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Municipal waste recycling rate (%), 2015. Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the properties it had in its original state. [ 1 ]
Circular economy. A circular economy (also referred to as circularity or CE) [1] is a model of resource production and consumption in any economy that involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling existing materials and products for as long as possible. [2][3][4] The concept aims to tackle global challenges such as ...
A bathtub upcycled into a bench in Munich. 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 ...
Waste valorization, beneficial reuse, beneficial use, value recovery or waste reclamation[1] is the process of waste products or residues from an economic process being valorized (given economic value), by reuse or recycling in order to create economically useful materials. [2][1][3] The term comes from practices in sustainable manufacturing ...
Zero waste. Zero waste, or waste minimization, is a set of principles focused on waste prevention that encourages redesigning resource life cycles so that all products are repurposed (i.e. "up-cycled") and/or reused. The goal of the movement is to avoid sending trash to landfills, incinerators, oceans, or any other part of the environment.
Waste picker. Scavenging in Jakarta, Indonesia. A waste picker is a person who salvages reusable or recyclable materials thrown away by others to sell or for personal consumption. [1] There are millions of waste pickers worldwide, predominantly in developing countries, but increasingly in post-industrial countries as well.
Upcycling is the opposite of downcycling, which is the other part of the recycling process. Downcycling involves converting materials and products into new materials, sometimes of lesser quality. Most recycling involves converting or extracting useful materials from a product and creating a different product or material. [1]
Plastic recycling is the processing of plastic waste into other products. [1][2][3] Recycling can reduce dependence on landfill, conserve resources and protect the environment from plastic pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. [4][5] Recycling rates lag behind those of other recoverable materials, such as aluminium, glass and paper.