There are many reasons why we should all reduce our waste - and reuse and recycle our resources.
Landfill
We are running out of landfill space
and nobody wants a new site near their home or in an area of natural beauty.
Using landfill is expensive. The government
is putting greater limits on the amount of rubbish allowed to be sent to landfill and are enforcing this with a fine of £150
per tonne sent over the limit.
Pollution
Although some methane is often collected from landfill sites and used
as a power source, much of it still escapes into the atmosphere and contributes to climate change.
The water that
drains through biodegradable waste, and also chemicals contained in rubbish, can pollute nearby land and water sources. The
mercury from one fluorescent tube can pollute 30,000 litres of drinking water.
Recycling paper in the UK reduces
fuel used in transporting paper made from wood pulp from abroad.
Energy and resources
By reusing resources less habitats are damaged or destroyed in order to extract new resources.
These resources are finite, and as demand is increasing we cannot predict how long they will last. Waste such as glass should be seen as a valuable resource as it can be recycled an infinite amount of times.
Less energy is used in recycling products in comparison to making them from virgin materials. This helps reduce our impact on climate change.
Glass
Glass is 100% recyclable, with no waste resulting from the recycling process.
Greenhouse gases are only released during the initial melting of raw materials, making glass recycling a far less polluting process in comparison to making new glass.
The energy saved from recycling one glass bottle could power a computer for 25 minutes, or a lightbulb for almost an hour.
Metals
The energy saved from recycling an aluminium can could run a television for three hours.
Recycled aluminium is the main material for making more cans. Steel cans are recycled into bicycles, paperclips, scissors or more cans.
Plastic bottles
Most plastic does not degrade for hundreds of years, requires fossil fuels and potentially harmful chemicals in its production, and can be thrown away within a week of being made.
It takes only 25 fizzy drink bottles to make a fleece jacket
Milk bottles and coloured bottles can be made into compost bins, drain pipes, washing up bowls, watering cans and many other items.
Paper
All of our paper goes to Aylesford Newsprint to make 100% recycled newsprint. The centre supplies all the mainstream newspapers, as well as the Cambridge News.
Of the paper sent for recycling 80% comes out of the process as recycled paper. The remaining 20% comes out of the process as sludge (ink and useless fibres) which is then burnt on site in a combined heat and power plant which powers the paper mill.
From putting your newspaper in the recycling bank, to buying it back as a new newspaper, takes as little as four days. It takes a crop of trees 70 years to grow - for a newspaper that may be thrown away 30 minutes after it’s bought.
Environmental considerations
We know the great benefits of recycling for saving energy, pollution, and resources, but we also take into account the energy, pollution and resources used in the collection of materials for recycling.
With this in mind:
- all recycling processing plants are situated as local as possible to reduce 'waste miles'
- collection routes around Cambridge are organised to be the most efficient
- collection vehicles are fitted with fuel efficient engines
- black recycling boxes are made out of recycled plastic
- materials are segregated at source to gain the most resource and economic value
- organic waste is composted in specific conditions, which means that we can take all cooked and uncooked food waste including meat and diary.
We are always looking at ways to recycle more of our rubbish. We hope to be able to recycle an increased range of plastics and cartons in the future.