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“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 …

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 …

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 …