That's correct … it's PLASTIC!! The biggest problem in recycling plastics is that they aren't biodegradable, which means it can't be broken down by natural organisms and acts as a source of air and water pollution.
Items that cannot be recycled:
Plastic bags or recyclables inside plastic bags. Takeaway coffee cups. Disposable nappies. Garden waste.
A modern glass bottle would take 4,000 years or more to decompose − and even longer if it's in the landfill. Mining and transporting raw materials for glass produces about 385 pounds of waste for every ton of glass that is made.
Mirror glass cannot be recycled. It belongs in the garbage.
The long-lasting nature of glass also means that glass can be recycled forever. It never wears out as a raw material, so old bottles and jars can be remanufactured into new glass containers over and over and over again. Recycling glass saves other resources in addition to landfill space.
Fortunately, gold can be recycled over and over and still be just as good as it was the day it was mined. So, recycled gold is a sustainable commodity, as it never decreases in value. By reusing gold, the environment can be protected from additional harm.
IT CAN BE RECYCLED!
If possible, all plastics should be rinsed out prior to placing in bin.
Car batteries contain lead and sulfuric acid as well as lots of plastic. They can be recycled safely.
This means every single bucket, box and piece of packaging we use is recyclable or compostable by 2025. Sure, it's ambitious, but we've already made a start. As of today, all our paper and card packaging is FSC or PEFC certified and all our straws are biodegradable.
A small amount of valuable metals including gold, silver, palladium, platinum and copper can be found on a mobile phone circuit board. The metals are separated, extracted and processed to be reused again.
Any type of foiling is environmentally friendly – all foil is recyclable – and so you'll find people using various terms and wording to describe it.
Foil is a sheet of aluminum metal and cannot be recycled, therefore any cards which are backed onto foil must be thrown in the rubbish bin. Plastics can be recycled, but not all of them, so the unknown compounds of plastics in your card are better disposed of in general waste.
While Pyrex ovenware is a type of glass, it has been specially treated in the manufacturing process to withstand high temperatures, which makes it non-recyclable. Broken or chipped Pyrex should be disposed of carefully in the waste bin.
In the case of rubber recycling, the waste rubber can go through size reduction, and the resulting powders can be melt blended with thermoplastic resins to produce thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) compounds.
Reusing coal ash can create many environmental, economic, and product benefits including: Environmental benefits such as reduced greenhouse gas emissions, reduced need for disposing in landfills, and reduced use of other materials.
Before recycling, separate the lids from glass jars and ensure the container is clean. Broken glass and mirrors should be disposed of in the garbage bin.
Yes, you can recycle your socks. Many of the socks out there, including the ones you have stacked up in the corner of your room, are made of cotton and textile material. Since both cotton and textile are highly recyclable materials, it means you can also recycle your socks.
Yes, Food tins and drink cans can be recycled at some out of home recycling points.
Glass bottles
You know what else takes one million years to decompose? Glass bottles, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Which is why, once again, recycling is such a critical choice.
Glass – left to break down, glass can take 1 million years. However, when dealt with responsibly, glass can be recycled endlessly with no loss in quality. Plastic – while not endlessly recyclable, many plastics can be re-processed several times into new products before they start to break down.
Plastic bags can take up to 1000 years to decompose. They are one of the planet's biggest environmental burdens. Plastic bags are all too often found in the digestive systems of seabirds and other wildlife.
A single mobile phone contains around 0.04 g of gold, which may not sound like a lot, but keep in mind that there are estimated to be more cell phones on the planet than people.