The wide world of recycling

By Editorial Staff, Resource Recycling

Inventors in the Middle East try to make recycling easier, and England continues to produce less waste.

A company in Dubai, one of seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates, is developing a machine meant to make recycling easier for consumers, reports The National. WMS Metal Industries, which specializes in building rubbish shoots for tall buildings, is working on a device that allows users to select paper, plastic, glass, metal or general waste, press a button and then send their materials down the chute. Users will still have to separate the waste before using the machine.

The paper reports that the company is applying for a U.S. patent and that it will be put to use in the capital's Central Market as well as New York University's Abu Dhabi campus. The Middle Eastern country is seeking to raise its recycling rate, a goal that has, at times, been elusive.

The amount of waste collected for landfill by local authorities in England has decreased by 7.6 percent to just over 10 million tons for the 2010/2011 financial year, according to recently released numbers by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs.

The numbers were submitted by all local authorities in England to WasteDataFlow, which also revealed that the proportion of household waste sent for recycling, composting or reuse was at 42.5 percent, increasing slightly from the previous year's 41.5 percent. The generation of household waste decreased by 1.4 percent to a total of about 22 million tons, and the average amount of rubbish produced per person decreased to 443 kilograms (about 977 pounds) annually, of which 188 kilograms were recycled.

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