What Is Recycling?

The first known efforts at recycling began in China around 100 A.D. when paper was invented using old rags, worn fishnets and plant materials. That recycling effort was engaged in for the purpose of inventing something and had nothing to do with the environment. Another well-known recycling effort also had nothing to do with the environment but with winning World War II when scrap metals were collected to melt down for the war effort. Recycling efforts today, while the methods are similar, have gone beyond those earlier efforts.

History

• The modern recycling movement began in the late 1960s by the counterculture--the same people who established the first Earth Day observance in 1970--in response to the throw-away society American had become in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Function

• The purpose of recycling is to prevent refuse of all kinds from going into the waste stream that ends up in landfills and the water supply .

Types

• Recycling efforts have been established for plastic, metals, newspapers, cardboard, paper, electronics, food waste and many other items and substances.

Method

• The basic method of recycling is to reduce materials back down to their original form to recast, remold and remake them into new forms. For example, metal is melted down and remade into new metal containers and other objects.

Other methods

• Other ways to recycle include taking original items and using them for something else. For example, used food containers can be washed and reused as storage containers for food grown in the garden or to start seedling plants in the house during the winter. The end result is the same as traditional recycling--keeping the containers out of landfills.