RECYCLING
What kind of machinery do we use to take our everyday waste and make new products out of it?
Take a look around you. Practically everything that you see which is human-made can be recycled. Everything from this copy of How It Works you’re holding, the wooden table you’re sitting at, the fabric of the clothes you’re wearing, the battery in your mobile phone, the components of your computer and even the materials that make up the building around you… But not everything is recycled – why is that?
What can and can’t be recycled is quite an expansive question, but for domestic purposes, it depends very much on the recycling facilities available to your local authorities. Materials like paper and plastics – as long as they aren’t too contaminated – can be processed and baled into a raw material ready for reuse. Metals – especially more valuable ones like lead, copper and aluminium – are highly sought after. All these materials have unique recycling processes that have been an established part of manufacturing for over a century, with scrap metal merchants and salvage yards forming a significant industry all of their own.