Close the "Loop" and Make an Impact
Each arrow of the recycling triangle represents one step of the recycling process:
1. Separation of useful materials from the waste stream,
2. Remanufacture into new products and
3. Purchase of a recycled product.
Each step of the recycling process is equally important to success. There must be markets for the products manufactured from recycled materials before the "loop" can be complete. It’s simple: demand for products made from recycled materials creates markets for recycling collection programs.
A growing list of innovative small and large manufactures are producing a wide variety of products made from recycled materials. And, purchasing directors have discovered that today’s recycled products are of equal quality to those made with virgin materials. Buying recycled products makes the loop complete.
Recycled Product Terms
Post-consumer material: Products - paper, bottles, wood, bricks, concrete, etc. - that have been used by the consumer and then recycled.
Pre-consumer material: Scrap materials recovered from a manufacturing process as "recovered" products or "post-industrial" scrap-paper cuttings, plastic shavings, etc. - which are collected and reused to make new products.
Recycled content: The amount of pre- /and /or post-consumer material used to manufacture a recycled product (expressed as a percentage of the total content).
Recycled product: Any product that is manufactured in part or in whole using recycled materials.