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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 …

Migros, a Swiss chain of supermarkets, in partnership with the Swiss Secretariat for Environmental Protection, developed a software that carries out a comparative analysis of various types of containers regarding each phase of its production, utilization and final disposition. This program quantifies and sets grades for each energy unit consumed, …

São Paulo: In some years, solid waste might no longer have the same destination of the wastes produced by the food industry and agriculture. The waste, rich in proteins, might be transformed into solution for medical and nourishing purposes. This is what thinks Professor Raquel Camargo Giordano from Universidade Federal …

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 …

In Brazil, Goodyear do Brasil, in partnership with the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Natural Renewable Resources (IBAMA) has developed a research about the recovery of used-up tires. Among the methodologies adopted from the American central is the use of tires to fuel cement kilns ovens, which has had very …

Nowadays, there are already many glass manufacturing industries working solely with recovered material. For each 1,000 kg of shattered glass used in the process 1,200 kg of raw material is saved; for each 10% of shattered glass burnt in ovens, 2 to 5 % of energy is saved and gaseous …

For the first time in Europe, the problem of recycling and giving a final destination to automotive vehicles is being discussed as a subject of federal legislation. A new law, approved this year by the German parliament fees cars abandoned in the streets, appoints car industries as responsible for the …