Towards green habits: Recycling

In India, we must form a habit of paper recycling. The normal practice is to collect unsorted waste and dump it in nearby landfills, which are rubbish dumps used for disposal of waste material.

While large areas of land are under siege because of such dumping, it creates additional problems too  since the litter decomposes and starts to seep into the water table, making the drinking water in the nearby residential areas unsafe and toxic.

Paper recycling seems to offer a partial answer to this problem, since every ton of paper recycled saves more than 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space.

In USA for instance, paper recycling is a way of life, forming part of everyday occurrence. From curbside collection at homes to large scrap paper chutes at the offices and institutions, Americans have overcome their throwaway attitudes and have replaced it with a commitment to recycle and they are doing it in record numbers.

The US Postal Service recycles more than a million tons of scrap paper and $160 million worth of recycled paper each year. It has even won the Environmental Mailer Award.

The process of paper recycling is simple. First paper is collected and sorted. Recycling paper includes computer print-outs, newspapers, scrap paper and cardboard boxes. A large spinning blade mixes the paper to pulp.

The pulp is dried on screens and the new paper is formed on cylinders. This new paper is used to make new newspaper, cereal and shoe boxes, toilet tissue, egg cartons, building insulation and livestock bedding.

Not all types of paper can be recycled. Recycling equipment cannot handle carbon paper, glossy paper, photographs, or paper with tape, glue or staples. These types of papers must be sorted out.

However, new technologies may make it possible to work with these items. For example, equipment is currently under development to remove ink from glossy magazines and catalogues.

Paper recycling will reduce tree felling or cutting trees for the needs of the wood and paper industry, which is still quite rampant. Millions of trees are cut every year to meet the requirement of sawmills.

Developing countries are rising up to the climate change needs and making stringent laws against tree felling. 

The Bangladesh Prime Minister is pushing for tree felling to be a non-bailable crime after her return from the COP12 Climate Change Conference and particularly after a 10-km stretch of Teknaf beach in southeastern Bangladesh has turned barren after over 30,000 trees were felled in seven days.

Closer home, AUDA is proposing punitive action against builders, real estate developers and mall owners for flouting tree norms.

One of the best ways to participate is to introduce a recycling program. Schools and colleges can collect their paper waste on a daily basis, go to a nearby recycling centre and make new paper that can be used for customised printing such as for Lesson Plans, Birthday cards, Invitations, posters and other such purposes. Paper recycling can provide great education value for students, old newspapers can be recycled into products such as boxes, file cartons, pencil barrels, grocery bags, cellulose insulation materials, and many more diverse products.

Recycling fever has yet to reach the pitch that it deserves. Perhaps with the global warming threat and the need to go green, people today will realize that the world is in a different kind of emergency situation and consider it their duty to recycle.

The writer is an entrepreneur and educationist