Reuse, Recycling, and Recovery
Flow of materials through human society very much like the flow of nutrients through a natural ecosystem Materials are extracted from the earth, used in society and then discarded
More detailed description: Size of band is proportional to amount of materials
Materials Separation The key to reuse, recycling and recovery is materials separation. Separation depends on some readily identifiable characteristic or property of the material that can distinguish it from other materials. This characteristic is called a code. In recycling the code is usually simple and visual, but sometimes it is not so obvious. Plastics for example
Plastics
Desirable Order: Reuse Recycle Recovery
Recycling Biggest problem: a stable market
Recovery Biggest problem: materials separation
Refuse-derived Fuel Classifications Emissions dioxin