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Definition: recycling from Philip's Encyclopedia

Natural and manufactured processes by which substances are broken down and reconstituted. In nature, elemental cycles include the carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, and hydrological cycle. Natural cyclic chemical processes include the metabolic cycles in the bodies of living organisms. Manufactured recycling includes the use of bacteria to break down organic wastes to harmless, or even beneficial, substances. Large quantities of inorganic waste, such as metal scrap, glass bottles, and building spoil, are recycled.

Recycling

From Encyclopedia of Consumption and Waste
Recycling is an industrial practice in which recyclers collect used or abandoned materials and transform them into their constituent parts to create raw materials for new objects. Though such reprocessing has been around for centuries in artisanal, domestic, and industrial contexts, the term recycling was only coined in 1926 to describe sending partially refined oil back through the refining process. In the 21st century, recycling refers to two distinct but related practices: the industrial system of reprocessing materials and consumer-side recycling motivated by environmental values. Before the advent of mass production in the industrializing United States, industrial and consumer sides of recycling were inextricably intertwined. Manufacturers depended on consumer waste for many raw materials, including rags for paper and bones for fertilizer and glue. Peddlers and ragmen traded old materials for new goods and allowed people with little cash to obtain consumer items. Thus, as…
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Full text Article recycling

From Dictionary of Energy
Recycling is the process of turning used products into raw materials that can be used to make new products. Its purpose is to conserve natural resources and reduce pollution. Recycling reduces energy consumption, since it generally takes less energy to recycle a product than to make a new one. …
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Full text Article Conservation and Recycling

From Global Social Issues: An Encyclopedia
Conservation and Recycling
“Conservation,” in the environmental sense of the word, means the preservation, protection, management, or restoration of natural resources, both finite (such as minerals and hydrocarbons) and renewable (such as water and forests). The term may be used in reference to a practice, a philosophy, and a…
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Full text Article Recycling

From The Visual Guides: Understanding Weather and The Environment Full text Article POLLUTION
Description Time Total Time Most trash can be recycled, using processes specific to each material. 00:02 - 00:08 00:01:03 Metals, for example, are first shredded by a grinder. 00:10 - 00:14 The fragments are then sorted by means of a system of magnets that distinguishes ferrous metals from other…
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Full text Article recycling

From Collins Dictionary of Business
the reprocessing of materials, containers and goods which would otherwise have been thrown away, to be used in the manufacture of some other product; for example the pulping of old newspapers to produce egg boxes and writing paper, and the melting down of used metal drinks cans to make new…
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Full text Article recycling

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
the process of recovering and reusing waste products—from household use, manufacturing, agriculture, and business—and thereby reducing their burden on the environment. During World War I and World War II, shortages of essential materials led to collection drives for silk, rubber, and other…
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Full text Article recycling

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Processing of commercial and domestic waste into useful materials. Waste materials suitable for recycling are generally segregated from other types of waste at point of collection, and separated into individual recycling streams at commercial recycling centres. Materials commonly recycled include…
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Full text Article Recycling

From Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History
Recycling is the process of transforming waste materials, such as used paper or aluminum cans, into new products. Although the term recycling was not used until the 1960s, when environmental concerns over the increased use of natural resources in disposable products became prominent, recycling has…
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Full text Article Recycling

From The A to Z of Corporate Social Responsibility
→ EU Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) , Life cycle assessment , Waste management Recycling is the reprocessing of materials into new products. It involves a series of activities that includes collecting recyclable materials that would otherwise be considered waste, …
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Schematic representation of scrap...
1. Introduction 2. Production of Metals 3. Recycling of Metals 4. Energy Use and Recycling 5. Future of Recycling Glossary home scrap Scrap produced at the metal-producing plant as the result of inefficiencies or material losses in the metals-producing plant. new scrap Scrap that is produced at a…
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Full text Article recycling

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Recovery and reuse of materials from consumed products. The main motives for recycling have been the increasing scarcity and cost of natural resources (including oil, gas, coal, mineral ores, and trees) and the pollution of air ( see air pollution ), water ( see water pollution ), and land by waste…
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