Rock On, Scavengers!

every day, people people produce many types of garbage, such as paper, plastic, glass, and aluminium. these recyclable materials are usually disposed along with other household waste, which is then collected and transported to the city landfill.

do you know what happens next? a large part of these materials are piled up into the ground where they go through the process of breaking down into the smallest elements, otherwise known as decomposition. paper needs approximately five months to decompose, while plastic bags take up 20 years. aluminium takes up 200 years to decompose, plastic beverage bottles about 450 years, and glass bottles and plastic jugs about a million years! that's quite a long time to spend in a landfill!

that's why garbage scavengers, who are often overlooked, play an important role. their role is quite significant in recycling materials like paper, plastic, glass and aluminium. look around, and you will see them out on the streets, in the dumpsters, or walking around your neighborhood. they are easily identified by their sack or pushcart, which they use to stuff in all types of material which they consider good enough to be collected and sold to dealers. these dealers pay them according to the type of materials. at the dealers', recyclable materials are sorted and cleaned. bottles or jars usually require washing, removal of labels, and removal of bottle caps. plastic cups are cleaned from their plastic top. dealers then sell their recyclable materials to each of the materials' recycling plant.

at a paper recycling factory, waste paper is turned to pulp, then undergoes several treatments such as coarse screening, ink removal, fine cleaning, brightening, and de-colorization. the finished recycled pulp is then either sent to a mill for paper-making or it is formed into sheets of pulp, called "wet lap", for shipment and sale. glass recycling factories take waste glass to crush into little pieces and melt along with other raw materials into a liquid state called gobs. these gobs are then dropped into a mold to form new bottles and jars.

because of the mess that we had, from now on, be a participant in the recycling of paper, plastic, glass and aluminum by sorting them first of throwing them away right way in the trash can. keep them in a separate place, then donate or sell your junk collection to a garbage scavenger. be doing this, not only do you help the scavengers but also contribute to preserving the earth.