In the UK, local councils have been forced by national government to recycle more waste, both directly and indirectly via a landfill tax.
But does anyone know just how effectively this will reduce our carbon footprint?
That is not a rhetorical question, readers. If you know or suspect an approximation of an answer, or a partial one, please post a comment.
Some of the questions that need answering include the energy consumption involved in collecting and sorting recyclable waste and the overall energy savings in the re-manufacture of the materials, which may involve shipping materials half way around the globe. And on that last point, how much of the stuff simply ends up in a third-world landfill?
3 comments:
On some items im sure that the amount of energy, hence carbon fp to recycle the good is less than that to manufacture it new. ie, you save carbon when recycling.
However, on others the processes to remove the dyes, paints etc i would expect quite a complicated process...hence energy consumption...hence carbon.
I think its very PC to say we are recycling, but are we actually emitting less CO2?
Unfortunately I don't know the answer either, except that for aluminum, it's so efficient that people actually make good money doing it. However, I would like to just point out that CO2 emissions aren't the only thing recycling affects. It also reduces landfill waste, especially of less-biodegradable products like plastic and glass, as well as reducing other types of pollution, and environmental harm involved in producing new materials.
Of course, there are similar costs for recycling. But, with glass recycling, for instance, it doesn't require any further mining of the irreplaceable environment.
Here's a little info on glass recycling: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_recycling
A useful comment I read a few years ago is that thoroughly cleaning plastic and glass items before sending them off to recycling dramatically increases the net amount of energy spent on recycling these items. The process of remanufacturing itself has huge energy requirments (rinsing, grinding, melting, extruding etc). Better to let the more efficient cleaning facilities clean the items "en masse" rather than creating a larger carbon footprint by pre-cleaning these items.
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