Business Content // Innovative Recycling Techniques*

At the rate the population is going we really need to start looking at more ways to be green and reduce our carbon foot print. A few days back I put together an article of three easy ways to get started on being Green and today I’m going to take that a little further by sharing some truly innovative recycling techniques. These aren’t exactly things you can do at home, but it’s definitely information you should be thinking about when you’re deciding whether or not you’re too lazy to separate your metals and glass. Hopefully attitudes towards recycling are starting to change across the world.

Research has suggested that Europe is not reaching it’s capcity when it comes to recycling plastic, totaling to only 50% percent of the usuable plastics being sent to recycling plants. The rest goes to landfill sites where it simply sits until it decomposes and this can take decades. Thankfully, by 2020, the EU 28 have agreed that all member states must recycle 45% of all plastics by 2020, and this figure should rise to 60% by 2025.

Today with  O’Brien Waste Recycling Solutions, providers of skip hire for recycling purposes I’m going to be looking at businesses who are already taking the initiative by investing in methods and technologies that help to benefit the environment by recycling plastics and other material.

Recycling Ocean Plastics to Make New Clothing
Lets start with Adidas, the popular sports clothing brand who are looking to create a sports wear range that’s made from recycled plastics derived from the sea. The range includes running shoes, swim shorts among other things and is a great modern way of engaging the public in purchasing products that have been made from recycled materials. By doing this, Adidas are hoping to minimise the amount of new plastic that’s being distrubuted all over the world from their own supply chain.

Composite Decking
Composite decking is the environmentally friendly alternative to “new” wood decking. It’s made by combining sawdust from reclaimed wood and the plastic is made from recycled shopping bags, news paper sleeves, dry cleaning bags and even food storage bags. When brought together this creates the composite material used for the decking. Your garden is a naturally produced space, it’s only right that you use materials that don’t disrupt the natural environment.

Modern Hotels & Offices
The ContainHotel in Czech Republic is made up of using two old shipping contains either side and a longer container over the top. This innovative design has attracted guests from all over the world. It’s demonstraight that once a material or structure is finished with it can be repurposed as something else.

If the UK was to invest in recycling plastics in accordance to EU guidelines up until 2025, alongside other initiatives to reuse and repair old materials, we’d face an overall cost of 220 million Euros. However, this type of investment is said to create 7,500 direct jobs by 2020, and 12,000 jobs by 2025. What’s clear, is that if Britain is willing to invest, then the benefits to both the environment and job security will grow as investment increases. Lets hope the government sees this as an investment for the future rather than focusing on the “now” costs as they so often do!

Do you recycle?