Recycling, people have been doing it since recorded time. Whether it was to re-purpose the enemy’s sword in medieval times or call on your fellow US citizens to donate their metals as in wartime America, recycling is a fundamental part in preserving this precious earth, but what is recycling you might ask? Recycling is the process of taking materials such as paper, plastics, steel, glass, aluminum and breaking them down to its basic components, then reusing it for new products. Paper cardboard and other paper materials undergo a process to break the paper down to its most basic elements wood fibers or pulp and water.

Once the paper has been separated from the other recyclables it is put into a hot water bath, filtered, deinked dried and is made into new paper products. Some plastics are much harder to recycle than others this is why they are separated into several different categories, bleached and made into chips to be melted down into molds. Glass is also separated into categories, brown, clear and green. It is then shattered into pieces and is also melted down.

Steel is sorted by high powered magnets, crushed into bales and is also melted down for new materials. Aluminum is shredded, washed and melted down and is shipped to other factories to make foil products and license plates. With all the different types of recycling You would think we have all our bases covered, but have you ever heard of any type of computer recycling recycling or electronic recycling. This type of recycling started in the 1900s.

E.P.A initiated E-cycling which is the process of collecting disassembling repairing and recycling the components of discarded electronic equipment (e-waste). E-cyclable items include televisions, computers, microwaves, vacuum, cellphones, DVD players, electric cords and batteries. The reasons for this digital recycling are to salvage good working parts. Collect Precious metals like copper, gold, silver and rare earth metals tantalum.

E-cycling prevents toxins from entering the atmosphere, landfills and waterways. Collect circuit boards and to collect toxic substances like mercury and lead. Every city has a Material Recovery Facility or recycling plants and so does electronics! With so many electronic processing plants popping up people are finding it easier than ever to recycle properly.

E- waste is collected and is hand disassembled to collect items like batteries, lights, command boards and toners from copier machines. After that the e-waste is shredded to further remanufacture the waste to retrieve platinum, ten, plastics, copper and other reusable materials are sent to other facilities to be used for a new purpose. As consumers of electronics, we need to know a little bit about Planned Obsolescence. Planned Obsolescence is a design flaw that the manufacturer uses to shorten the life of your electronics!

This is the reason why your older model phones seem to break down right before the latest new phone is due to release, all to Force the consumer to buy the new and improved. With the help of people, and our state officials, we can do a way better job at sustaining the earth, but we are on a great road to start on.