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Quick and Dirty Fact Sheet on Recycling

Recycling has been around for centuries. The first Earth Day in 1970 brought it into the public eye as an important issue. In the late 1980’s, when landfill space began to diminish, interest in recycling soared and it grew into a very viable waste management method. Virginia mandated a 25% recycling rate for communities by 1996 and the number of communities recycling blossomed.

Most communities are now recycling at least some of their trash. The most common items recycled are paper, metal, glass and plastic. While not all communities recycle all of these items due to markets, most offer some form of recycling for some of the items.

Recycling consists of three parts - collecting the materials, reprocessing or remaking the materials and selling the remade materials. The collection process is what most people understand because that is what they do. They separate materials and put them out to the curb or take them to a recycling collection site. From there the materials go on to a plant or facility that will reprocess them. If a community can’t find a market (someone to take them to be reprocessed), they are stuck with a bunch of unusable materials. Markets did not grow as quickly as collection sites did and for a few years, it wasn’t easy to get rid of the recyclables. Markets are catching up, but still in some areas, there are not markets for materials. This explains why some communities collect different items than others.

After the materials are reprocessed into the same or different items, they must be sold to make a profit. If a company makes products no one wants or will buy, they go out of business. Many people for years considered recycled materials inferior, so it wasn’t easy to sell them. Many companies didn’t take a chance. Today people actually look for recycled products making recycling go the full cycle.

Different markets also accept materials in different ways. One paper company may only want newsprint while another may take mixed paper and a third company may only want white paper. The recycling "rules" will vary from community to community depending on the markets each community has found.

Many materials are made back into the same items. Aluminum cans are melted down and turned back into aluminum cans. Over 70% of our cans are recycled. Glass bottles usually become glass bottles. Newsprint becomes more newsprint. However, paper can only be recycled about 15 times before the fibers break down and won’t stick together.

Some materials can become the same or a different item. A steel car body can become a new car or it can become a steel bridge. Plastic soda bottles can become new bottles or hard plastic toys, carpeting or even clothing like a T-shirt.

In addition to the most commonly recycled items, some communities recycle motor oil, anti-freeze, scrap metal (big refrigerators and washers), tires, all kinds of paper, magazines, several forms of plastics and other items.

Educating the community can determine the success of your recycling program. Many citizens do not realize if they throw the wrong thing into the recycling container, they can contaminate the entire load! Glass is especially easy to contaminate. Check with your local program to make sure what you are recycling is truly recyclable and that you are meeting your community’s "rules".

Composting is another form of recycling. It is taking the organic materials in the waste stream (usually about 18-20%) and turning it into mulch or fertilizer. Some communities have a compost facility that uses wind rows and machines to turn the rows over every few days. Some communities just separate their leaves and grass clippings and use them in a variety of ways. Some keep trees and brush separate as well.

Recycling is an excellent way to reduce the amount of trash going into your landfill and make good use of our natural resources.

To teach about an issue, you need to know the basic facts about it. Quick and Dirty Fact Sheets were created by the Environmental Education Fellow Project to give teachers a quick background on waste management issues. They are written to give a basic understanding of the issue and do not include all information available on the topic. For in depth study of one of these issues, we suggest you check out the many materials available at your local library or contact the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality at (804) 698-4442.