*% ABSTRACT- Recycling is a vital process that helps to conserve natural resources and reduce waste. This project provides an overview of how paper, metal, wood, glass, and plastics are recycled. The recycling process for cach material involves specialized equipment and techniques to ensure that the recycled products mect the necessary quality standards. Our planet's resources are finite, and we need to use them wisely to ensure that we leave behind a habitable world for future generations. One way we can achieve this is by reducing the amount of things we use and reusing items where possible. However, if we cannot reduce or reuse, then recycling is a viable option. Recycling involves the collection, processing, and transformation of waste materials into new products, thus reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills and conserving natural resources. Among the materials that can be recycled are paper, metal, wood, glass, and plastics, which are all common in our daily lives. Each of these materials has a specific recycling process that involves specialized equipment and techniques to ensure that the recycled products mect quality standards. For example, paper recycling involves sorting and shredding the paper, removing any contaminants, and processing it into pulp to make new paper products. On the other hand, metal recycling requires melting the metal down and reshaping it into new products. Understanding how cach material is recycled is essential to reducing waste and promoting sustainability. Recycling not only conserves natural resources and reduces greenhouse gas emissions but also has economic benefits as it creates jobs in the collection and processing of waste materials.1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY The main objective of the study is to ascertain the impact of recycling in preserving the environment; but for the purpose of the study, the researcher intends to achieve the following objective: i) Toascertain the impact of recycling in preserving the environment. ii) To ascertain the impact of solid waste management practice in Nigeria. ill) To evaluate the role of government in waste management in Nigeria. iv) To investigate the environmental effect of solid waste management in Nigeria. v) To evaluate the relationship between solid waste management and environmental pollution. 1.4 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS: For the successful completion of the study; the following research hypotheses were formulated; HO: waste recycling does not have a significant impact in preserving the environment. H1: waste recycling has a significant impact on environmental preservation. HO2: there is no relationship between solid waste management and environmental pollution H2: there is a relationship between solid waste management and environmental pollution1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY It is believed that at the completion of the study, the findings will be of great importance to the federal ministry of environment, in addressing the challenges of recycling as a means of managing solid waste in the country, the findings will also be of great importance to the environmental management agency as the findings will aid them in developing a model to check and control solid waste management through the recycling process. The study will also be of importance to researchers who intend to embark on studies in similar area. Finally the study will be of great importance to academia’s as the study will add to the body of knowledge 1.6 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY The scope of the study covers the impact of recycling in preserving the environment. However in the course of the study, the researcher encounters some constrain which limited the scope of the study. Some of these constrain are: {a} Availability of research material: The research material available to the researcher is insufficient, thereby limiting the study. (b) Time: The time frame allocated to the study does not enhance wider coverage as the researcher has to combine other academic activities and examinations with the study. (c) Finance: The finance available for the research work does not allow for wider coverage as resources are very limited as the researcher has other academic bills to cover. 1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS 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 (compared to plastic production, for example). 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 land filling). Recycling is a key component of modern waste reduction and is the third component of the “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle” waste hierarchy.Waste Waste and wastes are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance which is discarded after primary use, or it is worthless, defective and of no use. Examples include municipal solid waste (household trash/refuse), hazardous waste, wastewater (such as sewage, which contains bodily wastes (feces and urine) and surface runoff), radioactive waste, and others. Solid waste Solid waste means any garbage, refuse, sludge from a wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility and other discarded materials including solid, liquid, semi-solid, or contained gaseous material, resulting from industrial, commercial, mining and agricultural operations, Pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light. Pollutants, the components of pollution, can be either foreign substances/energies or naturally occurring contaminants. Pollution Is often classed as point source or non-point source pollution.* Why should you recycle? If everyone reduced, reused, and recycled, we could make Earth's resources go an awful lot further. Recycling saves materials, reduces the need to landfill and incinerate, cuts down pollution, and helps to make the environment more attractive. It also creates jobs, because recycling things takes a bit more effort than making new things. Recycling docsn't just save materials: it saves energy too. Manufacturing things uscs a lot of energy from power plants and hungry power plants generally make global warming worse. We ean save a surprising amount of energy by recycling. If you recycle a single aluminum can you save about 95 percent of the energy it would take to make a brand new one, That's enough energy saved to power yourtelevision for about 3 hours! You'll often hear people say that over half the trash we throw away can be recycled. Looking at the chart below, you can sec that we currently recycle somewhere between 30-100 percent of the various different materials we use. Just imagine if everyone were recycling most of their garbage: together, we'd be making a tremendous reduction in the amount of raw materials and energy we use and doing a lot of good for the planet. How much do we recycle? - 2021 96.5 99.3 Source: Drawn in 2021 using datest available data for atuntinum (2019), altmimun cans (2013), cur batteries (2017), glass (2018), paper and board (2018). Plastics (2019), rubber (2017), steel (2020). Sources as per caption. ‘wo expiantnattuttcom“+ What are the different ways of recycling? The essential difference between a bag of trash and a bag of valuable, recyclable waste is that the trash is all mixed up together and the recyclable waste is sorted out and separated. If you have a curbside recycling scheme, you may be given a recycling box into which you can place certain types of waste (perhaps metal cans, glass bottles, plastics, and newspapers) but not others. When the box is collected, it might be sorted out at the curb. People on the truck will take time to sort through your box and put different items into different large boxes inside the truck. So, when the truck arrives at the recycling station, the waste will already be sorted. Alternatively, you may sce your whole box being tipped into the truck without any kind of sorting. The truck then takes your waste to a different kind of recycling station called a MURF, which stands for Materials Recycling Facility (MRF), where it is sorted partly by hand and partly by machine (this type of recycling is also called single-stream or comingled). If you don't have curbside recycling, it helps to sort out your waste and store it in separate bags or boxes before you take it to the recycling center. (For example, you could wash out food tins and glass bottles and keep them in separate plastic bags.) ¢ Which materials can be recycled? Most things that you throw away can be recycled and tured into new products although some are easier to recycle than others.e Paper and cardboard One problem with recycling paper is that not all paper is the same. White office printer paper is made of much higher quality raw material than the paper towels you'll find in a factory washroom. The higher the quality of paper waste, the better the quality of recycled products it can be used to make. So high-grade white paper collected from offices can be used to make more high-grade white recycled paper. But a mixture of old newspapers, office paper, junk mail, and cardboard can generally be used only to make lower-grade paper products such as "newsprint" (the low-grade paper on which newspapers are printed). Corrugated cardboard (which is held together with glue) is harder to recycle than the thin cardboard used to package groceries. Waste documents are usually covered in ink, which has to be removed before paper can be recycled. Using bleach to de-ink papers can be an environmentally harmful process and it produces toxic ink wastes that have to be disposed of somehow. So, although recycling paper has many benefits, it comes with environmental costs as well.© Plastics- Of all the different materials we toss in the trash, plastics cause by far the biggest problem. They last a long time in the environment without breaking down sometimes as much as 500 years. They're very light and they float, so plastic litter drifts across the oceans and washes up on our beaches, killing wildlife and scarring the shoreline. The only trouble is, plastics are relatively hard to recycle. There are many different kinds of plastic and they all have to be recycled in a different way. There's so much plastic about that waste plastic material doesn't have much value, so it's not always economic to collect. Plastic containers also tend to be large and, unless people squash them, quickly fill up recyeling bins. All told, plastics are a bit of an environmental nightmare—but that's all the more reason we should make an effort to recycle them! Different plastics can be recycled in different ways. Plastic drinks bottles are usually made from a type of clear plastic called PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and can be turned into such things as textile insulation (for thermal jackets and sleeping bags). Milk bottles tend to be made from a thickcr, opaque plastic called HDPE (high-density polyethylene) and can be recycled into more durable products like flower pots and plastic pipes. Another solution to the problem could be to use bioplastics, which claim to be more environmentally friendly.e Metal- Most of the metal we throw away at home comes from food and drink cans and aerosols. Typically food cans are made from steel, which can be melted down and turned into new food cans. Drinks cans are generally thinner and lighter and made from aluminum, which can also be ree: cled very easily. Mining aluminum is a very energy-intensive and environmentally harmful process. That's why waste aluminum cans have a relatively high value and why recycling them is such a good thing to do. Poeun ee) © Wood- People have been reusing this traditional, sustainable material for as long as human history. Waste wood is often turned into new wooden products such as recycled wooden flooring or garden decking. Old wooden railroad sleepers (now widely replaced by concrete) are sometimes used as building timbers in homes and gardens, Waste wood can also be shredded and stuck together with adhesives to make composite woods such as laminates. It can also be composted or burned as fuel.© Glass- Glass is very casy to recycle; waste bottles and jars can be melted down and used again and again. You simply toss old glass into the furnace with the ingredients you're using to make brand- new glass. Bottle banks (large containers where waste glass is collected) were the original examples of community recycling in many countries. « Rubber- Huge amounts of waste rubber are produced cach year, much of it from old vehicle tires. Given how big and bulky tires are and how many of them we get through, it's perhaps surprising that only 3.4 percent of all municipal waste in the United States is classed as rubber and leather. That might not sound a lot, but it's about 9 million tons a year (the same weight as 2 million clephants). Old tires can often be turned into new ones or shredded to make soft, bouncy landscaping materials for cushioning children's playgrounds.“ Conclusion- In conclusion, the recycling of paper, metal, wood, glass, and plastics is essential in protecting the environment and conserving natural resources. Each material requires its own specific methods of recycling, but the ultimate goal is the same to reduce waste and create a more sustainable future. While the process of recycling does require energy and resources, it is still a better alternative than sending these materials to landfills, where they would take hundreds of years to decompose. By recycling, we can create a circular economy that reduces the need for new resources and minimizes the amount of waste generated. It is vital for individuals, businesses, and governments to take action and prioritize recycling as a key component of sustainable living. > Reference- © Textbook of solid waste management of Nirali Pubilcation. © https:/Avww.explainthatstuff.convrecyeling.html * Recycling still the most effective waste disposal method, report finds by Juliette Jowit, The Guardian, and 16 March 2010