Sustainable Living Stack Exchange
Sustainable Living Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [recycling]

using materials that would otherwise be waste to manufacture new materials. For questions specifically on [upcycling] use that tag, for questions on [reuse] use that tag.

Recycling is where items are treated or processed into a mass raw material to be manufactured into a new product (whether or not the new material is the same as the original one). Often recycling results products of lesser quality than the originals which is also called 'downcycling', but is possible.

Recycling is distinct from , where items are simply used again.

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Can carbon fibre be recycled?

Over time the range of products using carbon fibre appears to be increasing. Carbon by itself is probably quite environmentally friendly, but manufacturing of carbon fibre is probably quite expensive so it may be worth recycling if possible. What…
Highly Irregular
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Is it ok to recycle glass bottles and jars with paper stickers on them?

It's kind of hard to remove paper labels glued onto glass bottles and jars, especially if you have a lot of them. Does leaving them on cause a problem in recycling the glass? Does it require a lot of energy to purify the glass if the bottles have…
Nelu
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Can you recycle single serve coffee pods like K-Cups?

Are they recyclable at all? can you pull them apart and recycle parts of them? Are there recyclable alternatives? Many offices including mine are using these to brew coffee in the USA. I personally use a Clever Dripper at work. Which I can pour hot…
Enjabain
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How 'clean' should something be for recycling?

Outside my apartment, there are 3 rubbish bins. One for glass, another for metals, paper and plastics and a third without a label, for bio-waste I guess. So I wonder what are some guidelines for when a package goes to number 2 or 3? If there is…
Vorac
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Why the tiny input openings on recycle bins?

My local recycling bins look somewhat like these: As you can see, the opening can facilitate a single item at a time. How is one supposed to dump a large sack of plastic packages in the plastics bin? How is one supposed to throw a medium-sized…
Vorac
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Recycling items from another country

When I travel to Japan, I occasionally bring back a few items with me (not an awful lot), and they have recyclable containers. Most commonly, I have items categorized as plastic: (Image from…
Golden Cuy
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Are mobile phone recycling programs keeping pace with the rate of phone upgrades? A global perspective

Mobile phones (or cellphones) are developing very fast, it almost seems that every time an advertisement comes on - it shows yet a new upgraded version of the phone that is in use. This applied to all brands. Now, once a new upgraded phone is…
user1017
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What is a feasible method to recycle parts of a broken laptop?

Laptops are ubiquitous, but like most consumer electronics, they have a failing - they quite simply, fail. The 'normal' thing to do, is to take the memory out and simply throw out the rest - I find this notion horribly wasteful. From experience,…
user1017
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Can mesh produce bags be recycled?

Sometimes produce is packaged in mesh bags, such as the bag of oranges shown below. What are these bags made of, and can they be recycled? If they cannot be recycled, can we do something else with them other than throwing them in the waste bin?
Nic
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Why do we produce black plastic items if they cannot be recycled?

My local council accepts white plastic for recycling. If white is ok, why do we produce meat packaging, frozen meal packaging etc in black?
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How can I recycle a disposable lighter?

I have been collecting lately disposable lighters as these: I want to recycle them but I don't know exactly what I should do. Should I separate the metallic and plastic parts and recycle them normally? Or should I take the lighters to some special…
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How much of their waste do EU countries recycle?

The EU citizens separate their rubbish more or less. Yet there are accounts that everything gets mixed and buried together after collecting all of it gets exported to Asia burning is not recycling Is there a reliable source stating e.g.…
Vorac
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How do I recycle Kidde brand smoke detectors?

I live in the United States and I have a non-working Kidde ionization smoke detector. I've read that these smoke detectors should be recycled because they contain some radioactive material. However, the Kidde website states: IMPORTANT: Alarms and…
Recycler
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How far is too far to drive to a recycling centre?

Where we live the council collects recycling, however the quantity you can recycle each fortnight is sadly limited. When I get big cardboard boxes I keep them in the garage until I have. a pretty sizeable pile which I can take to recycle. However,…
ColinE
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When is cleaning recyclables less sustainable than throwing them away?

I live in the middle of the US, our tap water comes from the local river, and our sewer goes back to the local river. Communities up and down the river get their water and return their waste to the same river. A considerable amount of energy goes…
James Jenkins
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