Throughout history, people have been recycling waste materials in some way or another. The main reason that recycled materials were used, rather than new was that second hand material was cheaper to use. Today, we have other reasons for recycling our waste materials, such as preserving our planet, reducing waste materials being buried in the earth in landfill sites, and saving money by using second hand materials, rather than producing new materials.

The first real recycling started out in pre-industrial times when scraps from precious metals were recycled, and melted down for further use. Around this time, Britain was also recycling ash, and dust as the base materials used for brick making. In 1921, Britain also began a waste paper association, which was created to encourage the recycling of used paper. Another example of early recycling was that during the world wars when the governments encouraged citizens to recycle by donating their metals, and conserving fiber to do their part for the wartime effort.

Recycling And its Benefits

Recycling has two main benefits, which are reduction of both energy, and virgin materials needing to be collected, as well as reducing the amount of waste that is disposed of in landfills. Recycling also reduces the negative impact that waste has on the environment, and reduces the space needed to keep refuse sites functioning, it is estimated that in the UK, by the year 2010, almost all of the landfill sites will be full.

By recycling, we are not only helping our planet, we are decreasing the money spent on raw materials, and their production. Currently, the UK is recycling around 17% of their waste, which is a small amount considering that some neighboring countries are recycling up to half of their waste, that would ordinarily end up in a landfill site.

What Are The Recyclable Materials

For recycling to really work, households must be made aware of what is a recyclable. Many people are still throwing materials that could be recycled into their regular rubbish bins. Some of the materials that can be used for recycling are:

- Asbestos,

- Batteries,

- Building Materials,

- Cars,

- Clothing, and material,

- Compost matter,

- Computers,

- Electrical equipment,

- Furniture,

- Glass,

- Metals,

- Mobile phones,

- Paint, and oils,

- Paper,

- Plastic,

- Printer cartridges,

- Wood

Criticism Of Recycling

Recycling is a great thing, and has a positive impact on our long-term economy, living standards, and health of the planet we live in, although there are some factors surrounding recycling that are not ideal. All recycling uses energy of some type whether it is fuel for transportation of the materials, or the processing that takes place to reuse the materials. Additionally, many recycling plants use large amounts of water while preparing, or cleaning the materials they will reuse.

The only way to really benefit from recycling, and reducing the waste that is being produced is to use fewer materials where possible, and reuse materials in their current form.