Recursive recycling
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Recursive Recycling is a technique where a function, in order to accomplish a task, calls itself with some part of the task or output from a previous step. In municipal solid waste and waste reclamation processing it is the process of extracting and converting materials from recycled materials derived from the previous step until all subsequent levels of output are extracted or used.
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[edit] Example
[edit] Level 1 Recursive
Solid waste or municipal solid waste can be treated, sanitized and separated under steam in a pressure vessel (waste autoclave). Following the processing under steam and removal of toxic materials via condensate filtering, usable recyclables are immediately extracted for reuse (plastics, ferrous metals, aluminum, glass, wood, etc.).
[edit] Level 2 Recursive
Organic materials from the original waste stream are converted to a fiber using steam at 60 psi and 160*C. The converted organics (sanitary fiber) is size reduced by 85% and can be used to produce bio-fuels using acidic-hydrolysis or enzymatic-hydrolysis as Ethanol or may be used as Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF).
[edit] Level 3 Recursive
After the monosacrides are extracted for distillation, the remaining residue (used fiber) can be used as a feed stock for electricity production.
[edit] Level 4 Recursive
Finally, the non-toxic ash from the combusted fiber can be collected and used as a filler for concrete or blocks.
In true recursive recycling (a hypothetical) the immediate, intermediate and subsequent steps are complimentary and supportive based on outputs used to provide the next level of processing, reuse, conservation and marketability of the derivatives.
