Curiosidades

“A empresa de petróleo Texaco declarou que planeja construir uma planta de gaseificação para converter resíduos plásticos mistos em combustível, em uma unidade em Rotterdam, Holanda. Euwid Recycling & Waste Management relata que a Texaco prevê uma de produção de NLG250 por tonelada para as 40.000 toneladas por ano de …

“No final do milênio, cerca de 30 milhões de toneladas de embalagens serão recicladas ou recuperadas como energia em toda Europa, informa Euwid Recycling & Waste Management. Isto representa metade das embalagens produzidas e indica algum sucesso da legislação da União Européia. Informa-se que o custo da reciclagem varia entre DM 690 …

“By the millennium, some 30 million tonnes of waste packaging will be recycled or recovered as energy across the Europe, reports Euwid Recycling &. This is around half the total and indicates some success in complying with EU legislative targets. The cost of recycling is said to range between DM …

“In 1997, Brazil recycled a record 64 per cent of aluminium cans, ahead of wealthier countries such as France, UK and Australia. Brazilian non-profit recycling association Cempre reports that 61.700 tons of aluminium (4,1 billions cans) were collected in 1997, a growth of 50 per cent in a single year …

” The Swedish Environment Agency – Naturvardsverket – has concluded that the benefits of recycling packaging materials outweight the environmental costs. The agency found that the balance recycling came out ahead of the other waste management options.”

In Illinois, USA, a scientist intends to feed cattle with recycled newspaper. He believes it can be transformed into forage that would satisfy over 30% of cattle nourishment needs. A large-sized animal, according to the centrist, could eat up to 4,5 kg of paper daily

Some American cities have been using recovered glass to pave their streets: it’s the so-called “glasphalt”, which substitutes the aggregate with glass fragments. It is estimated that the City of New Jersey, which generates 50.000 tons of mixed glass per year, can use a maximum of 150.000 tons in that process, …

According to the Department of Energy, paper incineration produces 8.000 Btu/pound while recycling recovers only 2.000 Btu/pound. That means that in order to obtain a balance between the two methods, the paper would have to be recovered as pulp for four times at least, compromising the quality of the fibers

To give an idea of the amount of nondurable products consumed in the US and consequently of the potential for solid waste recovery, we shall quote some bits of information from Tom Heyman’s “In an Average Lifetime”: “During his life, the average American will consume 20.301 bottles of beer, 460 …

A widely explored myth is that waste paper recycling saves forests and preserves natural resources. On the contrary, cellulose is always obtained from cultivated trees, a renewable resource. And the energy consumed in recycling paper is in some cases many times greater than the energy used in its fabrication from …