WO1996031296A1

WO1996031296A1 - Method of waste recycling

Info

Publication number: WO1996031296A1
Application number: PCT/US1996/003956
Authority: WO
Inventors: John R. Hulls
Original assignee: Altamont, Inc.
Priority date: 1995-04-05
Filing date: 1996-03-22
Publication date: 1996-10-10
Also published as: AU5428296A

Abstract

A method of recycling employs a plurality of bags (1-3) for containing and transporting recyclables that can survive the compaction process without breaking and mixing their contents. The inventive method comprises the steps of: compacting (6) recyclables that have been segregated into bags; transporting the bags to a transfer station (7); and separating the bags into groups (8-10) of material containing like classifications. Thereafter, the classified recyclable material is either recycled into reusable material or transported to storage or to a recycling plant where the material is recycled into reusable material. The method may include the preliminary step of separating the recyclables into a plurality of bags prior to placing the bags into a compactor vehicle (66) or, as an interim step, into a garbage container (44), with or without other non-recyclable waste material (55). The separating may be done by visually perceptible coding on the bags, or by scanning means.

Description

IN THE UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE APPLICATION FOR PATENT

METHOD OF HASTE RECYCLING

Inventor: John R. Hulls

Cross-Reference to Related Application

This is a continuation-in-part of Application Serial No. 344,814, filed November 23, 1994.

Background of the Invention

Currently, recycling programs are being politically mandated as environmentally sound. Much recyclable waste, such as household waste products, is being collected. Some comes from single-family homes. Other waste, a significant amount of about forty-two percent, is being generated in high-rise buildings.

The most basic form of recycling involves separa¬ tion of recyclables from non-recyclables at a transfer station. Recyclables may be metal, glass, plastic, paper, or other materials that can be reused. Typi¬ cally, the homeowner or high-rise dweller just throws the recyclable mixed with other organic material, etc. into a garbage can or chute (high-rise). The contents of the garbage can are then loaded into a garbage truck, usually with compaction capability. In the high-rise building, the garbage may be collected in large bins, which are then loaded into the compaction truck. The compacted waste, including both recyclables and non- recyclables, is then transported to a transfer station. At the transfer station, the trucks are unloaded and the waste, including recyclables, is spread out for sorting. By various means, the recyclables are removed, categorized, and placed into intermediate storage areas or bins. For example, aluminum, which currently is in the greatest demand, is placed in one storage location. Other metals are placed in another location. Glass is placed in another location, and plastic is placed in yet another. Paper is placed in another location. What remains of the waste after removal of recyclables is then loaded onto transfer vehicles, such as on-highway trucks, for transport to landfill facilities. Alterna¬ tively, trains may be used to transport the waste, where longer distances to the landfill are involved.

A problem with the just-described system is that the recyclables are contaminated by the other components of the raw garbage. This may lower the value of the recyclables, as some must be discarded, and others cleaned prior to re-use.

Another problem is that of high cost. This cost is both in terms of labor and equipment. Complex equipment is needed to sort the recyclables from the rest of the waste. Such equipment may include electromagnetic means for separating the ferrous metal from non-ferrous metal, such as aluminum. Regardless of the amount of equipment used, expensive hand labor ultimately must be resorted to for a portion of the recyclables.

Still another problem is that of the working environment for the hand labor. At the very best, it is unpleasant. At worst, it can be hazardous to worker health and well-being.

In an attempt to ameliorate some of these problems, advances in recycling have been made. One such advance is the so-called "Blue Bag" program that has been used in Pittsburgh and other United States East Coast cities. With this system, the consumer places the recyclable item in a separate plastic bag of a blue color. The bags are very thick and the recyclables can only be com- pacted to about a 2:1 ratio, as opposed to about the 6:1 that can be achieved with conventional garbage com¬ paction trucks. This system has a cost disadvantage, since more trucks or runs are needed for pickup than with other systems. Also, it is easy for operators to overcompact, which results in breaking of the bags and consequent undesired mixing of the contents with the raw garbage, thus destroying or substantially reducing its value as a recyclable.

With this system, the Blue Bags are all opened at the transfer station and the recyclable material con¬ tained therein is sorted. The Blue Bags do not bear any indicia for further storage or routing, nor are the bags further stored or routed.

A variation of this system was used in Omaha, Nebraska until recently. With the Omaha system, a thick-walled polyethylene Blue Bag was used to contain all recyclables. Rather than putting the bag in the garbage can, it was separately put in the compactor vehicle, taken to a transfer station, slit open and sorted. Again, there was no indicia for further storage or routing. The Omaha system is being abandoned in favor of a box system similar to that described immediately below.

Another such advance is to provide the consumer with several containers in the form of boxes in addition to the normal garbage can or bin so that the customer may do the initial separation and classification of the recyclables. One such system provides three stacking box containers of plastic material. These are for: (1) aluminum and plastic; (2) glass; and (3) paper (e.g., newspaper). With this system, a special collection truck having three bins on a side arrives before or follows after the normal garbage truck. The individual boxes are hand-dumped into the appropriate bin on the side of the recyclable collection truck, and the truck driven to a transfer station where it is unloaded into appropriate storage bins or areas as with the previous system.

This advanced system, which is coming into increas- ing use, has its problems. It is still costly. Now a second truck is required, which essentially doubles the vehicles and personnel required for collection from the customer.

The system is also inefficient in that most recyclable collection trucks do not have compactor capability for reasons of cost and weight. Thus, recyclable collection trucks are less densely loaded than normal garbage compactor vehicles.

It may also be less convenient to the customer where the boxes are required to be taken out to the curb, rather than being picked up at the side or back of the customer's house, as with some waste pickup systems. As with anything placed at the curb, the boxes may invite theft or vandalism. Theft of the valuable recyclables, such as aluminum, can severely negatively impact the economics of recycling programs. The initial negative economic impact is on the collection company. This later transfers through to the customer, in that the loss is reflected in higher garbage collection bills.

Aesthetically, the boxes at the curb are considered unsightly by some. They must also be placed at the curb on the appropriate day and retrieved after the collec¬ tion truck has passed. If the homeowner plans to be away, the boxes may have to be put out a day or more early, or the pickup simply missed. If missed, more than one collection period worth of recyclables will have to be stored by the customer until the next pickup. All of these problems make the customer less likely to be a willing participant in recycling. Still another problem being encountered with any recycling system is selling the collected recyclables. There may, in fact, be no spot market for certain recyclables at a given time, or the spot market price may be too low to be economic. This gives rise to the need to be able to store classified recyclables until the market can achieve a high enough price that selling the recyclables makes economic sense.

It may well be that some kinds of recyclable material will never demand an economic price. In this case, the particular recyclable may never be used, but rather just disposed of.

This points out another problem of current recycling systems. With current systems, a great deal of cost goes into the recyclable material prior to storage, which may never be recovered. A frequent prob¬ lem, especially with glass, is the high cost to collect and sort the material, when done in the conventional manner. The front-end costs to collect, sort, transport and store may be so high that it will never be economically feasible to use this material. Neverthe¬ less, those costs are expended in the hope that there will be a demand later and that the price will be sufficiently high to cover the "sunk" costs. Another problem with current systems is that they are not responsive to recipient or user needs. For instance, manufacturers of plastic bottles may want a particular kind of recycled plastic, but not another. Therefore, systems that deliver broadly plastic material require further costly sorting before they are usable by the plastics manufacturer. It is thus desirable to have a system that allows for feedback to the originator of the recyclables, such as the homeowner, so that they can change and adapt their sorting and classification to the end user or recipient's needs. Current systems fail in that they do not modify human behavior to purchase products for which there is a market for the recyclable component of those products. It is really a two-fold problem. Container manufacturers can be persuaded to produce containers that are recyclable, if consumers do not buy products in non-recyclable containers. Consu¬ mers, on the other hand, can be persuaded to buy products in recyclable containers if they receive feed¬ back in the form of information and/or some financial inducement for so doing.

A problem with current systems is that there is no direct relationship between human behavior and the cost of recycling. If the originator were given some finan¬ cial incentive or direct information, there would be such relationship.

Another problem is the need to be able to collect and store a sufficient quantity of recyclables to make it economically worthwhile to build necessary reclama¬ tion plants. With plastic, for example, it is desirable to have up to four year's worth of recycled plastic on hand to make it worthwhile to build such a plant. Obvi¬ ously, this necessitates a great deal of storage space. Still another problem is being able to identify the classified recycled material so that automated equipment can be used in processing.

Still another problem is that of quality of the recyclables. Some consumers simply do not do a very good job of classifying recyclables, so that containers which should contain, e.g., only plastics, include also metal bottle tops and the like. This poor quality of recyclables results in a lower price being paid on the spot market than would otherwise be the case, since additional separation must be done before the recyclable material can be reprocessed. Another related problem is that certain materials of the same general kind may be in demand, while others may not. An example of this is that PET plastic may have a high demand while PVC plas¬ tic may not. Therefore, a system that results in only clean material of a specific kind is very desirable.

Summary of the Invention

The present invention takes the form of a method for recycling that solves the above-enumerated problems. The method utilizes a bag that can survive the compac¬ tion process. Several such bags would be provided to the customer and would be color-coded for various categories of recyclables, e.g. plastic, glass, paper, metal, etc.

Parenthetically, while the following discussion talks in terms of "bags," it should be understood that equivalent structures that are capable of containing recyclables are also contemplated, such as containers or parcels.

The bag could be made of double-walled plastic material having folds or gussets therein, such as shown and described in co-pending U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 344,814 filed November 23, 1994 entitled "Bag Assembly for Recycling." The folds or gussets would allow the bag to be expanded from a smaller initial volume wherein it closely fits within a supporting container to a larger expanded bag which is less than completely full. Holes that do not match up in both bags would allow the escape of air. Alternatively, the bags could just be made of plastic material of suffi¬ cient strength as to not rupture during compaction. That is, bags other than the kind that are the subject of the referenced co-pending application could be used with the instant method. Not filling the bags completely full would also assist in preventing rupture during compaction. The bags of either form could be color-coded so that their contents could be visually known. Alterna¬ tively, color-coded tags mounted on elastic bands could be fastened over the ends of the bags. In addition, other indicia means that could be read by automated scanning means, such as laser scanners, might be used. Such indicia could be impregnated magnetic coding, bar coding, or the like.

A key feature of this method is that it permits the recyclable material to be kept in one or more bags that are loaded by the customer from the beginning, and is kept separate and the integrity of the recyclables maintained when it goes into storage or is used. There is no labor-intensive transfer from container to container as the recyclable material goes through the process. This also permits the bags containing recyclables to be put in the normal garbage container with all of the other waste. No separate pickup is required. The recyclables within their bags simply go into the normal garbage container. This eliminates the necessity of a separate pickup for recyclables and avoids major contamination from the other garbage and other recyclables.

Contaminated recyclable materials have low or no value. The contamination can come from other recyclable materials. Alternatively, the bags need not be put in the garbage container, but could be separately picked up or thrown into the collection vehicle with other garbage or waste.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The above and other features and aspects of the present invention will become more apparent upon the reading of the following detailed description in con¬ junction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic depiction of the preferred method of the present invention illustrating the steps thereof; and

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic depiction of an alternate method of the present invention also illustrating the steps thereof.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of the method steps of the present invention showing three bags 1, 2, and 3, by way of example. It should be understood that two or more bags may be used with the preferred embodiment of the present invention. Also, while the term "bag" is used in this description, it is to be understood that such is merely for convenience and is not to be taken as limiting.

Each bag may be made of any suitable material that will contain waste and not rupture during the compaction process. A suitable material may be plastic of suffi¬ cient strength to stretch during compaction while maintaining the integrity of the bag. Examples of such materials are polyethylene or polyurethane. Alterna¬ tively, the bag may be one that has folds or pleats so as to be expandable from a smaller to a larger initial volume, as aforementioned. Still further, the bag may be made of the same material as the recyclables contained therein. For example, plastic recyclables may be recycled to make the bags that are used to contain recyclables. This is called "open loop" recycling, in that the recyclable material is used in a different kind of application than the original use, e.g., plastic bottles to plastic bags.

Recyclables are classified and placed in the appro¬ priate bag. In the example shown, plastic could be placed in bag 1, aluminum in bag 2, and newspaper in bag 3. On garbage pickup day, the bags are closed by any convenient means, such as ties, wires, etc. and are placed into a garbage can 4 or other bin or container. Of course, the bags could be placed in the garbage can as they are filled, and not just on the pickup day.

Other non-recyclable waste 5 is also typically placed in the container. This raw garbage or waste that would otherwise contaminate the recyclables is prevented from doing so by the bags. The garbage can contents are dumped into a compactor vehicle 6, and compacted to a lesser volume. After this, the compactor vehicle moves to different pickup points and repeats the process of collecting waste from other garbage cans. The compactor vehicle then moves to a transfer station 7, where the contents of the vehicle are dumped. The bags are then identified by coding means and separated into groups according to the kind of recycla¬ bles contained therein. As shown, they may be placed in separate bins 8, 9, and 10, respectively. These storage bins are used to collect a sufficient quantity of clas¬ sified waste for further processing.

Other beneficial aspects of the ability to track or identify the originator of the bags is to help to value the recyclables therein. The fact that the quality of recyclables is consumer dependent has already been alluded to. This may be looked at both at the indivi¬ dual level and at the group or neighborhood level, or even the city level. Human nature being what it is, some individuals will be better at separating the recyclables into their proper bags than will others. Some will take care, for example, to put only plastic material in a bag and not any metal caps or foils. Others will not be so careful. By having the means to identify where the bags originate, down to the individual, it is possible to do several things. First, it is possible to feed back this information to the consumer, so that they can improve their efforts. This feedback information could simply be printed out in the next garbage bill. An economic incentive could also be provided, in that the consumers who fully comply with the quality of recyclables standards or goals that are set would receive a financial reward in the form of a discount or rebate on their basic garbage bill.

If the individual level is too much trouble because of the numbers, then a neighborhood, community or even city level may be resorted to. Here, the larger entity will receive some financial benefit for their aggregate performance in producing high-quality and therefore higher-value recyclables. The financial credit may be given in the form of a lower charge from the waste collection firm to the local entity, or by a financial rebate.

The means to identify can also be used to produce very specific recyclable material desired by the recipi¬ ent or end user. For example, a plastics manufacturer may not want PVC plastic, but very much want PET plastic material. Information could be gotten back to the originator as to this specific desire. Separate notices could be sent to the originator's address or the infor¬ mation printed on the next garbage bill. Consumers who do not comply could be easily identified when their bags are ultimately opened, and information input into a computer which would then generate the appropriate information to the consumer. Another financial incen¬ tive approach could also be used. The consumer could be given credit in the form of a reduced garbage bill in proportion to the value of the recyclable material that the consumer generates. This value is set not only by the kind of material, but also the quality in the sense of not having extraneous material. For example, metal bottle caps included with plastic bottles would result in a lower quality and therefore a lower price.

The bags may also be tracked for long periods of time. For example, if the bags are sent to long-term storage, payment for the recyclables may still be made, because the bags can be identified as to source when and as they are used. In this case, the bags can be scanned just before use, the information as to the originator processed, and credit given for the value of the recyclables at that time. An advantage for the user of the recyclables is that they do not have to pay for the recyclables until they are actually used. This is contrasted with other systems, where the user must pay up front and then tie up perhaps large sums of money in stored recyclables that may not be used for long periods of time. This is especially beneficial when it is realized that some recyclables that are collected and stored will never be used, because there is no demand for that particular material and material quality. With current systems, there is a sunk cost in collecting, sorting, transporting and storing recyclable materials, which can be quite high, with the instant inventive method, the classification or sorting is done by the originator at no cost to the third-party contractor or operator. Thus, at least this normally sunk cost is greatly reduced with the instant system.

Also, because the recyclable materials stay in their bags from the point of origination to the point of storage and subsequent use, they do not have to be handled as much as with current systems. This saves on cost. Still further, there is a reduction in contami- nation from garbage and other recyclables, since the recyclable material groups are protected by their bags during the entire process from point of origination down to and including storage and use. This also saves on the cost of further cleaning of the recyclables prior to use.

Another aspect of the means for identification is that it can not only be used to identify the originator, but it can also be used to identify and designate the recipient. Again, using plastic recyclables as an example, the bags may be coded with the name and address particulars of a specific user or reprocessor who needs a certain kind of plastic. From the consumer to the user, the latter is identified with the bag and its content of recyclables. In sum, the system permits knowing what is in the bag, where it came from, and where it is going.

The identification of the bags may be done manual¬ ly, as in an operator viewing a color-coded bag or tag. Alternatively, a scanning means 11 may be used and the bags passed by the scanning means or vice versa . A control means actuated by the scanning means may be used to move bags to the appropriate storage bin by means of conveyors, cranes or grapples (not shown). At the same time that the bags are being sorted by their contents, the non-recyclable waste that remains can be placed in transfer trailers such as trailer 12, and taken to a dump site such as a sanitary landfill 13, and dumped and covered over with earth. The recyclables can be treated in several different ways. For example, the bags containing plastic material in bin 8 can be loaded into a transfer trailer 14 and taken to a remote location 15, where the trailer is unloaded. The bags containing plastic may be allowed to accumulate until there is sufficient quantity to support building a plastic reduction plant. After such "mouth of the mine" plant is built, the by-then very large supply of stored bags of plastic will serve as the raw material for the plant. Similarly, bags containing aluminum material in bin 9 may be loaded into a transfer trailer 16 and trans¬ ported to an aluminum recycling plant 17 where the aluminum may be reclaimed. Since aluminum is in great demand, this transfer to a recycling plant can take place without storage, although storage until the spot market is at a higher rate is certainly an alternative. Finally, newspaper from bin 10 may be treated in a similar manner. It can be directly loaded into a trans¬ fer trailer 18 or other means of transport and moved to a pulp plant where the newspaper is recycled into, e . g. newsprint. Alternatively, the bags of newspaper could be stored until the spot market price is deemed right for sale before transporting the newspaper to be recycled. it should be understood that with any material, either temporary storage at the transfer station or long-term storage at a location away from the transfer station may be an alternative to taking the material in bags directly to a recycling plant from the transfer station.

The basic waste handling method comprises the steps of: compacting recyclables that have been segregated into bags; transporting the bags to a transfer station; and separating the bags into groups of material con- taining like classifications. Thereafter, bags con¬ taining like classifications of recyclable material may either be transported to storage or to a recycling plant where the material is recycled into reusable material. The method may also include the step of separating the recyclables into a preliminary plurality of bags prior to placing the bags into a compactor vehicle or, as an interim step, into a garbage container, with or without other non-recyclable waste material. The separating may be done by visually perceptible coding on the bags or by scanning coding means on the bags by using a scanning means.

A still further alternative is to use a single bag rather than multiple bags for the recyclables. With this alternative, as seen in Figure 2, the above method steps are modified on the preliminary end by placing all classes of recyclables in a single bag 22 before placing the bag into a compactor vehicle 66 or, as an interim step, into a garbage container 44, with or without other non-recyclable waste material 55. With this alternate method, the compactor vehicle moves to a transfer station 77. Rather than the bags 22 being separated, they may be scanned for a purpose previously described by scanner 111, or simply not scanned at all. They are then placed in a bin 99 after being separated from the raw garbage or waste 55.

Thereafter, the recyclable material in bags may be loaded into a transfer trailer 166 and transported to a recycling plant 177, where the material is classified and reclaimed. Alternatively, some or all classifica- tions of material may be stored in the bags and accumulated until a later time. The raw garbage or waste may be loaded in a transfer trailer 122 and transported to a sanitary landfill site 133 for disposal, as with the multiple bag system of the preferred method.

In another embodiment of the method, the recyclable material in bags is transported directly to a landfill area rather than first going to a transfer station. Here, material in bags is dumped out onto the ground and "rag pickers" remove the bags by hand and segregate them into groups by means of their identifying indicia. Thus, the instant inventive system is adaptable to even the most rudimentary collection practices.

While the preferred and alternate embodiments illustrating the implementation of the method have been disclosed, it will be understood that the invention is not specifically limited thereto, but is to be deter¬ mined by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A waste handling method comprising the steps of:

(a) separating recyclables into a plurality of bags with recyclables of a particular classification being placed in each bag, each said bag having coding means so that the contents of said bags can be identified;

(b) transporting said compacted bags to a transfer station; and (c) separating said bags into groups, each of the groups containing like classifications of recyclables, by using the coding means.

2. The waste handling method of claim 1 including the further step of transporting said bags from a group to a disposal site away from said transfer station.

3. The waste handling method of claim 2 further including the step of segregating said bags from a group into an area with like groups being in separate areas, by using the coding means.

4. The waste handling method of claim 3 including repeating the steps of claims 2 and 3 until a desired quantity of bags from a group have been accumulated.

5. The waste handling method of claims 1 or 4 including the further step of transporting said bags from a group to a means for recycling the contents of said bags from a group into reusable material.

6. The waste handling method of claim 1 including the intermediate steps of transferring the bags to a compactor vehicle having compacting means thereon and compacting said bags so that they take up less space, immediately before the step of transporting.

7. The waste handling method of claim 1 wherein said bags are made of a material of sufficient film strength so that it is capable of retaining its struc¬ tural integrity and not rupturing throughout the compac- tion step.

8. The waste handling method of claim 1 wherein said coding means utilizes colors to provide a visual indication for identification purposes.

9. The waste handling method of claim 8 wherein said coding means comprises a colored tag attached to each of said bags.

10. The waste handling method of claim 1 wherein said coding means comprises indicia on each of said bags which are visually readable.

11. The waste handling method of claim 1 wherein said coding means comprises indicia means on each of said bags which are readable by a scanning means.

12. The waste handling method of claim 11 wherein said indicia means are bar codes and said scanning means comprise a bar code reader.

13. The waste handling method of claim 11 wherein said indicia means are electronically readable.

14. The waste handling method of claim 11 wherein the step of separating comprises scanning said bags by means of said scanning means, identifying bags as being from particular groups, and segregating bags by group.

15. The waste handling method of claim 1 further including the step of placing said bags into a container after the step of separating the recyclables into a plurality of bags.

16. The waste handling method of claim 1 wherein the step of placing said bags in a container further includes the step of placing other material in said container.

17. The waste handling method of claim 1 wherein separate coding means are provided for each originator of recyclables so that the bags can be identified as to each originator from their point of origination to their point of storage or use of the recyclables contained therein, as well as all points in between.

18. The waste handling method of claim 17 wherein credit is given to the originator in some proportion for the value of the recyclables that the originator places in the bags.

19. The waste handling method of claim 18 wherein the credit is a reduction in the originator's waste bill.

20. The waste handling method of claim 18 wherein the credit is not given for a period of time.

21. The waste handling method of claim 20 wherein the credit is not given for a period of time until the recyclables are used.

22. The waste handling method of claim 17 wherein information is given to the originator as to compliance or lack of compliance with recycling goals.

23. The waste handling method of claim 17 wherein information is given to the originator as to the kind of recyclables to be placed in the bags.

24. The waste handling method of claim 1 wherein separate coding means are provided for each recipient of recyclables so that the bags can be identified as to each recipient from their point of origination to their point of storage or use of the recyclables contained therein, as well as all points in between.

25. A waste handling method comprising the steps of:

(a) placing a plurality of bags of classified recyclables into a compactor vehicle having compacting means thereon;

(b) compacting said bags into compacted bags within said compactor vehicle so that they take up less space;

(c) transporting said bags to a transfer station in said compactor vehicle;

(d) unloading said bags from said compactor vehicle; and

(e) separating said bags into groups, each of the groups containing like classifications of recyclables.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein said bags have coding means thereon so that the contents of said bags can be identified, and wherein the step of separating comprises using the coding means to identify said bags.

27. The method of claim 25 including the prelim¬ inary step of separating recyclables into a plurality of bags with recyclables of a particular classification being placed in each bag.

28. The method of claim 27 including the step of placing said bags into a container after separating the recyclables into a plurality of bags and prior to transferring said bags to a compactor vehicle.

29. A waste handling method comprising the steps of:

(a) placing recyclables into at least one bag;

(b) transferring said at least one bag to a compactor vehicle having compacting means thereon;

(c) compacting said at least one bag so that it takes up less space;

(d) transporting said at least one compacted bag to a transfer station in said compactor vehicle; and (e) unloading said at least one compacted bag from said compactor vehicle.

30. The waste handling method of claim 29 including the further steps of:

(a) placing said at least one bag into a transfer trailer; and (b) transporting said at least one bag to a disposal site away from said transfer station in said transfer trailer.

31. The waste handling method of claim 30 further including the step of unloading said at least one bag into an area.

32. The waste handling method of claim 31 including repeating the steps of claims 30 and 31 until a desired quantity of bags have been accumulated.

33. The waste handling method of claim 29 or 32 including the further steps of:

(a) placing the bags into a transfer trailer; and

(b) transporting said bags to a means for recycling the contents of said bags into reusable material.

34. The waste handling method of claim 29 wherein the step of placing said at least one bag in a container further includes the step of placing other material in said container.

35. The waste handling method of claim 29 wherein said bags are made of a material of sufficient strength so that they are capable of retaining their structural integrity and not rupturing throughout the compaction step.

36. The waste handling method of claim 29 further including coding means on said at least one bag for purposes of identification.

37. The waste handling method of claim 36 wherein said coding means utilizes colors to provide a visual indication for identification purposes.

38. The waste handling method of claim 37 wherein said coding means comprises a colored tag attached to each of said at least one bag.

39. The waste handling method of claim 29 wherein said coding means comprises indicia on each of said at least one bag which are visually readable.

40. The waste handling method of claim 29 wherein said coding means comprises indicia means on said at least one bag which are readable by a scanning means.

41. The waste handling method of claim 40 wherein said indicia means are bar codes and said scanning means comprise a bar code reader.

42. The waste handling method of claim 40 wherein said indicia means are electronically readable.

43. The waste handling method of claim 29 including the step of coding said at least one bag to identify the originator and giving credit, such as monetary compensation, to the originator.

44. The method of claim 43 wherein the credit is given after a period of time.

45. The method of claim 43 wherein the credit is given after said at least one bag is retrieved from storage.

46. A recyclable material handling method com¬ prising the steps of:

(a) storing materials of desired classifications at the source of the used material in a plurality of parcels with recyclables of a desired classification being placed in identifiable separate parcels, each said parcel including coding means so that the contents and source of said parcels can be identified;

(b) transferring said parcels to a compactor vehicle including compacting means;

(c) compacting said parcels into compacted parcels by said compacting means so that they will take up less space;

(d) transporting said compacted parcels to a transhipment station by means of said compactor vehicle;

(e) unloading said parcels from said compactor vehicle;

(f) transhipment of parcels of at least one classification to a site removed from said transhipment station for processing, storage, or use by a manu¬ facturer; and

(g) identification of the source, the classifi¬ cation of material and the destination of the parcel at each transfer point and at the final destination.

47. The waste handling method of claim 46 further including the step of placing said parcels into a container and wherein the step of transferring said parcels to a compactor vehicle is done by moving said container to said compactor vehicle and emptying said container into said compacting means.

48. The recyclable material handling method of claim 47 further including the step of placing garbage or other waste in said container in addition to placing said parcels in said container.

49. A waste handling method comprising the steps of:

(b) transporting said compacted bags to a dump; and (c) separating said bags into groups, each of the groups containing like classifications of recyclables, by using the coding means.

50. The waste handling method of any one of claims 1, 25, 29 or 49, wherein said bag or bags are made of the same kind of material as the recyclables contained therein.