During the World War II, resources were scarce and Governments ran massive recycling campaigns to ensure as little as possible was wasted. Here are a few examples of what was recycled and for what reason…

- Metal and tine were recycled for use in aircraft, tanks and weapons.

- Left over food provided feed for pigs, chickens and goats and people would bring their scraps to communal bins.

- Rubber was collected to make tires.

- Boiled bones were used to make glue for aircraft or made into glycerin for bombs.

Households were also encouraged to repair belongings as opposed to just buying new ones. Campaigns like ‘Make Do & Mend’ gave advice on how to recycle textiles and patch up their worn out clothes. As a result, knitting soared in popularity around this time.

On war time rations, families had to plan meals carefully so as to minimize wastage. With no fridges or freezers, perishable food had to be purchased in small quantities and substitutes had to be found for foods that were no longer available. Meat fat was saved to make pastry, and even the cream from milk was collected in a jar and shaken to make butter and buttermilk.

It is sad that it took people so long to recognize the importance of recycling, and also that it took such miserable circumstances to bring it to our attention. Nowadays, we know the importance of recycling to preserve the Earth’s resources and to reduce pollution.

However, we are still failing to recycle a lot of items that are recyclable. The reasons for recycling are different now from what they were 60 years ago, but we can still take inspiration from our grandparents.

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Ware 4 Recycling Bins Ltd have been promoting cost effective recycling bins, trolleys and waste containers for over 5 years.

Below are some of the environmental and money saving benefits of recycling paper…

Saves Trees – The most obvious reason to recycle paper is for saving trees which provide vital oxygen for the planet. Just 1 ton of recycled paper saves at least 16 of them.

Wildlife Preservation – Recycling paper helps protect the habitats of beautiful birds, insects and a wide variety of wildlife that lives in those trees.

Cheaper Paper – Everyone likes to save money and recycled paper is often cheaper than ‘new’ paper. Over the course of a life-time, you could save yourself well over a thousand dollars by opting for the recycled versions of the paper products that you regularly buy.

Less Water Consumption – To make ‘new’ paper requires vast amounts of water, whereas the process of recycling paper uses up much less of this important resource.

Saves Electricity – Over 400 kilowatt hours of energy are saved by recycling paper instead of making a fresh 1 ton batch, and that could be used in heating and lighting homes instead.

Reduces Oil Dependence – Oil production has some horrific effects on the environment and any chance to reduce oil consumption should be taken. Saving 2 barrels per ton of recycled paper really makes a difference in the long term.

Less Pollution – Paper can burn in municipal waste incinerators that can spew out all kinds of air pollutants. When many incinerators are in urban locations, everyone would benefit from breathing better air if there were fewer of them.

Creates Jobs – Recycling paper is good for communities. Someone has to actually do all that recycling which means more jobs are created. With the global recession in full swing this is a welcome side effect of recycling paper.

Sets A Precedent – Paper is probably the easiest thing to recycle, so it is a good starting point for those who do not currently recycle at all. Having gotten into the habit of recycling paper, and seeing that it really is not difficult, people are more likely to start recycling other items too.

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This article is brought to you by ‘Paper Log Maker‘. To learn more about them please visit http://www.paperlogmaker.org.uk

Some basic facts – about 100 million gallons of waste cooking oil are disposed of in the US per year. Filtered Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) can be used straight in diesel vehicles with conversion kits, or can be refined into bio-diesel – also usable in vehicles. Bio-diesel refining involves some toxic substances – methanol for example – and reduces the cost differential between conventional and recycled fuel. However it still makes use of a waste product as an alternative to new petroleum consumption. MANY areas of the country have oil gathering services that will gather restaurant or food service WVO on a regular basis and refine it into bio-diesel. Company’s like RecycleMyOil.com provide collection services with restaurants/food service to collect and re-allocate WVO (with or without further refinement) for things like cars,trucks, and even heating units in Garages and Sheds. Over 45 million tons of greenhouse gases are produced every year from the burning of diesel in trucks. The recent fuel prices are cause for resourceful ways to act responsible environmentally speaking and one way, is to use waste vegetable oil as a renewable well of fuel for vehicles. There are so many benefits of using this source to replace fossil fuels and some of these include concentrated air pollution, condensed greenhouse gas emissions, and conservation many other valuable resources found on the planet. There are two ways you can use waste vegetable oil in car engines. The first way is that you can use straight vegetable oil either waste frying oil or fresh- pressed oil, however you will need an extra fuel tank and a system for heating and filtering the oil before it reaches the engine. There is one reason why and that is to heat the oil, in its normal state it is too thick. The other way is to simply convert the vegetable oil into bio-diesel, which can be used in a diesel engine without any modifications. Bio-diesel is a fuel supply made from vegetable oil when a chemical reaction occurs between methanol and lye. You can create it from waste vegetable oil that can be collected from most restaurants, or you can use fresh pressed oil but that can be costly. World wide this is being produced today to be sold on the commercial market, due to the fact that anyone can get the right equipment it can even be made in your home. Some of the toxic air pollutants that are concentrated include soot, particulates, carbon monoxide, and sulphur oxides, however nitrous oxide emissions may increase slightly.