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What happens to it?
Have you ever wondered what happens to recyclable materials
collected in Central Virginia? Materials
collected in your community follow a variety of paths once they
leave your home.
The journey begins when recyclables collected in both the CVWMA
curbside and drop-off programs are taken to the Materials Recovery
Facility of Tidewater Fibre Corporation located in Chester,
Virginia.
Check out these cool pictures that show
how collected materials are sorted and processed after they leave
your home.
There, the mingled materials are divided: plastics are
sorted by number and color, aluminum and steel are separated with
magnets, and the various grades of paper, from newsprint to
cardboard, are sorted into piles.
Each different type of material is baled and sold to another
company that may further prepare it or that will use it to make a
new product. Some materials become the same
product or something similar. Others are
recycled into very unexpected things. You might be
surprised what post-consumer recycled materials you have in your
home right now!
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PLASTIC
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Plastic soft drink and water bottles, mouthwash bottles and
salad dressing containers can be used to make tote bags, clothing,
furniture, and carpet, in addition to being remanufactured into the
original containers again.
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PLASTIC
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The plastic in milk, water and juice containers, and liquid
detergent bottles can reappear as drainage pipe, oil bottles,
recycling bins, benches, doghouses, floor tile, picnic
tables, lumber, mailbox posts, and fencing in addition to those
original containers.
-American Plastics
Council
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PAPER
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In 2008 the U.S. paper recovery rate achieved an
all-time high of 57.4% with 51.8 million tons recycled in
2008. Paper recovery in 1990 was only 33.5%.
- More paper is recovered in America for recycling than all other
materials combined.
- In 2008, roughly 340 pounds of paper was recycled for every
man, woman and child in the United States.
-American Forest
and Paper Association
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NEWSPAPER
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Newspaper collected in CVWMA's drop-off program is used to
create 100% recycled newsprint for the central Virginia region.
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ALUMINUM
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The aluminum beverage can is 100 percent recyclable into new
beverage cans indefinitely. Americans recycled 51.5
billion aluminum cans in 2004.
-The Aluminum
Association, Inc.
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STEEL
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The North American steel industry annually recycles millions of
tons of steel scrap from recycled cans, automobiles, appliances,
construction materials and other steel products. This scrap is
melted to produce new steel.
-Steel
Recycling Institute
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