THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Recycling transforms used materials that would otherwise simply be

waste into very valuable resources. The collection of used bottles, cans,
newspapers, etc. are reusable and from there to take them to a facility or
pickup point, may be the first step towards a series of generating steps
a large amount of financial, environmental resources and of course benefits
social. Some of these benefits accumulate both at the local level and at the
worldwide.

Why recycle paper? Because paper and cardboard products

they represent the majority of our solid waste flow (i.e., garbage).
In 2010, paper and cardboard products accounted for nearly 71 million
tons (or 29%) of all materials in the municipal waste center.
In that same year, almost 63% (or nearly 45 million tons) have been recycled.
of all the paper that Americans have used.

Through the centuries, paper has been made from a great variety of materials.
like cotton, wheat straw, sugarcane residues, linen, bamboo,
wood, linen and hemp rags. Regardless of the source used, it
it needs fiber to make paper. Nowadays, the fiber mainly comes from
two sources: wood and recycled paper products.

WHAT IS RECYCLING?

For the general public, recycling is the process by which products

waste is reused again. However, collection is only the
beginning of the recycling process.

A fairly accurate definition tells us that recycling is any 'process

where waste materials are collected and transformed into new ones
materials that can be used or sold as new products or
raw materials.

Another definition can be the following: 'It is a process that aims to'
recovery, directly or indirectly, of the components that contain
urban waste

What can be recycled?

Practically 90% of household waste is recyclable, which is why it is important.

that we separate the trash in our house and deposit it in the containers
suitable. There are containers for paper and cardboard, organic materials, glass,
tin, aluminum cans, tinplate cans, etc.
The objectives of recycling are the following:

Energy conservation or savings.

Conservation or saving of natural resources.
Reduction of the volume of waste that needs to be disposed of.
Environmental protection.

Recycling allows:

Save resources
Reduce pollution.
Extend the life of materials even if it is with different uses.
Save energy.
Avoid deforestation.
Reduce the space occupied by waste by 80% by turning into
trash.
Help make garbage collection easier.
Try not to produce tons of garbage daily that end up
buried in landfills.
To live in a cleaner world.

WHAT IS RECYCLING?

Separate paper, aluminum, plastic, glass, and organic matter to be

reused.
Save resources.
Reduce pollution.
Extend the life of materials even if it is with different uses.
Reduce the space occupied by waste by 80% by turning into
garbage.
Try not to produce the 90 million tons of waste that each of
we accumulate in our life and inherit to our children.
Decrease the payment of taxes for garbage collection.
Give two minutes of your day to live in a cleaner world.

Paper recycling

Paper recycling is the process of recoveringpaperalready used for

transform it into new paper products. There are three categories of paper that
can be used asraw materialfor recycled paper: ground, waste of
pre-consumption and post-consumption waste.1The ground paper is made of scraps and pieces.
originating from paper manufacturing, and are recycled internally in a
paper factory. Pre-consumer waste is material that has already passed
by the paper factory, and that have been rejected before being ready
for consumption. Post-consumption waste are paper materials already
used that the consumer rejects, such as old onesmagazinesonewspapers,
office supplies, phone directories, etc. The paper that is considered suitable
for recycling it is called 'paper waste'

Reasons to recycle

The paper industry has an impact on the environment, both with the
preliminary activities (where raw materials are acquired and processed), such as
in the subsequent (impact of waste elimination). The recycling of paper
reduce this impact. Currently, 90% of the paper pulp is made
with wood. Paper production accounts for approximately 35% of
felled trees, assuming 1.2% of the world's production volume
total.11

Recycling a ton of newspaper saves approximately one

ton of wood, while recycling a ton of printed paper or
copies save more than two tons of wood. This is because the
pasta manufacturing requires double the wood to remove lignin and produce
higher quality fibers than with mechanical manufacturing processes. The
relationship between recycled paper tons and the number of trees saved
it is not trivial, given that the size of trees varies enormously and is the factor
principal in the amount of paper that can be obtained from a certain
number of them.

Most paper pulp manufacturers carry out reforestation.

to ensure a continuous supply of paper. In Canada, the Program for
the Approval of Forest Certification (PEFC in English) and the Management Council
Forestry (FSC) certifies that the paper made from felled trees meets the
action guidelines, ensuring good forestry practices. It is estimated that
Recycling half of the world's paper would prevent the logging of 20 million hectares.
(81,000 km²) forests.

In summary, some reasons to recycle paper are the savings of:

17 adult trees.

2.5 cubic meters of waste.

27,000 liters of water.

1440 liters of oil.

4100 kilowatt-hours (14.700 megajoules) of energy.

27 kilograms of pollutants.

For each ton of recycled paper, compared to the production of that

same ton of virgin paper.14
[edit]Energy

Energy consumption is reduced by recycling, although there is debate about the

real energy savings. The Energy Information Administration
it states that energy is reduced by 40% when paper is recycled with
regarding when it is manufactured with non-recycled paste, 15 while the Office
Bureau of International Recycling (BIR in English)
it claims that the reduction is 64%.

Paper factory.

Some calculations show that recycling a ton of newspaper saves

up to 4,000 kWh of electricity, although this calculation could be too much
high, since it is quite a lot of electricity to supply a European house
of three rooms for a whole year, or enough to heat and cool
for air conditioning an average house in the United States for almost six
months17

Recycling for paper production could actually consume more fuel than if
new paper pulp is manufactured directly; however, these plants for
recycling receives all its energy from burning waste wood (bark of
trees, roots), and by-products of lignin.18 The paper mills that
they produce new pasta using mechanical procedures with high
amounts of energy; a rough estimate of electrical energy
required is 10 gigajoules per ton of pulp, which normally comes from
hydroelectric plants. Recycling plants acquire most of
its energy from energy companies, and since they are usually located in urban areas,
it is as if electricity were generated by the burning of fuels
fossils.

Compactor in an Australian landfill.

[edit] Use of landfills

In the United States, about 35% of urban solid waste (before the
recycling) in terms of weight, they are paper or paper products.19 Recycling a
A ton of newspaper saves three cubic meters of waste.
incineration of used paper is normally preferred over
from the landfill, as this way useful energy is generated. The materials
organic materials, including paper, decompose in landfills, although in
sometimes they do it slowly and releasing methane, a potent gas of
greenhouse effect. Many large landfills collect this methane to
use it as biogas fuel. In highly urbanized areas, such as those of the
most of Europe and the northeast of the United States, the suitable extensions
landfills are scarce and must be used with caution, although
Fortunately, it is in these areas where used paper collection is
also more efficient since it creates more jobs and saves space in others
landfills.

Water and air pollution

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) discovered

recycling causes 35% less water pollution and 74% less
air pollution than when making virgin paper. The paper mills
they can be sources of both types of pollution, especially if they are
producing bleached paper pulp, although modern factories produce
a considerably lower contamination than that of a few decades ago.
Recycling paper decreases the demand for virgin paper and therefore reduces the
total amount of pollution associated with paper manufacturing. The
recycled paper can be bleached with the same chemicals that are
are used to bleach virgin paper, although hydrogen peroxide and the
sodium hydrosulfite is the most common bleaching agent of any
mode. Recycled paper, or paper derived from it, is known as LPC, free of
chlorinated processes, in case chlorinated products have not been used
during the recycling process.

Criticism of recycling

Some of the already mentioned benefits of paper recycling have been

harshly criticized, such as the fact that it avoids deforestation, saves
energy, reduce pollution, create jobs or be more economical.

Energy saving

There is controversy over how much energy is saved through recycling. The
United States Energy Information Administration (EIA) claims
on its website that "a paper recycling plant uses 40% less
energy to produce recycled paper than the one used when the raw material
it is wood22 ". Critics, on the contrary, argue that during the
the global process can consume more energy in producing recycled goods than
when they are manufactured using traditional methods. In 2008, a report from
The Institute of Mechanical Engineers of the United Kingdom was wondering:

Is recycling always the best option? Not if there is no demand for the materials.
recycled. Not if more energy is used and more greenhouse gases are emitted
greenhouse during the recycling process of those that would be emitted to
manufacture a new product. Not if we really don't recycle, but rather
we classify the waste into piles of different materials and send them to
foreigners, without controlling what happens to them afterwards

Economic savings

The amount of money actually saved by recycling depends on the

efficiency of the recycling program used for it. The institute for the
Local Independence, in the United States, states that the cost of recycling
it depends on various factors surrounding the recycling community, such as what
they charge for landfills and the amount of waste the community recycles.
It claims that communities start saving money when recycling is
substitute for the traditional waste disposal system, more than when it
they add to the usual elimination.

In a 1996 article in the New York Times, John Tierney argued that it is difficult
more money recycling the garbage from New York than disposing of it in a landfill.
Tierney argued that the recycling process employs additional people for that purpose.
task, in addition to employees for classifying and inspecting, and of the rates that are
they must pay, thus summarizing that the costs of the process to manufacture the
Final product costs are often higher than the benefits from their sales.

Working conditions

Critics often argue that while recycling creates jobs,

They are often jobs with low pay and poor working conditions.
deplorable. Sometimes, these workers perform a job that does not
It manages to produce what the company spends on its salaries.

Tree felling

The economist Steven Landsburg, author of the piece titled 'Why I'm Not a'
"environmentalist" asserts that paper recycling actually reduces the
forest population. This is asserted by the fact that paper companies have
with incentives to reforest the forests themselves; a high demand
paper helps maintain large forests. On the contrary, a small
demand for paper takes us to more mature forests. 27 Similar arguments
expressed in a 1995 article in favor of the free market.

When logging companies cut down trees, others are planted in their place.
Most of the paper comes from forests that are specifically maintained for
the production of paper. Many environmental advocates point out, without
embargo, that these "farm" forests are worse than virgin forests in
many aspects. Farm forests cannot repair the soil as quickly
like the virgins, causing soil erosion and therefore of the forests, and
often needing fertilizers to maintain itself, in addition to containing
less biodiversity than in the virgins.31 In addition, the new trees
The planted ones are not the same size as the trees that were cut down.
Paper recycling should not be confused with saving the rainforest. Much
people have the false concept that making paper is what is causing the
deforestation of tropical forests, but rarely is this type of wood
used for that purpose. Deforestation occurs mainly due to pressure
demographic, which demands more land for agriculture and construction. For
So, paper recycling, although it reduces the demand for trees, does not benefit
the tropical forests.

[edit] The press paper

There are limits on the percentage of global newsprint that can

manufactured from recycled fiber. The most obvious upper limit is that of the
own nature of recycling. Some of the fibers that enter a plant of
recycling is lost during the process, due to the inherent inefficiencies of the
same. According to the website of Friends of the Earth UK, the fiber
Wood can only be recycled five times, due to the damage it suffers during the process.
recyclings. Thus, a certain amount of virgin, new fiber is required.
every year, even if a recycling plant continues to use 100% paper
recycling. In addition, some old newspapers will never reach a plant for
recycling, acquiring a large number of household and industrial utilities,
or even ending up in the landfill.

Recycling rates vary by country, and even within the same countries.
vary between rural and urban areas, as well as within the same cities. The
American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA)
it is estimated that more than 72% of the newsprint produced in North America
In 2006, it was recovered for reuse or export. Of the percentage
reused, the AFPA estimates that about a third returns to manufacturing of
paper. Recycling rates can also vary depending on the price paid for it.
market for paper, which can be variable. For example, in the last
years, as China grows as a manufacturer of various types of paper and
packaging (using significant amounts of imported recycled fiber,
among others, from the United States), their demand for old newspapers has been in
occasions so strong that it has influenced the purchase prices of fiber
recycled around the world. Although a high price for recycled fiber is a
good news for that goal of reducing the quantities of products in
Landfill, the benefits of newspaper paper mills can be affected.
that use recycled fibers.

An important consideration in the selection of fiber for factories

newspaper paper, apart from the costs, is the high speed of modern ones
machines and presses they have. There are machines in the United States
operating at speeds approaching 1,400 meters per minute, according to
the information of the RISI inc. group, while the most advanced machines of
worldwide, including some installed in China, can reach speeds of
1,800 meters per minute. The newest presses can run at speeds
90,000 copies per hour (according to the industrial association)

A factory is a physical or virtual place where an object, material, or

service. Normally, the word 'factory' is associated with a physical place where it
raw materials are processed, but in the modern economy it also extends to
concept to the virtual places where services are generated, by extension of
process of transforming ideas into useful services, such as software or
training.

SIGNIFICANT LEARNING ACTIVITIES

The way of learning is changing. The new information technologies and

Communication has provided us with new ways of learning.
Today there is consensus in asserting that the school must have four characteristics.
basic: it must be entertaining, participatory, free, and it must also respond to
the needs and expectations of the students towards their parents, and the demands
of society. To respond to these challenges, teachers have to make a
permanent review and renewal of their work, in order to guide their students/
wonderful to learn, build your personality and seek the means for your
personal development and that of your community. For this, a large dose of
imagination, creativity, and love for the children and young people who have been
confident. But, how to work in a way that our work achieves what we
we propose?. One alternative, among others, is the planning of our
doing through meaningful learning activities, or activities of
meaningful learning as many know it. In order to shed light on
regarding we expose, on this occasion, the most important concepts about
programming, activities, meaningful moments and strategies of
learning. The activities that arise from the constructivist approach, in the
how the student builds their knowledge and can apply it to new situations
situations. The general structure of meaningful learning activities
understand the following aspects, whose concepts are explained below