The Recycling Process Recycling was first thought of in 1776 during the War of Independence from England. Americans recycled scrap metal to help fight the war. But it wasn't until 1895 that the first residential waste program in the United States was invented in New York. The chemistry behind recycling is the idea that “everything circulates.” For example, if you set aside a box of cereal and put it in the recycling bin, that box of cereal can be transformed into a package of paper, or a newspaper, or a box of tissues, and the possibilities are endless . The most common household items that are recycled are newspapers and paper towels, aluminum, plastic, glass soft drink containers, steel cans, and plastic laundry detergent bottles. The recycling process can be divided into three stages. The first step is "collection and processing". In this phase we will look for items to recycle, which can be found on pavements, in collection centers, in buyback centers and in deposit/refund centers. These items are then sorted, cleaned and prepared into marketable products for production in a materials recovery facility. In the second phase, the ?production? phase, the recyclable materials are then transformed into new items containing full or partial recycled content. The ?purchase of recycled products? the step is the last one. This step completes the ?circle? of recycling, where consumers but recycled items. The purpose of recycling is to reuse items to reduce...