Recycling
Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. It is an alternative to “conventional” waste disposal that can save material and help lower greenhouse gas emissions. Recycling can prevent the waste of potentially useful materials and reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, thereby reducing: energy usage, air pollution (from incineration), and water pollution (from landfilling).
Recycling is a key component of modern waste reduction and is the third component of the “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle” waste hierarchy.[1][2] Thus, recycling aims at environmental sustainability by substituting raw material inputs into and redirecting waste outputs out of the economic system.[3]
There are some ISO standards related to recycling such as ISO 15270:2008 for plastics waste and ISO 14001:2015 for environmental management control of recycling practice.
Recyclable materials include many kinds of glass, paper, cardboard, metal, plastic, tires, textiles, batteries, and electronics. The composting or other reuse of biodegradable waste—such as food or garden waste—is also a form of recycling.[4] Materials to be recycled are either delivered to a household recycling center or picked up from curbside bins, then sorted, cleaned, and reprocessed into new materials destined for manufacturing new products.
In the strictest sense, recycling of a material would produce a fresh supply of the same material—for example, used office paper would be converted into new office paper or used polystyrene foam into new polystyrene. However, this is often difficult or too expensive (compared with producing the same product from raw materials or other sources), so “recycling” of many products or materials involves their reuse in producing different materials (for example, paperboard) instead. Another form of recycling is the salvage of certain materials from complex products, either due to their intrinsic value (such as lead from car batteries, or gold from printed circuit boards), or due to their hazardous nature (e.g., removal and reuse of mercury from thermometers and thermostats).
Applewood
Applewood is a census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The population was 7,160 at the 2010 census.[2]
As of the census[4] of 2000, there were 7,123 people, 2,954 households, and 2,055 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 1,473.6 people per square mile (569.4/km²). There were 3,067 housing units at an average density of 634.5 per square mile (245.2/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 94.59% White, 0.38% African American, 0.51% Native American, 1.22% Asian, 0.11% Pacific Islander, 1.47% from other races, and 1.71% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.38% of the population.
There were 2,954 households out of which 26.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.9% were married couples living together, 7.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.4% were non-families. 25.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 2.87.