Q - I realize that recycling trash saves energy for product manufacturers, but how will it lower my personal utility bills? Also, what are the best things to save for recycling? H. M.
A - You are right that recycling our trash saves a tremendous amount of energy and conserves our resources and land.Also, many major cities have just about completely filled their solid-waste landfill sites.
Recycling will not lower your current utility bills, but it will help to keep them from increasing rapidly in the near future. If industry uses less natural gas to produce raw materials, then overall demand is lower and energy price increases are moderated.
A substantial portion of the costs to produce electricity is for the generation equipment.
By reducing peak demand, less new equipment is needed, so your electric bills won't increase as fast either.
For example, recycling paper saves about 20 percent of the energy required to make paper from pulp and about 50 percent of the water requirements.
Recycling glass saves about 30 percent of the energy. Aluminum production from bauxite ore is very energy intensive. Recycling aluminum saves about 90 percent.
The four major classes of trash that are recyclable are paper, aluminum, glass and plastics. You should sort and separate your trash into these four types of recyclable wastes.
The types of paper to recycle are any paper that is not badly soiled with food or coated with sealers or waxes.
When you save aluminum cans, make sure any steel ring tops are removed, and separate out any "tin" cans.
Contamination of the aluminum results in poor quality materials and increases recycling costs.
Glass containers should be separated by the three common colors - clear, green and brown. Be sure to remove any metal rings. Paper labels are acceptable.
Your plastic bottles, mainly soda pop and milk, are recyclable into other types of low-grade plastic products.
You can write to me for UTILITY BILLS UPDATE No. 163 showing a list of tips to reduce the overall amount of trash, identify recyclable trash in the home and how to prepare it, information about how to organize and operate a recycling program, and a bibliography of related books, reports and articles. Write to James Dulley, The Deseret News, 6906 Royal Green Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45244. Please include $1.00 and a self-addressed business-sized envelope.
Q - When the burners on my gas range are turned on high, the height of the flames on the back burners seems to be smaller.
Is there something wrong with my range and how can I readjust them? T. K.
A - There probably is nothing wrong with your gas range. The burners in the back are often adjusted to have a smaller flame. This gives variation in the heat without having to adjust the control knob lower.
If the flame is set too high, it may lead to scorching. If it is too low, it takes too long to get the foods up to the cooking temperature and wastes gas.
Often, you can adjust it higher yourself. For maximum effectiveness on most ranges, the size of the flame at the full open position on the front burner should be 3/4 inch, measured horizontally from the gas port to the tip of the flame.
It should measure 5/8 inch on the back burner.
There should be a gas orifice control valve near the control knob on the gas line leading to the burner. Using an open-end wrench, turn the orifice control to increase or reduce the size of the flame.