What is Recycle ?

Re·cy·cle (rē-sī'kəl) - Derived from wikipedia recycle means reprocessing of materials into new products. Recycling generally prevents the waste of potentially useful materials, reduces the consumption of raw materials and reduces energy usage, and hence greenhouse gas emissions, compared to virgin production.

Why Recycle ?

Recycling is cheaper in the long run compared to maintaining landfills and other systems. When recycling programmes become more efficient, there will be less rubbish to dispose of. We produce over 15,000 tons of rubbish everyday. It is only a matter of time before we run out of space to dispose of them. Recycling reduces waste, which in turn reduces the need for landfills and dumpsites moreover it improves cleanliness and quality of life.

Experts believe a landfill can last 10 years longer if Malaysians recycled 50% of their garbage The residents of Johor Bahru generate 1300 tons of waste every day. It will take only 3 days to fill the entire length of the Johor Causeway with this amount of garbage.

The 3 R's - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
The three key factors when thinking about how to recycle

Reduce

The best thing that we can do for the planet is to use less of it. At the heart of the environmental crisis is our consumer society. Here are a few questions you can ask before you buy: Do I, or the other person I am buying this for, really need this? Is there another product that would do the same thing but more sustainably? Will this last a long time? Do I know how this item was made, how it will be used and how it will be disposed of? Where was this made and under what circumstances?

Reuse

When we buy, we should buy items that are durable, and we should maintain them and have them repaired when necessary. If we do this, many things can not only last a lifetime, but can be passed along from generation to generation. If something is truly unusable for its original purpose, try to be creative and think of how else it might be used. When you are done with it, think if someone else might be able to use it.

Recycle

Rather than throwing an item out when neither you nor anyone else can make use of it, have it recycled. And while recycling is not perfect — it requires energy and the process of changing something into something else often produces by-products — it is better than sending goods to the landfill or having them incinerated.

What Can I Recycle ?

There are a lot of items going into the rubbish bags that can easily be recycled. Some common items to recycle are :

Paper

  • Paper - Newspapers, glossy magazines, junk mail, office paper, letters, envelopes, even old bills.
  • Cardboard and boxboard - Thin card used to make boxes, such as cereal, soap and tea packets and greetings cards
  • Egg cartons and trays
  • 1 litre cardboard milk cartons
  • Corrugated cardboard
  • Telephone books are collected annually, at the time the new books are issued.

Glass

All coloured and clear glass, including drink bottles, food containers, vitamin bottles and cosmetic jars can be recycled.

Plastic

Plastic containers with numbers 1 or 2 in the recycling triangle - this includes many juice and soft drink containers, most plastic milk, yoghurt and cream bottles (not pottles), plastic vegemite jars, some shampoo bottles, many household cleaning containers (e.g. washing detergent, jif) and some ice-cream containers (although not their lids)