The reuse of elements considered "useless" in the post-consumption phase has never been so necessary. The red alert has sounded in societies guided by the culture of disposal. A change of habits and processes becomes necessary to save natural resources and preserve our planet. Despite the difficulties, the recycling industry moves millions worldwide and retrieves all kind of materials: plastics, animal remains, glass, aluminum ...
NOTHING IS LOST, EVERYTHING IS TRANSFORMED...
There is no global formula for recycling. The economic and environmental feasibility of reusing raw materials depends on several factors. Aluminum, having high market value, is one of the raw materials most demanded by the recycling industry. Brazil remains the world leader in the recycling of this material, in large part because of poverty. For every kilogram of recycled aluminum, five kilograms of bauxite are spared. Above, young people separating aluminum cans in Micronesia, Oceania.
Rapaz trabalhando em um local de eliminação de resíduos. Filipinas, Sudeste Asiático - 1 de julho, 2002 - Créditos_ Greenpeace _ Kate DavisonMuseu do Amanhã
Collecting garbage in open dumps is still an environmental scourge. In the photo: a boy looking for recyclables in a garbage dump in the Philippines (photo: Kate Davison / Greenpeace).
Plástico para reciclagem, em um centro de recolhimento de material reciclável em Londres, Inglaterra - 1 de janeiro, 1993 - CREDIT_ Amanda Gazidis _ GreenpeaceMuseu do Amanhã
Plastics to be recycled in a recyclable material collection center in London (photo: Amanda Gazidis / Greenpeace).
Crianças aprendem sobre reciclagem na escola em HamburgoMuseu do Amanhã
Children learn about recycling at school in Hamburg, Germany. The country pioneered reverse packaging logistics: the return of the materials in the post-consumption phase to the beginning of the production chain (photo: Boris Rostami / Greenpeace).
Eletrônicos recolhidos durante evento de reciclagem em Virgínia, Estados Unidos - 26 de abril, 2008 - CREDIT_ Greenpeace _ Tim AubryMuseu do Amanhã
Electronics collected for a recycling event in Virginia, United States (photo: Tim Aubry / Greenpeace).
Resíduos de alimentos usados para adubagem no projeto “Revolução dos Baldinhos”. Os moradores da região de Monte Cristo que participam da ação separam seus resíduos em baldes, que depois serãoMuseu do Amanhã
Composting - transforming food waste into a kind of fertilizer - is an alternative to waste. In Santa Catarina, a woman is preparing a composter (photo: Peter Caton / Greenpeace).
Centro de reciclagem de lixo eletrônico na Eslováquia, Europa - 4 de abril, 2007 - CREDIT_ Greenpeace _ Juraj RizmanMuseu do Amanhã
According to the UN, the electronics industry generates up to 41 million tons of electronic waste each year, from goods including computers and cell phones. In the image, a sorting center in Slovakia (photo: Juraj Rizman / Greenpeace).
Glass cullet before recycling. Brazil produces on average 980,000 tons of glass packaging material a year (Photo: Disclosure / Abividro)
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Certain less usual materials can also be reused. The Chaco-Vaco company of Duque de Caxias in the Metropolitan Region of Rio, receives 5,000 tons of scrap wood a month. The material goes to industrial boilers, which have abandoned the unsustainable burning of oil and natural gas. The challenge is still huge because the industry cannot count on a structured biomass reuse market in Brazil yet. In Europe, this market is more structured. Germany's economy gets 29% of the electricity it consumes from renewable sources: solar, water, wind as well as wood and biomass.
Employee collecting wood in the patio floor (2016) by Gustavo Otero | Collection Museum Of TomorrowMuseu do Amanhã
Chaco-Vaco maintains 250 collection points, where it collects wood waste from businesses ranging from large plants to small furniture factories (Photo: Gustavo Otero).
Wood chips in the conveyor belt (2016) by Gustavo Otero | Collection Museum Of TomorrowMuseu do Amanhã
Wood shavings are processed: the material has high calorific potential, but often ends up buried in landfills (Photo: Gustavo Otero).
Warehouse with wood chipper in the background (2016) by Gustavo Otero | Collection Museum Of TomorrowMuseu do Amanhã
Minimizing the use of natural resources, saving energy and raw materials and generation of employment are some of the benefits of wood recycling (Photo: Gustavo Otero).
Sack of ashes (2016) by Gustavo Otero | Collection Museum Of TomorrowMuseu do Amanhã
Ashes from the process of burning wood in industrial recycling furnaces (photo: Gustavo Otero).
Animal Carcasses (2016) by Gustavo Otero | Collection Museum Of TomorrowMuseu do Amanhã
Cattle bones and animal fat are delivered to a recycling plant in Nova Iguaçu, in the Baixada Fluminense (Photo: Gustavo Otero).
Processing of bone meal (2016) by Gustavo Otero | Collection Museum Of TomorrowMuseu do Amanhã
The material is crushed... (Photo: Gustavo Otero)
Soap machine (2016) by Gustavo Otero | Collection Museum Of TomorrowMuseu do Amanhã
... to be transformed into soap (photo: Gustavo Otero).
Employee working in potting soap in paste (2016) by Gustavo Otero | Collection Museum Of TomorrowMuseu do Amanhã
An employee is filling a container with soap. Remains of flesh and bones end up in a nobler place than a garbage dump (Photo: Gustavo Otero).
Museu do Amanhã 2016
Curator: Luiz Alberto Oliveira
Content Director: Alfredo Tolmasquim
Exhibition manager and Tomorrow Observatory: Leonardo Menezes
Editor: Emanuel Alencar
Content writer: Eduardo Carvalho
Trainee: Thais Cerqueira
