Chapter 2
Cutting-edge technology in recycling
The United Nations Environment Program defined the environment as a physical and biological exterior where humans and other organisms live, which constitutes a complex whole in itself and whose various components influence each other.

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Recycling is an activity that has been carried out in the biosphere as an inseparable part of biological processes since the beginning of time. A leaf that falls, a tree that burns, an animal that dies, and, in general, all the events that happen in nature end up becoming part of the biochemical, physical, or geological processes that maintain the balance and sustainability of ecosystems.
For this reason, it is very challenging to define a moment in which recycling "begins" however, with the passage of time and thanks to man, recycling ceases to be a biological process, as processed elements being introduced using "artificial" techniques and methods that are not easy to integrate into the natural cycles of the biosphere.
The first example of recycling is 400 years B.C., archaeological studies have shown that much of the garbage generated in households was recycled to make other utensils when raw material resources were scarce. In 1690 A.D., recycling was first introduced into the manufacturing industry in the U.S. in the historic town of Rittenhouse Mill, near Philadelphia, paper fiber was made from recycled cotton and linen rags and cloth. It was not until the Industrial Revolution (19th century) that man was able to counteract the harmful effects of garbage on nature. This period became the "golden age of recycling". But at the beginning of the 20th century, the "throwaway consumer boom" arrived, with single- use products and packaging, which generated an excessive accumulation of garbage in landfills.

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Soon after, due to the pollution problem generated by landfills, people understood the importance of recycling, even before the green movement became popular. This was the seed for future organized recycling programs that began to emerge all over the world. It was not until the 1960s that the environmental movement began, and it was during this period that Rachel Carson's work on recycling began to take off.

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Rachel Carson was an American marine biologist, writer, and conservationist whose influential book Silent Spring (1962) and other writings get attributed to the advancement of the global environmental movement. She was born in a small rural Pennsylvania community near the Allegheny River, where she spent a great deal of time exploring the forests and streams around her 65-acre farm. As a young child, Carson's consuming passions were the nature surrounding her hillside home and her writing. She studies Biologie at the Pennsylvania College for Women. She also was awarded a scholarship to complete her graduate work in biology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Silent Spring The book described the harmful effects of pesticides on the environment and is widely credited with helping launch the environmental movement. Carson was not the first or the only person to raise concerns about DDT, but her combination of "scientific knowledge and poetic writing" reached a broad audience and helped to focus opposition to DDT use, and to get interested in the environment.
Currently, there are many recycling projects, among which are recycled paper, glass, textiles, organic waste, batteries, metals, among others. However, we know that one of the biggest problems for the environment is plastic.

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Currently, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is one of the plastic packaging materials whose consumption has increased the most. PET takes a long time to degrade, there will be more and more containers, and their degradation is becoming more and more complex. These will directly affect the presentation of natural spaces, and scientists also assure that those plastics that are carried by rain currents will end up in rivers and some others in the sea, where they will also release their chemical components, affecting the health and stability of the most vulnerable species. The reduction in manufacturing costs and the development of technologies that substantially improve the properties of PET bottles have allowed a remarkable growth in the number of their applications. Mostly used in beverage containers, carbonated beverages, canned food, cosmetics, chemicals, detergents, and pharmaceuticals, among others.

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In the country in 2012, 1 406 million bottles were produced, of which 511 million were recovered from bottlers and 624 million from collection centers and recyclers, achieving a total collection of 1,136 million PET.

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Intelligent systems are complex systems capable of solving programmed and multidisciplinary actions automatically, reducing time for users, and facilitating an effective way of carrying out the pre-destined action. With the advance of technology, they are becoming more and more efficient.
Thanks to technological advances, a project has been created to reduce the reduction of the impact rate on the environment with recycling, facilitating this task to society, this promotes a culture of recycling for society, with the help of coordinated technologies, programmed and configured in the system. This system improves environmental health in urban and rural areas, making effective the development of the "OPEN BOT" recycling system project. The developed system has a configuration to capture and dispense incentives (gift to the user) for the action of recycling. The system evaluates parameters such as: if it is a PET container, the user is registered, there is still space in the container and the user has credits available to claim the incentive.

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The project developed has quality materials for outdoor operation, as it contains materials such as stainless steel that is adaptable to high humidity climates, managing to hold around 350 PET containers inside, optimally fulfilling its purpose of managing solid waste to be subsequently treated.

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In Spain, 1.3 billion tonnes of solid urban waste are generated every year, and this is increasing, with an obvious consequence: the costs of collecting it are also rising. The agency predicts that it will soar by 83%, $375 billion by 2025. One alternative to counteract this effect is the manufacture of smart bins or trash garbage cans that can save up to 40% in prices, Compology says. These detect trash levels in the garbage cans and notify waste disposal trucks when it is time to pick them up.
Recycling in Spain increased 42% during 2019 over the previous year, with a total of 57,520 tons managed. Smart recycling garbage cans or systems are set up to offer something for recycling, the most frequent being $0.02 per container, although we can also find some that offer tickets and tickets.
It has been found that in many places where smart recycling systems are not implemented, but simple containers, users choose not to use or ignore these recycling methods for various reasons such as: it does not attract their attention, they do not feel motivated to do it, they do not know where the container goes, or they do not benefit from it.

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Today we know that recycling is very important, without it our planet will eventually die, so we must do everything in our power to promote it and help everyone to be included in this process, and new technologies are a great support to achieve this goal.

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