Gallery: Trash Is Ugly, But Recycling Is Downright Beautiful

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    Paul Bulteel
    01

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    Industrial polyurethane residues and handling fleece trim will be shredded for reused in everything from protective packaging, acoustic insulation, dairy mats, and shock pads.
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    Paul Bulteel
    02

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    Green glass shards await to be melted in a glass factory to make bottles for the beverage industry. They were collected from households and industrial companies by a specialized glass sorting and recycling company.
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    Paul Bulteel
    03

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    Compressed beverage cartons made of cardboard, polyethylene, and aluminum sit in a specialized paper factory. During the recycling process, each material is isolated. The cardboard is made into paper products like paper towels and toilet paper. The aluminum and PET are sent elsewhere for recycling.
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    Paul Bulteel
    04

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    Specialized companies inspect used tires and prepare them for the second-hand market.
  • Recovered pyrocables to be used in critical installations—to protect pipes from freezing and to maintain the temperature...
    Paul Bulteel
    05

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    Recovered pyro-cables to be used in critical installations—to protect pipes from freezing and to maintain the temperature of process piping and vessels.
  • Image may contain Rubble Slate Nature Outdoors and Slope
    Paul Bulteel
    06

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    Radiators from scrapped cars contain copper and other metals. They are separated in a pyro-metallurgical process to be reused. The cinders that result from the process are reused to stabilize concrete in road construction, among other things.
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    Paul Bulteel
    07

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    Scraps of aluminum are compressed into large blocks laced with golden lacquer used for beer can packaging. At a recycling smelter, the lacquer is burned and the molten aluminum is recast into new blocks that can be used to make new cans.
  • Image may contain Rubble and Demolition
    Paul Bulteel
    08

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    Recovered circuit boards are shredded, then melted in an oven. Through special pyro-and hydro-metallurgical processes, precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and rhodium, as well as lead, copper, antimony, tin, bismuth, nickel, indium, selenium, and tellurium, are recovered.
  • Image may contain Trash
    Paul Bulteel
    09

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    Automobiles wait to be shredded. The metal will be used to make new steel.
  • Used windshields wait to be recycled. The process involves separating the glass from the plastic laminate layer that...
    Paul Bulteel
    10

    Paul-Bulteel-029.jpg

    Used windshields wait to be recycled. The process involves separating the glass from the plastic laminate layer that keeps the windshield from shattering. The processed glass can be used to make new windshields, while the metal is recycled in the metal industry and the plastic is reused in roofing and carpet glues.
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    Paul Bulteel
    11

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    Tinned copper wire from copper-wire producers used in electrical motors.
  • Image may contain Trash and Pollution
    Paul Bulteel
    12

    Paul-Bulteel-059.jpg

    Old cellphones are shredded, then melted in an oven. Metals are extracted for reuse. Thirty-five thousand mobile phones will yield approximately one kilogram of gold, five kilograms of silver, 150 grams of palladium, and 350 kilograms of copper.
  • Image may contain Road Gravel Dirt Road Nature Outdoors Bush Vegetation Plant Bunker and Building
    Paul Bulteel
    13

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    Decorative and process glass made from recycled flat glass. They will be used to make transparent glass bottles or architectural flat glass.
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    Paul Bulteel
    14

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    Organic waste from food, gardens, and diapers are collected from households and companies. They are mixed with an inoculum to increase aeration, and the compost is sieved. It will be used as compost in the agricultural sector.
  • Image may contain Rubble
    Paul Bulteel
    15

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    Plasterboard waste from building demolition and residue from plasterboard production will be recycled to make new plasterboard.
  • Image may contain Coal
    Paul Bulteel
    16

    Paul-Bulteel-061.jpg

    Metal fraction magnetically recovered from the cinders of a fluidized bed oven. The metal will be used to make steel.
  • Image may contain Building Factory Human Person Banister and Handrail
    Paul Bulteel
    17

    Paul-Bulteel-093.jpg

    In this dismantling facility, refrigerators are dismantled to separate their various parts for recycling.
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