Article 5 - Overview Of Recycled Copper : Copper Applications in Health & Environment

Scrap metal recycling is considered a great industry for monetary reasons. Copper recycling have been put into practice for since mnay years ago. This is duely due to its high market value in comparable to any other metals in the scrap recycling industry. Besides copper other metals recycled usually varies from aluminium, alloys, tin and as such.

The transforming of unalloyed copper scrap into new copper items is done by purchasing copper scrap from a national network of scrap processors and brokers. Number 1 scrap consists of clean, unalloyed and uncoated copper solids,clippings, punchings, bus bars, commutator segments, clean pipe and tubing. No.2 copper scrap is same as Number 1 with additional oxidized or coated, plated pieces including oxidized or coated copper wire free of excessive oxidation.

IN US, most copper and copper alloy scrap (in 1996) is remelted directly by brass mills, wire rod producers, foundries and ingot producers. Wheres the remainder goes into the supply stream at the smelting and refining stages. Of the 1,092,600 tons of scrap that was directly remelted in the US in 1996, about 22% was recycled into ingot cast copper alloy products by producers and foundries, 70% was recycled by brass mills and about 8% was reused by other industries, powder-producers and by wire rod mills. Consumption of copper scrap for alloys has grown by over 50% in the past 20 years. Increased consumption by brass mills directs for all of the additional scrap consumed. Scrap going for cast products has remained the same copper alloy cast by-products.

At normal circumstnces, the largest category of scrap is found to be the customer returned new scrap which is directly remelted. The continuation of recycled old or obsolete scrap tends to fluctuate depending on copper prices and other commercial considerations. Recovery rates of old scrap decline when copper prices are low. Old scrap, also called post consumer scrap, consists of discarded electric cable, junked automobile radiators and air conditioners and innumerable other products. This is known as low velocity material with product life of 10 to 100 years or more. The trend had been toward more old scrap and less new in the recycling stream. Of total US scrap that was recycled in 1992, new scrap has decreased from 61% to about 54% but this again increased to 61% in 1995 and 1996.

The one significant drawback of using recycled copper is that it may contain trace impurities that adversely impact its properties. Due to that, some applications require newly mined or primary copper or scrap copper that has been re-refined or re-smelted. The most important of these applications is high conductivity wire.

To conclude, from the past experience, it is estimated that about 700 billion pounds of copper have been mined to date with the majority of it being in use as of today. The copper and copper alloy industries rely on the fact that scrap copper is easily and economically used and reused from time to time. However this scrap metal of copper industry has some draw backs such as the fluctuations of the market price for copper as been experienced recenltly in Malaysia due to our economy drop. For this, the scrap metal dealers and suppliers need to think wisely to sustain their business in order to gain monetary profits and also to help save our environment by recycling significant activities.

Article 4 - The Threat Of Sea Pollution and What YOU Can Do About It

http://see-the-sea.org/topics/pollution/toxic/ToxPol.htm

Oil can be assumed as the most widely knwon toxic pollutant to us. According to the author, the grounding of the Valdez may have been one of the most publicized tanker accidents in recent history, but there are many events like this which have occurred. The biggest spill ever recorded happened during the 1991 Persian Gulf War when about 240 million gallons spilled from oil terminals and tankers off the coast of Saudi Arabia. people don't realize that hundreds of millions of gallons each year quietly end up in our oceans by sources.

Large tanker spills, which are reported the world over, account for just over 5%. Air pollution from cars and industry accounts for just over 13% of the total, as the hundreds of tons of hydrocarbons land in our oceans from particle fallout by the rain, which washes the particles from the air. Almost 4 times the amount of oil which comes from the large tanker spills, 19% is regularly released into the ocean from routine maintenance, which includes boat bilge discharge and ship operations. The greatest cause of oil in our oceans comes from drains and urban street runoff. Much of this is from improper disposal of engine oil. An average oil change uses 5 quarts of oil, which alone can contaminate millions of gallons of fresh water. More than half of all Americans change their own oil but only about one third of the used oil from do it yourself oil changes is collected and recycled.
Thousands of other pollutants also end up in the ocean. According to the write alsio, more than 2.8 billion gallons of industrial waste water per day are discharged directly into U.S. ocean waters (U.S. EPA, 1994), excluding electric utilities and offshore oil and gas effluents. Heavy metals released from industry, such as mercury and lead, are often found in marine life, including many of those often consumed by humans. The longer lived large fish such as king mackerel, tilefish, swordfish and shark often contain harmful levels of the pollutant mercury which can harm the developing brain and nervous system of children and fetuses. The list of dangerous chemical pollutants is long, including chemical contaminants like pesticides, pharmaceutical agents, and biological contaminants like bacteria, viruses, and protozoa. Dioxins from the pulp and paper bleaching process can cause genetic chromosomal degradation in marine animals and may even cause cancer in humans. PCB's (polychlorinated biphenyls), which usually come from older electrical equipment, typically cause reproduction problems in most marine organisms. Poly-aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are another source of marine toxic pollution and typically come from oil pollution and burning wood and coal. These PAH's are responsible for causing genetic chromosomal aberrations in many marine animals.
Many cruise ships have become more like floating cities, transporting millions of people into the most pristine ocean environments around the world. They have been operating with no environmental regulations. The lack of regulation by this industry has caused a great deal of damage to sensitive marine environments and is of growing concern as the industry is rapidly expanding. Ships have grown from typically accommodating 600-700 people in 1970 to ships that now carry over 5000 people. A typical 3000 passenger ship can produce 255,000 gallons of wastewater and 30,000 gallons of sewage every day (The Ocean Conservancy,2002, p 13 & 15). All of this waste is normally discharged directly into the ocean and it is legal to do so in most areas provided the boats discharge 3 nautical miles from the coast. This waste can contain bacteria, pathogens, medical waste, oils, detergents, cleaners, heavy metals, harmful nutrients (nitrogen amongst others) and other substances. These substances can be brought back to coastal areas as well as cause serious damage to the aquatic life further out in the sea, including posing a risk for contaminating seafood. Nitrogen compounds can also contribute to environmentally hazardous algae blooms. Typically 75-85% of the solid waste from a ship is incinerated at sea adding to sea pollution as the toxins and ash settles back into the ocean. Additionally, habitat alteration is a common occurrence where cruise ships use anchoring systems. The sheer size and weight of an anchor dramatically disturbs the seafloor.
Another serious type of marine pollution is nutrient pollution. This pollution is caused primarily from agricultural runoff that contains fertilizers and growth stimulants as well as from airborne nitrogen compounds that comes from automobile exhaust, industrial pollution and ammonia from manure. This has long been considered a problem in freshwater systems. In recent years, scientists have become more concerned about eutrophic (overly nutrient enriched) conditions in coastal estuaries. Nutrient pollution now represents the most widespread pollution problem facing U.S. coastal waters.
Nutrient pollution causes many problems, including:
1. Harmful algal blooms.
2. Hypoxic areas or "dead zones".
3. Fish kills.
4. Loss of seagrass and kelp beds.
5. Coral reef destruction.
6. Eutrophication.

What can you do about it?
1. Never pour any oil or other chemicals into the ground or drains. Many of these chemicals make their way to the ocean. Maintain vehicles to prevent oil from leaking onto the road which will then go down a drain and into the water.
2. Recycle all oil and chemicals. Most communities have recycling centers that will accept used oil and other chemicals for recycling.
3. Reduce the use of hazardous chemicals by choosing household cleaners, pesticides and fertilizers which are not toxic to your surroundings.
4. Consume less pesticide-dependant foods thereby reducing the amount of pesticides used.
5. Landscape with native plants that do not require fertilizers and that need less water. Less irrigation results in less runoff, while less chemical application keeps runoff clean.
6. Compost your household, kitchen and yard wastes, which makes an excellent fertilizer.
7. Limit paved surfaces as they prevent water from percolating down into the ground, causing runoff to accumulate. Paved surfaces also transfer heat to runoff, thereby increasing the temperature of receiving waters.

Article 3 - Feed From Waste

Have we ever thought that the wastage of food that we throw away daily, can really be profitable to us in return? I am sure noone does. With animals feeds and fertilisers prices at high records, this can be at greater demand today.
But that is the new fact practised in Japan today. According to a researcher in Japan, the food recycling is adopted as a business and is on a great rise now. As for farmers, feed from recycled food is comparably 50% cheaper than fresh feed. So in order to save cost in producing new feed, Japan is undergoing this technology and have proofed for its usage. If a normal garbage driver in Japan can start up a business on recycling food waste and he turns out to be the owner of Japan's largest animal feed maker. Here food recycler often uses leftovers from convenient stores and restaurants where strict health law means leftovers must be thrown away at the end of the day.
Similarly for Malaysia, we can adopt this new technique for our animal feeds. But how many of us are willing to consume any meat from chicken, beef or goat that was feeded by recycled food? As for Malaysia's concern, this technology can only be adopted, provided that we take into consideration of the 'halal' factor. Here we can't only think of money as a factor or just for recycling purposes. There are more comparable matters to be considered as we come from different culture and believes.
In Japan, despite the waste not, want not attitude, some animal rights activists and nutritionists are critical of feeding animal leftovers that have often passed their use before dates. The only risk in this practise is that feed made from fast food may lack in minerals necessary for both human and animals. The animals can be more prone to sickness if they eat only feed from waste.
Yet, it is true that we can make tonnes of profit by recycling food waste. By this method also solid waste that is being disposed to landfill is reduced apparently. Whereby this helps to save in the management of solid waste and providing more landfill space for the future. This is a good example of how a proper management of waste can help to sustain the world without being more and more polluted.

Article 2 - Energy From Our Waste A Dawning Reality

Ever thought that all the refuse and junk that you throw out of our kitchens and homes everyday could ever turn out useful and provide the energy to light up millions of homes? Let me introduce to RDFs( refused derived fuels), you can’t use them to power your car yet, so you’d better stop thinking of emptying the garbage can into your gas tanks, but who knows, in this world of ours anything is possible.

This article guides us on the importance of RDF as a good substitute compared to more commercial and environmental expensive fossil fuels used today.

RDF mostly refer to high calorific fraction of our municipal solid waste that can either be domestic or industrial in its origins. Obtaining this high calorific fraction is the objective of the processing the waste has to go through. It’s the reason any RDF processing facility has to have a material sorting facility.There are generally two industrial processes for obtaining our RDF right now, the mechanical heat treatment and the mechanical biological treatment methods. RDF production facilities like other industries are best situated close to their sources of raw materials which in this case is municipal solid waste, basically that’s the refuse you and I generate from our homes, so the regular RDF plant is next or as close as possible to the landfill site. Let’s take a closer look at one of our processes for obtaining our RDF, let’s take the mechanical heat treatment process or MHT first.

There are generally two industrial processes for obtaining our RDF right now, the mechanical heat treatment and the mechanical biological treatment methods. RDF production facilities like other industries are best situated close to their sources of raw materials which in this case is municipal solid waste, basically that’s the refuse you and I generate from our homes, so the regular RDF plant is next or as close as possible to the landfill site.

The first stage of this process involves a mechanical sorting of the MSW, the main objective is to remove the non combustible, materials, materials which are generally heat and fire resistant, glass, plastics, metals and the likes, this is mostly done by passing the refuse on a conveyor belt through shredders, trommel, screens, magnets and sometimes for a more refined and specific sorting process, through a hand picking process.

The materials removed through the sorting process are mostly sent off for recycling. Any other rejects are usually only good for the landfill. The remaining material to undergo processing pass through the next stage. This involves, as the name might imply, a treatment with heat to yield the desired product. Refuse derived fuels. This heat treatment process is often referred to as an autoclave process, waste autoclave process in this case. Let me shed a little light on what an autoclave refers to, it simply refers to the process of treating waste, or any other feed material for that matter, with steam and heat under a certain amount of pressure. Waste autoclaves utilize injections of steam at high temperatures, usually up to about 160c, and at pressures of about 5 bars, these processes might take place in as little as an hour.The major effects of the autoclaving process are:• It sterilizes our refuse and neutralizes harmful microorganisms.• It reduces the volume of our waste that goes to landfill.

The autoclaving process breaks down most of the waste, breaking down and flattening plastics, while pulp, paper and other fibrous materials are reduced to a more fluid fibrous form. Autoclaving generally reduces the mass of waste by an average of about 50%. When it is done the chamber can be depressurized and the materials taken out to undergo another series of separation and recovery processes. The fiber fibrous materials obtained from this process can be burned as fuels in electricity generating plants.

Article 1 - CO2 Limits Most Harmful to Low-Income Minorities

This is an issue about the blacks in America being more exposed to rising temperatures, supposedly from carbon dioxide. Climate change, such as air pollution and rising temperatures affect the blacks, minorities and low-income people which leads them to poor health and economic loss. Its reported that Heat-related deaths among blacks occur at a 150 - 200% greater than for non-Hispanic whites. It also reported that asthma, which has a strong correlation to air pollution, affects blacks at a 36% higher rate of incidence than whites.

If this occurs throughout, we as Malaysians who are dark skinned compared to American Whites, would definitely have to face the same problem in the long-run.

To handle this issue is to get our environmental management persons in charge to run a survey or interview to get the feedback and evidance of this incidence. If proven the same, our government have to implement new methods or technologies of how the keep the dark skinned citizens save for a life without any dangerous illness such as asthma.