Hong Wu / Getty Images
People sort plastic bottles for recycling at a reclamation depot in Qingdao, China, Sept. 24, 2012. The waste recycling industry provides a livelihood to low income people living in temporary houses on the outskirts of Chinese cities.
Bruno Martin / Reuters
A man works near a stack of French Minitel terminals which are to be broken down into their components for recycling in Portet-Sur-Garonne, southwestern France on May 23. The Minitel, the box-like terminal with a keyboard and monochrome screen, was introduced on the market in 1982 by telecommunications operator France Telecom and used by the French to get information as a phone directory or to purchase train tickets. Although there are between 600,000 - 700,000 of the units still in use, the Minitel service will end on June 30, 2012.
Bruno Martin / Reuters
A man separates components from a French Minitel terminal which are to be broken down for recycling in Portet-Sur-Garonne
Bruno Martin / Reuters
Circuit boards from French Minitel terminals which are broken down into its components, are collected for recycling in Portet-Sur-Garonne, southwestern France.
According to Wikipedia, millions of the terminals were handed out free to telephone subscribers in France who then paid by the minute for their dialup use.
Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP - Getty Images
A couple walks through a labyrinth made with blocks of recycled materials at Parque da Juventude (Youth Park) in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Monday. Brazilian artist Eduardo Srur installed three 300 square meters labyrinths in the city, each of which is made with 30 tons of recycled blocks.
Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP - Getty Images
Detail of the outer wall of a labyrinth by Brazilian artist Eduardo Srur, made of blocks of recycled materials at Parque da Juventude (Youth Park) in Sao Paulo.
The AP reports from ZWOLLE, Netherlands:
The recycling warehouse looks unremarkable. Workers sift through dusty containers of screws, rods and iron balls and sort them for processing.
From the jumble it's hard to tell they were once prosthetic hips, artificial knees and metal implants of all sorts, salvaged from the ashes of crematoria.
Peter Dejong / AP
An employee of OrthoMetals separates parts for recycling on a conveyer belt in a warehouse in Zwolle, eastern Netherlands, on Nov. 14. Imperishable body parts are recovered from the ashes of cremated people, and precious metals are also recovered by the crematoria and offered to the family or placed in the urn.
Peter Dejong / AP
An employee of OrthoMetals sifts through coffin ornaments on a conveyer belt, rear, as parts of hip implants are seen in a box in the foreground.
If recycling grandma's replacement parts seems a grisly business, it is in fact a blessing for funeral homes, for the environment and for families who know that the implants that made their loved ones more comfortable are not being discarded in the trash.
When relatives are asked, virtually no one objects that the ashes are sifted for reusable metals, says Ruud Verberne, director of OrthoMetals, which recovers 200 tons of valuable metals a year from funeral parlors. Read the full story.
Peter Dejong / AP
Implants and other materials are collected in a bag for recycling at the OrthoMetals warehouse.
Peter Dejong / AP
Stripped gold-plated crucifix coffin ornaments are seen on a conveyer belt during the recycling process.
Robin Utrecht / AFP - Getty Images
A worker at a glass recycling facility, reflected in a puddle, walks past a pile of of bottles waiting to be processed after the holidays, on January 3, 2010 in Heijningen, Netherlands.
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