What term describes the process of converting waste into reusable material?

• A. Recycling
• B. Incineration
• C. Composting
• D. Landfilling

Answer: (D)

Converting waste into reusable material is recycling. Recycling means taking used materials and processing them into new products, which conserves resources, saves energy, and reduces pollution from extracting and producing virgin materials. For example, melted down plastics from bottles can become new containers or textile fibers; aluminum cans can be melted and formed into new cans; and paper fibers can be reprocessed into new paper products. This differs from incineration, which burns waste to reduce volume and often to recover energy but doesn’t produce a material that’s readily reused; composting breaks down organic waste into soil amendments; and landfilling simply stores waste with minimal material recovery. So, the term for turning waste into a reusable material is recycling.