How Does Corporate Companies Help Preserve Mother Earth?

The private sector has an important role to play in advancing our conservation mission. The corporate companies can help preserve mother earth in a variety of capacities from improving business practices and raising awareness for conservation issues, to supporting important science and conservation and policy initiatives. Each engagement has, at its core, the potential to help us achieve the goal of protecting lands and waters on which all life depends.

Develop Best Practice

The first step is to begin to understand the basics of what each part of life can do to become more environmentally friendly. The next step is to begin to learn to make different choices on a personal level that start to change your awareness, and consumption of resources. There are many ways you can think of to begin to practice conservation.

12 Ways to Become More Environmentally Friendly

Learning to be more environmentally friendly is easier than you think. Start small to make the changes more sustainable and a part of your normal life. Here are 12 ways you can begin to become more environmentally friendly.

1. Become More Aware of Resources: Start by living with a greater awareness of the resources that you use in your daily life. Pay attention to how you choose to heat, to travel, to use water and use products (such as scrap metal and metal recycling) that were made by manufacturing practices. Awareness is what will allow you to then begin to make environmentally friendly choices.

2. Practice Conservation: With your new awareness of how natural resources are used in your life, start to practice conservation. This can be as simple as turning off the lights as you leave a room.

3. Plant Trees: Trees are necessary for us to survive. They give oxygen, fruits, clean the air, provide shelter to wildlife and prevent soil erosion. A shady landscape around your home can help you to reduce consumption of energy and keep your home cool. Plant small trees around your home, don’t cut them unless it’s necessary.

4. Conserve Water: Water needs to be conserved as lot of energy is required to pump water from rivers or lakes into your home. Conserving water reduces the amount of energy that is needed to filter it. Few ways to conserve water are – take short showers, fix leaking pipes, keep the running tap close while you brush your teeth, recycle water in your home, use water saving appliances, collect rainwater in a rain barrel to water your lawn.

5. Change Your Travel Habits: Driving and flying are two areas where you can make a real impact with environmentally friendly practices. Choose fuel efficient travel options, travel less and try to pick more direct routes to save on fuel. 

6. Buy Locally Grown Products: An easy way to reduce your carbon footprint is to buy locally grown products. When you shop locally instead of buying products that were shipped from far away, you are actually supporting local dairies and farms. 

7. Reduce Use of Harmful Chemicals: Hazardous chemicals like paint, oil, ammonia and other chemical solutions when disposed openly, can cause pollution in the air and water as these chemicals can seep into the groundwater. The polluted air and water can have serious consequences on human health. They should be disposed off to a toxic waste site for safe disposal.

8. 3 R’s of Waste Hierarchy: The 3 R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) waste hierarchy is the order of priority of actions to be taken to reduce the amount of waste generated and to improve overall waste management processes and programs. Reduce simply means reducing what is produced and what is consumed. Reuse items for a different purpose instead of sending them to landfills. To recycle something means that it will be transformed again into a raw material that can be shaped into a new item. (such as metal recycling or scrap metal).

9. Join Environment Groups: You may find different environmental groups in your city with whom you can join hands to protect mother earth and make the environment clean. 

10. Stop Littering: One of the common sights that we see everyday on streets is seeing people littering on roads. One of the ways to keep the environment and surrounding clean around you is to stop people from littering on roads. Instead, educate them to put trash and garbage in dustbins. The pile of garbage on road hampers the beauty of city and also pollutes the air.

11. Protect Wildlife: Human activity is leading to extinction of endangered species and habitats. Protect places like beaches and forests that are habitats for animals.

12. Educate Others: Educate others about the importance of living an environmentally friendly life. The more people share an awareness of the importance of the environment, the more we can do together to conserve it.

What Are The Different Kinds Of Non Ferrous Metal?

What is Non-Ferrous Metal?

In metallurgy, a non-ferrous metal is a metal which is not ferrous, including alloys, that does not contain iron in appreciable amounts. Generally more expensive than ferrous metals, non ferrous metals are used because of desirable properties such as low weight (e.g., aluminium), higher conductivity (e.g., copper), non-magnetic property or resistance to corrosion (e.g., zinc).

Important non-ferrous metals include aluminium, copper, lead, nickel, tin, titanium and zinc, and alloys such as brass. Precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum and exotic or rare metals such as cobalt, mercury, tungsten, beryllium, bismuth, cerium, cadmium, niobium, indium, gallium, germanium, lithium, selenium,tantalum, tellurium, vanadium, and zirconium are also non-ferrous. They are usually obtained through minerals such as sulfides, carbonates, and silicates. Non-ferrous metals are usually refined through electrolysis.

What are the characteristics of non-ferrous metals

Non-ferrous metals are much more malleable than ferrous metals. Non-ferrous metals are also much lighter, making them more suitable for use where strength is needed, but weight is a factor, such as in the aircraft or canning industries. Because they contain no iron, non-ferrous metals have a higher resistance to rust and corrosion, which is why you’ll find these materials in use for gutters, water pipes, roofing, and road signs. Lastly, they are also non-magnetic, which makes them perfect for use in small electronics and as electrical wiring.

As regards recycling, aluminium is the third most recycled material in the world. However, many other non-ferrous materials like copper, brass and lead are relatively scarce, and metallurgists rely heavily on scrap material recycling to make new products.

This brings us to the price difference between ferrous and non-ferrous metals.

The pricing difference

Ferrous scrap metals tend to be in good supply, so the prices tend to be lower than most non-ferrous metals. Because steel and iron alloys are constantly being recycled in high volume all over the world, the prices for these materials stay fairly constant on a month-to-month basis, dropping or raising only slightly.

For non-ferrous scrap, they are relatively harder to come by and more difficult to create. This makes the demand higher, which drives up the price per pound higher than ferrous metals. While aluminium prices don’t fluctuate often due to recycling efforts, others like copper and brass can change drastically in just a month’s time depending on the needs of the market.

Non Ferrous Metals and Their uses:
1 Aluminium – An alloy of aluminium, copper and manganese. It is very lightweight and easily worked. Used in aircraft manufacture, window frames and some kitchen ware.
2 Copper – Copper is a natural occurring substance. The fact that it conducts heat and electricity means that it is used for wiring, tubing and pipe work.
3 Brass – A combination of copper and zinc, usually in the proportions of 65% to 35% respectively. Is used for ornamental purposes and within electrical fittings.
4 Silver – Mainly a natural substance, but mixing with copper creates sterling silver. Used for decorative impact in jewellery and ornaments, and also to solder different metals together.
5 Lead – Lead is a naturally occurring substance. It is heavy and very soft and is often used in roofing, in batteries and to make pipes.