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” 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 …

A German study concluded that if plastic containers were banned from the market, domestic waste would weigh 404% more, energy consumption would be 212% higher, and the cost of containers would go up 212%. Germany’s Ministry of Environment published new statistics showing that atmospheric and liquid emissions are smaller with …

Northwest Quality Innovations, an American corporation specialized in novelties, manufactured shoes named “DejaShoes-footwear with a past and a future” utilizing old tires for the soles, recovered polypropylene for the upper half and recycled steel for the eyelets. The shoes’ final cost was US$ 59,00 and they were made with Nike …

Aluminum is produced through the electrolysis of alumina, obtained from bauxite ore. Approximately, 4 tons of bauxite are necessary to produce 1 ton of aluminum, which is enough to produce 60 thousand cans of 33cl. Aluminum production demands large amounts of energy: to obtain 1 ton, you need about 16 …

Car companies such as Mercedes, MBW and FIAT are developing vehicles whose parts and components can be entirely recovered. There is already a plant in Leer, Germany, built with the support of Volkswagen and Bayer, which dedicates exclusively to disassembling and recovering auto parts that are no longer useful. This …