Rubber revival

Rubber discards can be reclaimed and turned into new goods but such efforts are hindered by poor collection of the waste.

CHECK the sole of your shoe. It may not carry the “chasing arrows” of the recycling logo but chances are it is made of recycled rubber. And the rubber mats and components in your car? They could have been parts of a tyre previously.

Rubber waste is one material that has no place in landfills for it can be reclaimed and reused. And at the Rubplast factory in Meru, Selangor, what was once rubber discards has become raw material.

The company processes 500 tonnes of rubber waste each month, turning them into reclaimed rubber that is mostly exported to rubber product manufacturers abroad.

Rubplast was set up in 1988 as a joint venture between Malaysian Rubber Development Corporation (Mardec) and Bombay-based India Coffee and Tea Distribution Company, in response to the problem of rubber waste.

Muniandy Chellamuthu took over the factory in 1998, bringing with him 36 years of experience in the rubber industry. He had previously worked in plantation companies, Mardec and a glove factory.

“Recycling rubber waste contributes to a cleaner environment by using indestructible rubber discards as well as lowering production costs as reclaimed rubber is cheaper than virgin or natural rubber,” says the company managing director.

He says with the escalating price of natural rubber, from RM3 a kg three years ago to RM8.35 today, as well as the surge in petroleum prices which has raised prices of petroleum-based synthetic rubber, it makes sense to turn to reclaimed rubber.

“Rubplast has reclaimed 70,000 tonnes of rubber waste since it was set up. Can you imagine if all that went to the landfill?”

At the Rubplast factory, rubber glove waste, both rejects from manufacturers as well as soiled ones from factories, form 35% of the waste that is recycled. Others are scraps from rubber product manufacturers, rubber treads, rubber fleshing (scraps from tyre manufacturers), nylon-belted tyres, tubes and rubber foam (from cushions and mattresses). The waste is obtained from factories and through middlemen.

The rubber waste is ground to powder and then devulcanised with the aid of oils and chemicals (a reversal of the process which hardens rubber latex with the addition of sulphur) to become soft reclaimed rubber. This is done under high heat in a cooking chamber.

Rubber gloves are processed into reclaimed rubber at the Rubplast factory. – Pictures by S.S Kanesan
The reclaimed material is then refined into thin sheets by passing through a series of rollers. The sheets are then built up into blocks for ease of handling.

Chellamuthu says by mixing different types of rubber waste, he can produce reclaimed rubber to meet the needs of his customers in India, Sri Lanka, Japan, Australia, United States, Canada, Indonesia, China, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar.

The reclaimed rubber is used to make a wide range of rubber products such as tyre treads and inner tubes, carpet underlayer, hoses and beltings, rubber mats, agricultural wheel, shoe soles, flooring for playgrounds and indoor recreational rooms, sealants and adhesives. Reclaimed rubber powder is sold to India for use as road surfacing.

Selangor, with its many rubber product factories, is a major source of rubber waste. Chellamuthu estimates that factories in the state dump some 500 tonnes of rubber waste each month but only 300 tonnes reach recyclers, while the rest ends up in landfills or illegal dumps.

Poor collection, due to a lack of basic recycling infrastructure, is one cause of the poor reclaim rate. For instance, when processing rubber foam waste, Chellamuthu only takes rejects from cushion and mattress manufacturers as such waste is not collected from households.

He laments that in some factories, rubber scraps are still dumped although recyclers pay for the material. “This happens because local authorities allow them to dump. The law must say that if there is technology to recycle rubber waste, then it cannot be dumped but sent to recyclers. Now, there is no law stating that rubber waste must be recycled.”

Chellamuthu believes reclaimed rubber has a future, more so with the declining acreage of rubber estate. But he says the recycling industry needs government support and incentives.

In Singapore, recyclers are paid S$200 (RM460) for every tonne of rubber waste recycled because of their effort in minimising waste.

Chellamuthu recalls an unpleasant experience when he tried to get a loan from the Malaysian Industrial Development Finance five years ago. “I was told that the sector was not a priority area.”

He says government assistance is crucial, especially for the recycling of car tyres as it is a high investment venture. Special equipment is needed to separate the different components of the tyre, such as rubber, steel and fibre, after it is crushed. Waste tyres form the bulk of our rubber waste but these are not being recycled, and are often carelessly dumped.

Chellamuthu feels that the government should give emphasis to recycling rubber waste, especially tyres, due to the large amount of such waste being generated.

The Star-News on June 2006

Message not gone to waste

TEACHING children to respect the environment is perhaps the best way to nurture them to become responsible adults, as they will understand the importance of maintaining a healthy and clean environment for the benefit of generations to come.

Everyone has a role to play in recycling to save the environment; a student handing over recyclable material to an Alam Flora worker.
Thus, Alam Flora Sdn Bhd and Tesco Malaysia chose SK Pandan Jaya in Pandan for their pioneer Creating Awareness on the Environment and Recycling Campaign.

The companies believe that educating children from young is best for instilling good rubbish disposal habits among them, which they would continue to practise when they became adults.

“The preservation of our environment is indeed very important.

“Everyone has a role to play in maintaining our environment and we at Tesco believe that we must contribute and do our part.

“One way is to educate young children on the importance of recycling and keeping our environment clean,” Tesco Corporate and Legal Affairs director Azlam Shah Alias said, adding that this was why they had chosen to go to schools to spread the message.

He said Alam Flora was the right company to join forces with as it was dedicated to the business of keeping the environment clean.

Azlam said SK Pandan Jaya was chosen as Tesco would be opening its Ampang store in July and the school was within a 20km radius of the store.

Azlam was joined by Alam Flora chief executive officer Abdul Aziz Abdul Wahab and the Housing and Local Government Ministry's (Housing and Local Government Department) Environmental Health Engineering Division technical director Engku Azman Tuan Mat at the launch of the campaign in the school on Saturday.Engku Azman said the project was a noble effort in working to reduce the generation of waste.

“We are nurturing children to become responsible citizens so that in time, they will practise recycling voluntarily.

“Today is an example of the working relationship between the private sector, the government and the public,” he said, adding that private companies must cooperate with the government in improving the level of cleanliness in the environment.

Engku Azman added that the 3R concept (reduce, reuse and recycle) was important and would become exceedingly important in the future, hence the necessity for everyone to understand the reason behind it.

Abdul Aziz said Alam Flora had placed recycling bins in 600 schools in the Klang Valley and Pahang in a move to encourage recycling.

“Schools are the best places to start the 3R concept, as less rubbish produced at home means there is less rubbish going into the landfills, so we can extend the lifespan of our landfills,” he said.

(From left) Abdul Aziz, Tesco Ampang store general manager Tony Spillett and Azlam watch as Engku Azman launches the Creating Awareness on the Environment and Recycling Campaign at SK Pandan Jaya.
SK Pandan Jaya student affairs senior assistant Hamidah Hariman said to kickstart the campaign, pupils were encouraged to collect garbage for disposal, which was brought to the school from their homes.

She said although the school had been given a one tonne target, it had surpassed the figure and collected 2.3 tonnes of garbage.

A total of 1,019 pupils took part in this initiative.

To reward the students and teachers for their effort, prizes were given to the group that had amassed the most rubbish.

The Year Six pupils outdid the younger ones and grabbed the top placing.

A colourful but meaningful mural, sponsored by Tesco, was painted in the school, showing the process of how rubbish moves from the home to landfills.

After the launch, the pupils were treated to fun and games in the school courtyard.

Way out of the dump

Kuala Lumpur’s 1.8 millian population generate an estimated 3,000 tonnes of waste per day and the figure is increasing each year. Landfills are currently the only solution to disposing of the gargantuan amount of household waste. Alam Flora Sdn Bhd CEO Abdul Aziz Abdul Wahab tells BAVANI M. of alternative ways to solving the perennial problem.

It’s a dirty job but someone has to do it and waste management firm Alam Flora Sdn Bhd regards it as its social obligation to ensure that the city is kept clean at all times.

Its chief executive officer Abdul Aziz Abdul Wahab takes this obligation seriously, sacrificing his own time by going incognito to investigate areas where the public constantly complain about poor garbage collection.

The Bukit Tagar landfill.
“When we receive public feedback from a particular area I will go down and check it out and see what’s happening. Even my own people and contractors won’t know that I’m coming,” he said.

The past few months in particular have been chaotic as there has been an increase in public complaints regarding uncollected rubbish in the city, especially areas like Old Klang Road, Setapak, Kepong, Cheras and Jinjang.

The recent crisis at the Kuala Lumpur Waste Transfer Station in Jinjang did not help either. At the height of the crisis, four of the transfer station’s compactors experienced technical problems, resulting in a delay in the dissemination of waste in the Klang Valley.

Abdul Aziz agreed that the glitch was one of the factors that contributed to the sudden increase in cases of uncollected rubbish in the city, but he said it was certainly not the only reason.

“The recent problem at the transfer station was due to a mechanical fault and with any mechanised system it is prone to wear and tear and the one in Jinjang (the only one of its kind in Malaysia) was worn out.

This rubbish dump in Skyline Garden, Kuala Lumpur, has become an illegal garbage dumping ground.
“So when you’re talking about a machine that is dealing with 1,600 tonnes of rubbish a day, breakdowns do occur,” he said.

The waste transfer station acts as an intermediary from the point of collection to the point of disposal.

So if one is staying in Kepong, the garbage collected in Kepong will be delivered to the transfer station in Jinjang.

Aziz... 'If everything needs to be disposed of via incinerator then we will need three Brogas to do that'
From the transfer station the rubbish is compressed in compactors and placed in trailer trucks that can take up to 20 tonnes of load.

The trucks will then travel to the Bukit Tagar landfill in Hulu Selangor, which is a one-and-half-hour’s drive from Kuala Lumpur.

Bukit Tagar is the designated dumping ground for KL garbage.

“So due to the long distance for the compactors to travel, the Jinjang transfer station acts as a intermediary disposal point.”

“It is a crucial facility, cost effective, saves time and a proven technology all over the world,” he said.

But when the station experienced technical problems in May, waste had to be diverted to another landfill. This caused some delay which disrupted the waste collection timetable.

But Abdul Aziz was quick to add that other factors also contributed to the uncollected rubbish problem faced by the city of late.

While the compactors at the transfer station can be repaired, a more perennial crisis facing the city cannot be fixed and that is the public’s mindset.

“People just refuse to cooperate when it comes to the proper way of disposing of their garbage. They have to realise that we (Alam Flora contractors) have a schedule that needs to be followed,” said Abdul Aziz.

“For instance, domestic waste is collected on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. You have a house owner who has two bags of domestic waste rubbish and one bag of garden waste.

“He knows we will be coming tomorrow so he puts all three bags outside. But when he comes back the next day and sees only two bags collected, he’ll scream.”

Alam Flora’s recycling programme is no longer a non-commercial venture as the company pays you for your recycled items.
Abdul Aziz said the public seemed unable to comprehend that Alam Flora had a schedule to follow and that schedule must be complied with at all costs.

“Garden waste is collected on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays while bulk waste is picked up on Sunday.

“Many may ask what’s wrong with picking up that one extra bag?”

But Abdul Aziz added that while it was only one extra bag from one household, collectively in that neighbourhood and in that community and in that city it was going to be equivalent to tonnes of rubbish!

Another problem that the public needed to understand, said Abdul Aziz, especially in the cases of small neighbourhoods such as the likes of Skyline Garden in Old Klang Road, was that when back lanes were blocked by cars, cooking utensils and gardening equipment, it was going to be impossible for a 15 cubic meter compacter to drive through and collect your rubbish.

Also , he said, in an area where there was a large concentration of squatters and illegal immigrants it was most certainly going to be an illegal dumping ground.

“Are we supposed to collect your illegal rubbish as well?” asked Abdul Aziz.

According to Abdul Aziz, the local authority, in this case Kuala Lumpur City Hall, only recognises you if you are an assessment-paying citizen.

“We survive on the contracted amount specified in the schedule of a particular area.

“So if an area is a City Hall designated collection point and on record it produces a certain amount of rubbish and when we go in to collect and discover that there’s way too much rubbish as a result of ‘illegal’ rubbish and illegal dumping, then we have no choice but to pay out of our pockets.

“It’s either that or watch the rubbish pile up,” he said.

Either way, he added that rubbish in the city would increase by 4% per year, which brought forth the next question that needed answering:

Where do we throw them?

“Landfills are currently our only solution but we don't have many of that to go around and the only viable solution to this perennial dilemma is to practice waste minimisation,” he said.

Abdul Aziz said that one solution was to practice the 3Rs - reduce, recycle and reuse - programme.

Alam Flora’s recycling programme is no longer a non-commercial venture as the company pays you for your recycled items.

“We are working with the Housing and Local Government Ministry on this and its minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting has always encouraged the public to recycle.

“The amount of waste in the country is expected to increase from the 16,000 tonnes daily.

“Kuala Lumpur and Selangor alone generate a total of 5,500 tonnes a day. If everything needs to be disposed of via incinerator then we will need three ‘Brogas’ to do that,” he said, referring to the incinerator in Negri Sembilan.

“But that is not possible so recycling is the only way out,” he said, adding that it was the way of the future.

The Star-August 2006 News

Way Out Of The Dump

Kuala Lumpur’s 1.8 millian population generate an estimated 3,000 tonnes of waste per day and the figure is increasing each year. Landfills are currently the only solution to disposing of the gargantuan amount of household waste. Alam Flora Sdn Bhd CEO Abdul Aziz Abdul Wahab tells BAVANI M. of alternative ways to solving the perennial problem.

It’s a dirty job but someone has to do it and waste management firm Alam Flora Sdn Bhd regards it as its social obligation to ensure that the city is kept clean at all times.

Its chief executive officer Abdul Aziz Abdul Wahab takes this obligation seriously, sacrificing his own time by going incognito to investigate areas where the public constantly complain about poor garbage collection.

The Bukit Tagar landfill.
“When we receive public feedback from a particular area I will go down and check it out and see what’s happening. Even my own people and contractors won’t know that I’m coming,” he said.

The past few months in particular have been chaotic as there has been an increase in public complaints regarding uncollected rubbish in the city, especially areas like Old Klang Road, Setapak, Kepong, Cheras and Jinjang.

The recent crisis at the Kuala Lumpur Waste Transfer Station in Jinjang did not help either. At the height of the crisis, four of the transfer station’s compactors experienced technical problems, resulting in a delay in the dissemination of waste in the Klang Valley.

Abdul Aziz agreed that the glitch was one of the factors that contributed to the sudden increase in cases of uncollected rubbish in the city, but he said it was certainly not the only reason.

“The recent problem at the transfer station was due to a mechanical fault and with any mechanised system it is prone to wear and tear and the one in Jinjang (the only one of its kind in Malaysia) was worn out.

This rubbish dump in Skyline Garden, Kuala Lumpur, has become an illegal garbage dumping ground.
“So when you’re talking about a machine that is dealing with 1,600 tonnes of rubbish a day, breakdowns do occur,” he said.

The waste transfer station acts as an intermediary from the point of collection to the point of disposal.

So if one is staying in Kepong, the garbage collected in Kepong will be delivered to the transfer station in Jinjang.

Aziz... 'If everything needs to be disposed of via incinerator then we will need three Brogas to do that'
From the transfer station the rubbish is compressed in compactors and placed in trailer trucks that can take up to 20 tonnes of load.

The trucks will then travel to the Bukit Tagar landfill in Hulu Selangor, which is a one-and-half-hour’s drive from Kuala Lumpur.

Bukit Tagar is the designated dumping ground for KL garbage.

“So due to the long distance for the compactors to travel, the Jinjang transfer station acts as a intermediary disposal point.”

“It is a crucial facility, cost effective, saves time and a proven technology all over the world,” he said.

But when the station experienced technical problems in May, waste had to be diverted to another landfill. This caused some delay which disrupted the waste collection timetable.

But Abdul Aziz was quick to add that other factors also contributed to the uncollected rubbish problem faced by the city of late.

While the compactors at the transfer station can be repaired, a more perennial crisis facing the city cannot be fixed and that is the public’s mindset.

“People just refuse to cooperate when it comes to the proper way of disposing of their garbage. They have to realise that we (Alam Flora contractors) have a schedule that needs to be followed,” said Abdul Aziz.

“For instance, domestic waste is collected on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. You have a house owner who has two bags of domestic waste rubbish and one bag of garden waste.

“He knows we will be coming tomorrow so he puts all three bags outside. But when he comes back the next day and sees only two bags collected, he’ll scream.”

Alam Flora’s recycling programme is no longer a non-commercial venture as the company pays you for your recycled items.
Abdul Aziz said the public seemed unable to comprehend that Alam Flora had a schedule to follow and that schedule must be complied with at all costs.

“Garden waste is collected on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays while bulk waste is picked up on Sunday.

“Many may ask what’s wrong with picking up that one extra bag?”

But Abdul Aziz added that while it was only one extra bag from one household, collectively in that neighbourhood and in that community and in that city it was going to be equivalent to tonnes of rubbish!

Another problem that the public needed to understand, said Abdul Aziz, especially in the cases of small neighbourhoods such as the likes of Skyline Garden in Old Klang Road, was that when back lanes were blocked by cars, cooking utensils and gardening equipment, it was going to be impossible for a 15 cubic meter compacter to drive through and collect your rubbish.

Also , he said, in an area where there was a large concentration of squatters and illegal immigrants it was most certainly going to be an illegal dumping ground.

“Are we supposed to collect your illegal rubbish as well?” asked Abdul Aziz.

According to Abdul Aziz, the local authority, in this case Kuala Lumpur City Hall, only recognises you if you are an assessment-paying citizen.

“We survive on the contracted amount specified in the schedule of a particular area.

“So if an area is a City Hall designated collection point and on record it produces a certain amount of rubbish and when we go in to collect and discover that there’s way too much rubbish as a result of ‘illegal’ rubbish and illegal dumping, then we have no choice but to pay out of our pockets.

“It’s either that or watch the rubbish pile up,” he said.

Either way, he added that rubbish in the city would increase by 4% per year, which brought forth the next question that needed answering:

Where do we throw them?

“Landfills are currently our only solution but we don't have many of that to go around and the only viable solution to this perennial dilemma is to practice waste minimisation,” he said.

Abdul Aziz said that one solution was to practice the 3Rs - reduce, recycle and reuse - programme.

Alam Flora’s recycling programme is no longer a non-commercial venture as the company pays you for your recycled items.

“We are working with the Housing and Local Government Ministry on this and its minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting has always encouraged the public to recycle.

“The amount of waste in the country is expected to increase from the 16,000 tonnes daily.

“Kuala Lumpur and Selangor alone generate a total of 5,500 tonnes a day. If everything needs to be disposed of via incinerator then we will need three ‘Brogas’ to do that,” he said, referring to the incinerator in Negri Sembilan.

“But that is not possible so recycling is the only way out,” he said, adding that it was the way of the future.

The Star-News on August 2006

Volume Of Garbage Terrifying

Scary. That is how Natural Resources and Environment Ministry secretary-general Datuk Suboh Mohd Yassin described the volume of garbage generated every day in the country.

If this continues, the public may have to pay for the rubbish they make, he said.

“Last year, the solid waste produced daily was 19,100 tonnes, of which 70% was made up of food and plastic.

“Some 430,000kg of scheduled or hazardous waste were also generated,” he said.

About 240,000 tonnes of this hazardous waste are recycled, 81,000 tonnes are treated and disposed of at a treatment facility, while the rest are stored on-site or exported.

It was recently reported that the some seven million tonnes of waste generated last year would fill a building the size of the Petronas Twin Towers.

“The impact on the environment is very scary,” Suboh said in his keynote address at the two-day Waste Management Conference and Exhibition here yesterday.

He added that there was a need to consider implementing the ‘polluter pays’ principle to get each household to pay for waste generated as “this will help deter people from generating waste.”

He said the waste transportation system was also not satisfactory as some garbage lorries that had leachate dripping out were later used for night markets.

Suboh said the 155 open dumpsites would be closed in stages and rehabilitated. So far, 16 had been shut down while 33 were no longer in operation, he added.

Earlier, Deputy Minister Datuk S. Sothinathan said waste management issues needed to be addressed at all stages, and added that the 3R concept of “reduce, reuse and recycle” was an excellent approach to treat waste as wealth.

“Waste must be recycled and reused as a source of fuel or energy or as a product,” he said, adding that more research was needed to find new technologies to convert waste into useful resources.

“The Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) approach is an example where waste can be channelled to better use.

“It reduces the amount of waste going into landfills and, thus, reduces pressure on the environment.”

According to Sothinathan, here are 246 landfills, of which only 15 are sanitary landfills equipped with good treatment facilities, including leachate control.

He said the Government would not hesitate to reduce the six-month storage period for scheduled waste on-site if it became a threat.


News from The Star-May 2006

Use Baskets When Shopping

Women have been urged to carry baskets when they go marketing to reduce on the use of plastic bags, which form a major portion of garbage disposed daily in the country. Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun said they should also try to reuse whatever materials they had before dumping them. “We have to start reducing waste and try to reuse whatever materials which we normally regard as unwanted. “For those which can be recycled, we must try to recycle them or dispose them accordingly,” she told re-porters here after launching a pioneer recycling project organised by the Muar women councillors at SM Maharani last week. Azizah said the people should realise that while every dumping ground had limited capacity the amount of rubbish disposed of every day did not decrease. She said if no action was taken to reduce waste, the people would one day face a serious environmental crisis. She said there were about 230 dumping grounds, measuring be-tween 6ha and 50ha in the country and they could contaminate the ground water. She said when this happened, it would become a health hazard and the Government would have to spend millions of ringgit to rectify the situation. “Each and everyone of us today disposes about 1.15kg of solid wasteevery day and if we do not reduce it now, we will have no place to dump our rubbish.

NEWS on May 2006

Recycling

Household
In this section we've included some hints and tips for managing your household rubbish. You can find out how to minimise the effect that you have on the environment and how to make your household more environmentally friendly.

Recycling in the home is easy when you know how! On recycle-more there are lots of handy hints to help you reduce waste, recycle rubbish and reuse household items you may have otherwise thrown away!

So what can you do?

There are a number of ways to reduce and recycle rubbish in the home, and at school. In most cases it is better to choose items which create less rubbish, for example goods without excessive packaging. Below for more ideas of how you can help cut down on the amount of rubbish you produce. You could reduce the rubbish in your bin by over 50%.


Reduce
* don't buy heavily packed goods
* buy 'loose' food rather than pre-packaged
* stop junk mail and faxes through the Mailing Preference Service
* cancel delivery of unwanted newspapers, donate old magazines to waiting rooms
* use your own shopping bags when visiting the supermarket or use the doorstep delivery service
* grow your own vegetables. Many varieties can be grown in small gardens
* use a nappy laundry service, and save disposable ones for holidays and long journeys
* take a packed lunch to work or school in a reusable plastic container

Reuse
* reuse carrier bags. Each person in the UK uses an average of 134 plastic bags each year
* reuse scrap paper for writing notes, etc
* reuse envelopes - stick labels over the address
* rent or borrow items you don't use very often - e.g. party decorations and crockery. Some supermarkets hire out glasses for parties, saving on disposable cups
* donate old computer and audio visual equipment to community groups or schools
* buy rechargeable items instead of disposable ones e.g. batteries and cameras
* buy things in refillable containers e.g. washing powders
* buy concentrated products which use less packaging
* take old clothes and books to charity shops, or have a car boot sale
* look for long lasting (and energy efficient) appliances when buying new electrical items - ensure these are well-maintained to increase product life cycle

Recycle
* choose products in packaging which you know can be recycled
* compost - lots of kitchen waste can be composted. Contact your local council for details of local composting schemes and details of any compost bin sales. Click here for further advice on composting in your garden
* buy products made from recycled materials. Most supermarkets now stock a wide range of these items, click here for some examples
* find out where your nearest recycling facilities

Other services, please check it out!

环保之資源回收效益多

目前環保可回收的物品包括下列幾項：

亂丟是垃圾‧回收即資源
¨ 垃圾中可回收利用的物質，包括金屬、玻璃、塑膠、紙類等等。

¨ 廢金屬、罐頭收集送回熔融冶煉成各種金屬，我們更可以回收鐵罐、鋁罐、鋁蓋等高價值的金屬材料，做為供給市場需求的主要來源。將飲料鋁罐、餅乾盒及其他金屬品，集中一起賣給收酒矸的。

鐵鋁分選回收機 玻璃回收再製品

¨ 紙類再製為紙漿，生產牛皮紙、信封等再生用紙。

¨ 舊品交換修理再利用，廢棄酒瓶回收到工廠，清洗再用、例如將公賣局的瓶子退回商站，以供循環再利用。

¨ 廢塑膠再做成其他塑膠成回，如廢寶特瓶加熱融化製成塑膠花盆等等。
保特瓶回收再製品

¨ 將所有塑膠袋集中在一起，不要與有機物質混在一起，因為不論塑膠、紙或金屬等可回收再製的東西，如果沾上油或有機垃圾，會使回收處理增加許多困難。

廢寶特瓶

以射出成形，瓶身為寶特瓶，底為高密度聚乙烯，且瓶底有一點圓，重量輕不會摔破。

廢鋁罐

質軟且輕，可用手擠捏，磁鐵不吸，罐身一次成形無夾縫，具高度再生利用價值。

廢鐵罐

質硬且重，不易擠捏，磁鐵可吸住，罐身有夾縫。

廢塑膠容器

材質種類繁多，各種顏色都有，家庭垃圾中常見為鮮奶瓶、養樂多瓶、沙拉油瓶、洗髮精瓶、化妝品瓶。

廢紙類

家庭中的廢報紙、包裝紙、紙箱、雜誌、作業簿。


別讓垃圾成為另一種資源浪費

¨ 重覆使用容器、袋子等。

¨ 出售或捐出不再使用之物品

¨ 在垃圾問題日趨嚴重之餘，除了要著眼於妥善處理，更積極的做法，是要抵制某些浪費資源者，並拒絕使用不能回收的產品，或過度包裝的產品（某廠牌的良品，一盒竟可拆出一百多個塑膠袋）。人們從來都只想到如何來處理垃圾，而很少人花心思在如何減少垃圾。因此，減少垃圾產量，是環境保護動手做的另一項重要課題。

¨ 隨著經濟蓮勃發展，物質生活不斷提高，垃圾所包含的種類愈來愈多，在歐、美、日等先進國家，大都嚴格執行垃圾分類，以期能做適當的處理。或許有人會覺得奇怪：「垃圾就是垃圾，為什麼還要分類呢？」身為現代人，就是我們應具備的常識，通常處理垃圾多採用焚化或掩埋方式，如果垃圾未經分類或分類不當，在處理時就會有所偏差。例如：掩埋法對塑膠袋之處理根本無效，金屬類再怎麼燒也不能焚，當然最可怕的是有毒物質造成二次公害。近年來垃圾量與日俱增，處理時已造成極大的壓力，因些垃圾減量及資源回收乃是為過多的垃圾尋找另一條出路，而垃圾減量及資源回收的前提就是要做好垃圾分類。


資源回收效益多

(一) 垃圾減量-據估計資源垃圾量40%-60%

(二) 資源回收再利用-將可回收的垃圾資源化再利用，可節約地球上的有限資源。

(三) 延長垃圾掩埋場壽命-資源垃圾及有害垃圾另行回收處理，剩餘垃圾減少，將大大減少掩埋場所需體積，增加掩埋場使用年限。

(四) 減少垃圾處理成本-減少垃圾量，使垃圾運輸成本、掩埋處理成本、焚化處理成本、設備維修設備減少，據研究報告指出，每日的垃圾車油費因做好資源回收可省下一百五十萬元。

(五) 減少空氣、水的污染，節省水、電能源

(1) 廢紙再生比原木紙漿可減哨75%的空氣污染、35%的水污染。

(2) 玻璃再生比新造玻璃可簡哨20%的空氣污染、50%的水污染，節省32%的能源。回收一支玻璃瓶省下的電力可供一百瓦的燈泡點亮四小時。

(3) 回收鋁再生，可減哨95%的空氣污染，回收再生鋁比從鋁礦鍊取，節省90%的能源，回收一個鋁罐省下的電力足夠看三小時的電視。

(4) 鐵罐(99%是鋼)回收再生，可省下74%的能源、減少85%的空氣污染、76%的水污染、75%的固體廢料。


「5R」分別代表什麼意義？

分別為：
a. Reduce：減少丟棄之垃圾量。

b. Reuse：重複使用容器或產品。

c. Repair：重視維修保養，延長物品使用壽命。

d. Refuse：拒用無環保觀念產品。

e. Recycle：回收使用再生產品。


結論

¨ 家庭是製造垃圾、廢物的主要來源。如果每一個人能減少生產垃圾量，並稍後做基本分類後再丟棄，不但可以減少垃圾量，更能使資源循環再利用。

Plastic Recycling

there are over 50 different types of plastics, if separate bins are provided it will usually be for:

• HDPE - opaque bottles e.g. detergent bottles, cooking oil bottles, bottle shampoo and container
• PVC - transparent bottles, an obvious seam running across the base e.g. mineral water bottles
• PET - transparent bottles, a hard moulded spot in the centre of the base e.g. fizzy drink bottles

We provide Excellent Prices Paid for a wide variety of recyclable items plus FREE pick up service, for any inquiry, please contact or SMS : 016-383 7671 (24 hours / 7 days)

Paper and Cardboard Recycling

• paper collection is usually separated into: newspapers, magazines, cardboard, reference book, catalogues, several materials directories or envelopes, leaflet or flyer and A4 paper.
• juice and milk cartons cannot be recycled with ordinary paper as they are made up of
• some facilities provide mixed paper and card collection
  

We provide Excellent Prices paid for a wide variety of recyclable items plus free pick up service. For any inquiry, please contact or SMS : 016-383 7671 (24 hours / 7 days)