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This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 15 February 2025. Converting waste materials into new products This article is about recycling of waste materials. For recycling of waste energy, see Energy recycling. "Recycled" redirects here. For the album, see Recycled (Nektar album). The three chasing arrows of the universal recycling symbol ...
Reuse is the action or practice of using an item, whether for its original purpose (conventional reuse) or to fulfill a different function (creative reuse or repurposing). It should be distinguished from recycling , which is the breaking down of used items to make raw materials for the manufacture of new products.
A number of U.S. states, such as California, Hawaii, Oregon, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Iowa, Michigan, and New York, have passed laws that establish deposits or refund values on beverage containers in order to promote reuse and recycling. Most are five cents per can or bottle.
Adaptive reuse is defined as the aesthetic process that adapts buildings for new uses while retaining their historic features. Using an adaptive reuse model can prolong a building's life, from cradle-to-grave, by retaining all or most of the building system, including the structure, the shell and even the interior materials. [6]
Venice Biennale installation by Małgorzata Mirga-Tas (2022) - artistic upcycling of old textile materials. While recycling usually means the materials are remade into their original form, e.g., recycling plastic bottles into plastic polymers, which then produce plastic bottles through the manufacturing process, upcycling adds more value to the materials, as the name suggested.
All products and services have environmental impacts, from the extraction of raw materials for production to manufacture, distribution, use and disposal. Following the waste hierarchy will generally lead to the most resource-efficient and environmentally sound choice but in some cases refining decisions within the hierarchy or departing from it can lead to better environmental outcomes.
The reuse of containers is often thought of as being a step toward more sustainable packaging. Reuse sits high on the waste hierarchy. When a container is used multiple times, the material required per use or per filling cycle is reduced. Many potential factors are involved in environmental comparisons of returnable vs. non-returnable systems.
Concrete from a building being sent to a portable crusher. This is the first step in recycling concrete. Crushing concrete from an airfield. Concrete recycling is the use of rubble from demolished concrete structures.