Text 1. THE BASICS OF RECYCLING

Recycling is the process of returning materials to their raw components and then using these again to supplement or replace new materials in the manufacture of a new product. Recycling allows us to conserve our precious natural resources and energy, contributes to a reduction in pollution and eliminates the negative environmental impact of alternative waste disposal (удаление отходов,the collection, processing, and recycling or deposition of the waste materials) methods such as landfilling (закапывание отходов.burying in a landfill) and incineration. (сжигание отходов,waste destruction in a furnace) It helps to preserve treasured wildlife habitats (среда обитания,the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism) and vital ecosystems.

A brief history of recycling

The virtue of recycling has been appreciated for centuries. For thousands of years metal items have been recycled by melting and reforming them into new weapons or tools. During the industrial revolution, recyclers began to form businesses and later trade associations, dealing in the collection, trade and processing of metals and paper. In the 1930s many people survived the Great Depression by peddling (торговать, разменивать) scraps of metal, rags and other items. In those days reuse and recycling were often economic necessities. Recycling also played an important role during the Second World War, when scrap metal (металлический лом) was turned into weapons.

As industrial societies began to produce ever-growing quantities of garbage, recycling took on a new meaning. Rather than recycling materials for purely economic reasons, communities began to think about how to reduce the waste flow to landfills and incinerators. Around 1970 the environmental movement sparked the creation of the first curbside collection schemes, though it was another 20 years before such programmes really took off.

Steps to Recycling Materials

Recycling includes three steps which create a continuous loop (петля, виток) represented by the familiar recycling symbol.

Step 1: Collection

A number of different methods have been implemented to collect recyclates (вторичное сырье,material that is recyclable) from the general waste stream. They include "drop-off centers," "buy-back centers (пункт скупки утильсырья)" and "curbside collection."

Recycling drop-off-centers (места временного хранения отходов,method of collecting recyclable or compostible materials in which materials are taken by individuals to collection sites and deposited into designated containers) are situated at specific locations around a community (сообщество, населенный пункт, a group of people living in the same place) and supplied with large containers, usually “igloos”, trailers or large waste bins, clearly marked for the kind of materials they accept. Such sites can be run by a public body, privately, or by some combination of the two. The location for a drop-off center must be convenient for the public. The less people have to go out of their way to recycle, the more successful the program will be.

A buy-back center (пункт скупки утильсырья, facility where individuals bring recyclables in exchange for payment) is a place where the public can take recyclables and be paid for them. A buy-back center will probably require all recyclables to be separated and insist that all contaminants be removed.

Curbside collection (сбор вторсырья из мусорных баков у дороги, program where recyclable materials are collected at the curb, often from special containers, to be taken to various processing facilities) of recyclable materials is the most effective method of residential recycling because it is the most convenient for consumers. In a typical curbside program recyclables are picked up just like the regular household garbage (хозяйственный мусор): in their own containers at the curb. Residents typically separate their solid waste (твердые отходы, any garbage, refuse or sludge from anyindustrial, commercial, mining or community activities) into aluminum, glass, plastic and paper and have a container for each at the curb.

 It should be mentioned though that the trend now is toward the so-called “single stream” collection (recycling refers to a system in which all paper fibers, plastics, metals, and other containers are mixed in acollection truck, instead of being sorted). In fact, the switch towards single-stream collection is being driven by new technologies that can identify and sort the various materials with little or no human intervention. Single-stream collection makes it more convenient for householders to recycle, and means that more materials are diverted (переадресован, направлен к-л) from the waste stream.

Step 2: Manufacturing

After collection recyclables are sent to a recovery facility (средство спасения) to be sorted, cleaned, and processed (обработанный, refined) into materials that can be used in manufacturing.

Here’s how it works.

The process begins when a truck arrives and dumps its load of recyclables at one end of the building. The materials are then piled on to large conveyer belts (конвейерные ленты, a continuous moving band of fabric, rubber, or metal used for moving objects from one place to another) that transport them to a manual sorting station (ручная сортировочная станция). There, workers sift through everything, taking out plastic bags, large pieces of cardboard and other items that could damage or obstruct (препятствовать) the sorting machines. Corrugated cardboard (рифленый картон) is separated from mixed paper, both of which are then baled (укладывать в тюки) and sold. Plastic bottles and cartons are plucked out (выковыривать, вытаскивать) by hand.

Next, a magnet pulls out any ferrous metals (черные металлы), typically tin-plated or steel cans, while the non-ferrous metals, mostly aluminium cans, are ejected (выброшенный)by eddy current (вихревое движение).

Finally, the glass is separated by hand into clear, brown, amber and green glass. For each load, the entire sorting process from start to finish takes about an hour.

For many materials the process of turning them back into useful raw materials is straightforward (простой, uncomplicated and easy to do or understand): metals are shredded into pieces, paper is reduced to pulp (бесформенная масса, кашица, a soft, wet, shapeless mass of material) and glass is crushed into cullet (стеклобой, recycled broken or waste glass used in glassmaking). Metals and glass can be remelted almost indefinitely without any loss in quality, while paper can be recycled up to six times. (As it goes through the process, its fibres get shorter and the quality deteriorates (ухудшаться).)

Plastics, which are made from fossil fuels (ископаемое топливо, a natural fuel such as coal or gas), are somewhat different. Although they have many useful properties—they are flexible, lightweight and can be shaped into any form—there are many different types, most of which need to be processed separately. Even so, plastics are being used more and more, not just for packaging, but also in consumer goods such as cars, televisions and personal computers.

Step 3: Purchasing

By buying new products made from recycled materials you help close the recycling loop. Here are some of the terms used:

Recycled-content product (). This means the product was manufactured with recycled materials, either collected from a recycling program or from waste recovered during the normal manufacturing process. Sometimes the label will tell you how much of the content was from recycled materials.

Postconsumer content  (). This is very similar to recycled content, but the material comes only from recyclables collected from consumers or businesses through a recycling program.

Recyclable product (). These are products that can be collected, processed and manufactured into new products after they have been used.

The rhetoric () surrounding the two current alternatives to recycling – landfills and incinerators – is filled with contradictions. Proponents of both of these disposal methods proclaim their safety and efficiency (эффективность, the state or quality of being efficient), while environmental groups and independent researchers regularly dispute such claims (опаривать такие заявления, argue about (something); discuss heatedly). Amid all this confusion recycling seems to be an ideal choice.

Even so, most curbside recycling (сбор отходов при помощи контейнеров, установленных на обочинах дорог) programmes are not financially self-sustaining. The cost of collecting, transporting and sorting materials generally exceeds the revenues generated by selling the recyclables, and is also greater than the disposal costs (стимость утилизации). Much recyclable material can be processed locally, but ever more is being shipped to developing nations, especially China. The country has a large appetite for raw materials and that includes scrap metals (металлолом, any metal material discarded from manufacturing operations and usually suitable for reprocessing), waste paper (макулатура, paper discarded after use) and plastics, all of which can be cheaper than virgin materials. In most cases, these waste materials are recycled into consumer goods(потребительские товары) or packaging and returned to Europe and America via container ships.

Fun Recycling Facts

• An aluminum can that is thrown away will still be a can 500 years from now.

• Recycling one aluminum can save enough energy to listen to a full album on your iPod. Recycling 100 cans could light your bedroom for two whole weeks.

• Your ID card will last approximately 450-650 years.

• One-third of the water used in most homes is flushed down the toilet.

• If you had a 15-year-old tree and made it into paper grocery bags, you'd get about 700 of them. A supermarket could use all of them in under an hour!

2. Paraphrase the underlined words and word-combinations and translate them into Russian.

3. Draw a scheme of a recycling process based on the text. Then using your partner’s scheme speak about the process.

4. Work in pairs and discuss the pros and cons of recycling. Elaborate on the following arguments if you wish.

Text 2

1. Read the title of the text. What do you think it’s going to be about? What is the author’s attitude to the topic? Now read the whole text. Were your predictions correct?