raw materials. It saves
the equivalent of 860 kilowatt hours of electricity or 18% of the energy
needed to form new glass.
Motor Oil
How is recovered motor oil processed into a useful product?
Used motor oil is re-refined by removing the contaminated additives
and blending the pure base lube stock with a new additive package. It
takes 42 gallons of virgin crude oil to make 2.5 quarts of refined oil,
but it only takes one gallon of used oil to make the same 2.5 quarts.
What products are made from recycled motor oil?
Recycled motor oil is used to lighten bunker fuel, the heavy residue
left from virgin oil refining, for use in ships; boilers, burned in
asphalt plants and cement and lime kilns for processing heat and re-refined
into motor oil.
How much energy is saved by recycling motor oil?
All of the oil saved by recycling is an energy savings. Oil doesn't
"go bad," it just gets dirty. Re-refining cleans it up. This
option cuts our dependence on foreign oil and reduces the need for new
wells to be drilled.
Recycling
Information Line
Recycling
Fact from Washington State Recycling Association
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