Manila's waste scavengers are integrated into the recycling chain

Once part of a hazardous grey economy, the people who pick over rubbish in the Philippine capital are now an organised and recognised force

Every day almost 500 trucks loaded with bags of waste grind up the track to the Payatas landfill site, overlooking Quezon City, the most densely populated municipality in the Manila urban area. Waiting at the top are gangs of scavengers. Each gang, about 10-strong, takes charge of one load, with roughly half an hour to recover anything worth recycling.

Two-way news: City of London's new recycling bins with display screens

News feed, transport information and advertisements to be shown on 100 Renew paper bins rolled out across capital

People receive their news from many sources these days – papers, television, web, mobiles. And now, rubbish bins.

Recyclable materials include many kinds of glass, paper, metal, plastic, textiles, and electronics. Although similar in effect, the composting or other reuse of biodegradable waste—such as food or garden waste—is not typically considered recycling. Materials to be recycled are either brought to a collection center or picked up from the curbside, then sorted, cleaned, and reprocessed into new materials bound for manufacturing

paper recycling plant

Plastic Recycling

Plastic recycling is the process of recovering scrap or waste plastic and reprocessing the material into useful products, sometimes completely different in form from their original state. For instance, this could mean melting down soft drink bottles and then casting them as plastic chairs and tables. Typically a plastic is not recycled into the same type of plastic, and products made from recycled plastics are often not recyclable

Paper Recycling

Paper recycling is the process of turning waste paper into new paper products.

Successful recycling requires clean recovered paper, so you must keep your paper free from 

contaminants, such as food, plastic, metal, and other trash, which make paper diffi cult to recycle. 

Contaminated paper which cannot be recycled must be composted, burned for energy, or landfi lled. 

Recycling centers usually ask that you sort your paper by grade, or type of paper

 Recycling is very important for a cleaner environment.