Predictions on current and future recycling plans and management

Nowadays, the abuse of plastics, metals and other chemical contaminant elements in the production of products which are created by the main worldwide industries and companies and are bought for the customers its a real fact which is happening in our society and besides the good looking branding of this institutions the use of this products is destroying millions of animal and human lifes and it’s increasing the green house effect and human footprint every day. At the same time we buy this products the awareness and lack of information about how are they made becoming for the public and private institutions its promoting this behaviour. Sadly, most of citizens prefer to turn around and look at other direction pretending this problem doesn’t go with them instead of face this situation. Maybe when we realize about the problem could be late and we couldn’t change this situation in a blind of an eye.

Since the start of the first decade of 2000’s the consume of cans, bottles and plastic bags has increase in a more than 36% and only the 9% of them are recyled properly. The mass production of plastics, which began just six decades ago, has accelerated so quickly that it has created 8.3 billion metric tons. Most of it in disposable products that end up as trash. Of the 8.3 billion metric tons that has been produced, 6.3 billion metric tons has become plastic waste. Of that, only nine percent has been recycled. The vast majority which represents around the 80% is accumulating in landfills or sloughing off in the natural environment as litter. At some point, much of it ends up in the oceans, the final sink. You can’t manage what you don’t measure.

The rapid acceleration of plastic manufacturing, which so far has doubled roughly every 15 years, has overcoming nearly every other man-made material. And, it is unlike virtually every other material. Half of all steel produced, for example, is used in construction, with a decades-long life. Half of all plastic manufactured becomes trash in less than a year.

If present trends continues, by 2050, there will be 12 billion metric tons of plastic in landfills. That amount is 35,000 times as heavy as the Empire State Building.

This also affect to the melt of the Arctic and Antarctic ice caps. The melting of this caps reduces the fraction of solar energy reflected back into the space and so increase the temperature further.



For example, at our university UPV (Universidad Politécnica de Valencia), we should start with some initiatives that ensure our near future contributing to the environmental protection: 

We can bring cartoon containers instead of plastic ones. Carry food in reusable and recyclable plastic, and bring water in a thermos instead of plastic bottles. 

In case that we buy lunch in “Ágora”, we should just to take only what we need. Very often a lot of ketchup packets and salt packets go to waste.

Never forget to recycle your cans after eating, and make sure that you throw away them to the correct bin available for that function.

To start a specific project between students and teachers of how to concienciate people about the concerning issues of environmental protection.

Write some posters all around the UPV which remind teachers and students what should be composted or recycled.

Furthermore, we can't forget the electronic recycling programs. Electronic recycling is a great way to help environment as engineers. It is essential to recycle electronics safely and correctly, due to the biggest production of electric stuff ever seen in nowadays society. Besides, we can not only recycle these materials, but also it is possible to donate them to other people that found it extremely useful to develop news materials and electronics systems. According to EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), “Recycling one million laptops saves the energy equivalent to the electricity used by more than 3,500 US homes in a year”. So that we can see the importance of not just throwing away our electrics components but make sure they can be reintroduced in the cycle of production.

Another example that EPA brings us is that: “For every million cell phones we recycle, 35 thousand pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold and 33 pounds of palladium can be recovered”. Due to the value of all these natural materials, and assuming that they are not endless resources, we have to take in account some considerations before donating or recycling your used electronics:

In laptops and computers, update the hardware and software before to buy a new product.

Finally, never forget to move on all your personal information from your electronic devices. Take off any batteries from your electronics because they are ought to be separated from the electronic components.