Things You Didn’t Know You Couldn’t Recycle
Many American households recycle because they want to keep their garbage out of the landfills and preserve our nation’s beauty.
The process of recycling is pretty easy; however, there are quite a few items that can’t be recycled. Some of these items might come as a surprise to you.
Pizza Boxes
It seems like you would be able to recycle a pizza box since it is made of cardboard. Unfortunately, the oil from the pizza makes it so the cardboard fibers can’t separate properly for recycling.
Plastic Bottle Caps
If water bottles can be recycled, then it seems like the plastic bottle caps should also be recyclable. What you might not know though is that these bottle caps are made of a different kind of plastic, which cannot be recycled.
Bright Colored Paper
When you recycle paper, it is heated to release the paper fibers. Because of this, you can’t recycle bright colored paper. If you try to, then the heat causes the colors to transfer. This paper should be reused or thrown away.
Styrofoam
Styrofoam can be big and bulky. It would take up a lot of space and require recycling companies to use more trucks, which costs a lot of money. Since recycling Styrofoam would cost more than making new Styrofoam, it isn’t accepted with most recycling companies.
How to Prepare Your Aluminum Cans for the Recycling Center
Who doesn’t use aluminum cans?
Soda and beer cans might not seem like they use up much material, but they can actually have a pretty major impact on the environment. Read on to learn about how to prepare your aluminum cans for our recycling center and how those cans can also have a major impact on your wallet.
Rinse Them Out
First, make sure the cans are clean and empty. Storing dirty, sticky cans will create quite a mess for you down the road. A quick rinse after finishing your drink should be sufficient.
Crush Them
After you have collected a bag full of cans, it can be helpful (although not necessary) to crush them up. This way, they take up less space and you can turn in more of them at once. If you have kids, you can even turn the crushing process into a game!
Collect Them over Time
Keeping a running collection over time is the simplest way to amass a large number of cans. Keep receptacles in high-traffic areas like the kitchen and car to make things easy.
Check Out the Scene
If you have questions about what you can turn in, what format is preferred, what the going rates are, or anything else where your aluminum cans are concerned, simply let us know so we can make the process simple and straightforward.
How Metal Became the Preferred Building Material
The history of metal is really the history of civilization. The discovery of copper, bronze, and iron allowed people to create tools and weapons that allowed them to be far more efficient than ever before.
Metal also allowed men to build intricate machines and more durable structures, again helping people to increase productivity.
Thousands of years after the initial discovery of metal, steel is the most widely used construction material today. While it has long been the favorite for industrial and commercial projects, lightweight steel is rapidly gaining popularity in residential uses as well.
Some of the advantages that make steel the preferred choice of modern building materials include the following:
Durability
Steel holds up better to natural disasters like fire, earthquakes, wind, etc. It is also resistant to damage from insects like termites.Strength: Steel is much stronger than wood. When it comes to construction, architects need fewer supports, allowing them to create more open space and more design options.
Eco-friendly
Steel is one of the world’s most recycled projects. The use of recycled steel preserves natural resources and helps save energy. In the United States, 64% of the steel used comes from recycled sources.
Cost-efficiency
In many cases steel can be a cheaper alternative than wood because it allows for more flexibility in design and construction methods.Even with advances in other materials like carbon fiber, ceramics, plastics, and more, it seems likely that metal will remain the favored material for building for the foreseeable future.
How Stainless Steel Is Made
Stainless steel, the sturdy staple of both large construction projects and precision surgical instruments, is typically comprised of 60% recycled material. It is also 100% recyclable. Therefore, it is typically made by processing existing stainless steel.
Stainless Steel Origins
Steel is an alloy, or metal conglomerate, of iron and carbon. To be considered stainless steel, it must also contain a minimum of 10.5% chromium. Production begins in an arc furnace, where a carbon electrode contacts recycled stainless scrap and chromium. A current then races through it, heating the materials enough to melt them. This results in a molten mass that can now be processed.
The simpler explanation is that hard metal has to be heated to make it soft. Overall, it is no more complicated than a preschooler rolling salt dough in his warm hands until it is pliable enough to mix into a uniform blend. The only difference is that softening stainless steel requires a rather toasty temperature of 2750 degrees Fahrenheit.
Carbon Reduction
Because stainless steel requires a much lower carbon content than mild steel, the melted substance must be transferred into an Argon Oxygen Decarbonization (AOD) chamber. After the proper carbon level has been achieved, other alloy additions are made as necessary to perfect the chemistry.
Forming and Cooling
The finished product is rolled or otherwise formed into the desired shape, and it is then cooled. Some types of stainless steel are then subjected to another heat treatment and acid pickling, and the metal masterpiece is complete.
Is Incineration Having a Negative Effect on Recycling?
We focus our efforts on giving companies the ability of turning old things like plastic bottles and tires into new things like benches and running tracks. Unfortunately, with the proliferation of incinerators, effective recycling efforts have taken a nosedive.
The Capitalist World
Competition is the law of a capitalist society. Because incinerators are capital intensive and costly to run, each incinerator must burn a certain amount of waste in order to remain a viable business.
That means that incinerators will take anything to reach capacity and be able to burn waste at the optimal level for profits and efficiency. Unfortunately, when an incinerator burns recyclables, they are no longer recyclable. They become waste and pollution that will affect the areas surrounding the incinerator.
