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