Definition of recycle in English:

transitive verb

• 1Convert (waste) into reusable material.

  ‘car hulks were recycled into new steel’

  as adjective recycled ‘goods made of recycled materials’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Approximately 40% of papers coming from domestic waste are currently recycled.’
  • ‘Recycling centers are ubiquitous, helping Denmark boast that half of its waste is recycled.’
  • ‘Typical of customers is the University of York, which recycles green waste for re-use on flower and shrub beds as mulch, saving costs of disposal and purchase of products.’
  • ‘Residents and businesses in North Wiltshire need to do more to reduce, reuse and recycle waste to ensure that we do not need excessive areas of landfill in the future.’
  • ‘The public needs to realise the seriousness of the problem and learn how to prevent, minimise, reuse and recycle waste.’
  • ‘At a basic level, it is our moral obligation to reduce, reuse and recycle our waste.’
  • ‘It also offers practical advice and information on how to re-use and recycle waste.’
  • ‘These ranged from car sharing and using public transport through to recycling household waste.’
  • ‘All waste is recycled, within reason, and even cars can be recharged at power points dotted around the complex.’
  • ‘A roadshow advising residents how to recycle green waste is to tour Trowbridge and Melksham.’
  • ‘The company recycle all green waste into an excellent garden compost.’
  • ‘It banned pesticides for urban uses and built a biochemical plant to recycle organic wastes from the city's garbage.’
  • ‘Please participate and clean our parish, eliminate dumping and recycle household waste by the proper means.’
  • ‘The Goverment has recently set a target for a massive 30% of general household waste to be recycled.’
  • ‘A significant percentage of household waste could be recycled.’
  • ‘In Waterford City, 35 tonnes of packaging waste is recycled each week through the green bin collection.’
  • ‘In Europe, 20 nations have implemented legislation to control and recycle packaging waste.’
  • ‘The purpose of the workshop is to show people how to recycle organic waste from the kitchen and garden.’
  • ‘The end product is the same - waste material is recycled to the benefit of the environment.’
  • ‘The iron and steel industry was now able to recycle waste material.’

  Synonyms

  reuse, reprocess, convert into something, reclaim, recover

  View synonyms

  1. 1.1Return (material) to a previous stage in a cyclic process.
     ‘the amino acids are recycled in the synthesis of other proteins’
     More example sentences

     • ‘This pathway may also be involved in the senescence process where it may be required for recycling nitrogen from proteins.’
     • ‘Biotinidase is the enzyme that recycles the vitamin biotin.’
     • ‘The liver, one of the more versatile organs, recycles the lactic acid by converting it back to glucose for reuse by the muscles and other organs.’
     • ‘Lymph vessels recycle the interstitial fluid and return it to the bloodstream in the circulatory system.’
     • ‘Besides being a superb antioxidant itself, ALA recycles worn-out vitamin C, vitamin E and glutathione, and makes them useful again.’
     • ‘Fallen drops may recycle sugars to the soil and thence to trees, or the insects may promote extra photosynthesis in host trees.’
  2. 1.2Use again.
     ‘he reserves the right to recycle his own text’
     More example sentences

     • ‘This, Reynolds tells us somewhat bathetically, was recycled from a rejected text for a French war memorial in 1918.’
     • ‘He rarely comes up with any new material, he simply recycles his old stuff.’