Recycling: Expert Guides and Resources

Recycling is a commendable action that shows you care about the environment and are working to improve it. Yet there are many ways you can improve your recycling habits, raise recycling rates, help build a strong recycling economy, and secure the future of all the recyclables you so diligently put in your bin.

Planned or built-in obsolescence is when companies deliberately design products to break down quickly, forcing the customer to purchase a replacement product. The purpose of this tactic is simply to generate more revenue for the company. ©Photographee.eu / Adobe StockThe earliest story of built-in obsolescence is the light bulb.

Recycling, one of the three Rs of environmentalism, is a way to convert discarded items into new goods. Not everything can be recycled (yet), but you should be able to find recycling facilities for these six main categories of household waste: Glass Most household glass can be recycled over and over again; just rinse or wash out the container and recycle.

The pace of technology development means that many electronic items are difficult to reuse after only a few years, so recycling them has become an essential issue. The short shelf life of electronics represents huge losses of reuse potential and creates a toxic waste issue because of the components in many of these products.

If you’re interested in living a green lifestyle, avoid using plastics. Plastics are one of the least eco-friendly materials in both initial production and recycling. Conventional plastics often use petrochemicals derived from oil in the manufacturing process and require more processing to recycle than do glass and metal.

Car tires pose a big problem for the environment. Tires don’t break down, burning them releases toxic gases, and they can release toxins and chemicals into the dirt on which they’re stored. Almost every state has introduced legislation that deals with scrap tires, with many states banning them from landfills completely.