{ "model": { "rank": 3004, "code": "thing-q132580", "model_id": "vr.tr.recycling", "name": "recycling", "purpose": "Let an agent explain recycling and how materials are processed, support correct recycling practice under local rules, present evidence on effectiveness and debates with attribution, and describe policy and industry.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Activities and processes", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "ACT", "domain": "ACT.ACT", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q132580/", "tier": 2, "score": 93, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "Ressourceries", "POLLAST!C", "plastic recycling", "carbonization of plastics waste", "bottle recycling", "Plastic bottle recycling", "metal recycling", "upcycling", "soil recycling", "paper recycling", "waste recycling", "recycling in Finland", "oil recycling", "recycling in Poland", "recycling in Switzerland", "recycling in Russia", "recycling in Armenia", "recycling in Kazakhstan", "recycling in Egypt", "Rehabilitation Clothing", "vehicle recycling", "glass recycling", "recycling in Northern Ireland", "Recycling by material", "reuse of excreta", "electronic waste recycling", "water heat recycling", "tire recycling", "closed loop recycling", "waste reuse", "chemical recycling", "textile recycling", "Single-stream recycling", "timber recycling", "battery recycling", "urban mining", "cardboard recycling", "automobile recycling", "end-of-life vehicle recycling", "aircraft recycling" ], "aliasCount": 43, "merged": 43, "knownIn": 93, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": "vr.tr.recycling", "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q132580", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q132580", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-12T01:16:06Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 2, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q132580", "registryId": "vr.tr.recycling", "name": "recycling", "version": "0.2.0-wave.2", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "ACT.ACT" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q132580/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.recycling", "name": "recycling", "purpose": "Let an agent explain recycling and how materials are processed, support correct recycling practice under local rules, present evidence on effectiveness and debates with attribution, and describe policy and industry.", "definition": "The process of collecting, sorting and reprocessing waste materials such as paper, glass, metals, plastics including bottles, textiles, electronics and organic waste into new products, reducing raw material extraction, energy use and landfill, through household schemes, deposit systems, reuse centres such as French ressourceries and industrial processes including mechanical and chemical plastic recycling; recycling is regulated by waste law and evaluated for effectiveness against reduction and reuse.", "what_it_is_for": "Reprocessing waste into new materials.", "affordances": [ "explain processes", "support correct practice", "present evidence and debates", "describe policy and industry" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Material recovery", "Collection systems", "Regulated", "Effectiveness varies by material" ], "appearance": "Sorted materials, collection bins, reprocessing plants.", "visual_identification": [ "Waste reprocessed into materials", "Collection, sorting, reprocessing", "Reuse keeps items intact; composting is biological recycling of organics" ], "physical_properties": [], "families_and_kinds": [ "paper and cardboard recycling", "glass and metal recycling", "plastic and bottle recycling", "electronic and textile recycling", "organic waste recycling and reuse centres" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "waste management process", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "environmental protection", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "steel", "why": "a highly recycled material" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "chemical decomposition", "why": "chemical recycling of plastics" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Waste framework and recycling target laws", "Extended producer responsibility and deposit schemes", "Standards for recycled materials" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Contamination of recycling streams", "Exported waste and informal processing hazards", "Overstated recycling rates" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "How recycling works.", "rationale": "Definitions.", "layers": [ { "id": "process", "name": "Process", "description": "Collection to reprocessing.", "findings": [ { "id": "process-finding", "name": "Process", "description": "Process.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are materials collected, sorted and reprocessed, and how do mechanical and chemical plastic recycling differ?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits a specific material?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "hierarchy", "name": "Hierarchy", "description": "Waste hierarchy.", "findings": [ { "id": "hierarchy-finding", "name": "Hierarchy", "description": "Hierarchy.", "questions": [ { "text": "How does recycling relate to reduction, reuse and recovery in the waste hierarchy?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits waste management?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "practice", "name": "Practice", "description": "Recycling correctly.", "rationale": "Practice.", "layers": [ { "id": "local", "name": "Local", "description": "Local rules.", "findings": [ { "id": "local-finding", "name": "Local", "description": "Local rules.", "questions": [ { "text": "What can be recycled here, and how should items be prepared and sorted?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the local scheme?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "special", "name": "Special", "description": "Special streams.", "findings": [ { "id": "special-finding", "name": "Special", "description": "Special streams.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are electronics, batteries, textiles and hazardous items recycled safely?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits e-waste?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "evaluate", "name": "Evaluate", "description": "Effectiveness and debates.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "evidence", "name": "Evidence", "description": "Evidence.", "findings": [ { "id": "evidence-finding", "name": "Evidence", "description": "Evidence.", "questions": [ { "text": "What does evidence say about the environmental benefits and limits of recycling different materials, especially plastics?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which claims are overstated?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "debates", "name": "Debates", "description": "Debates.", "findings": [ { "id": "debates-finding", "name": "Debates", "description": "Debates.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are the attributed positions in debates on waste exports, producer responsibility and deposit schemes?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the presentation neutral?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "learn", "name": "Learn", "description": "Industry and history.", "rationale": "Context.", "layers": [ { "id": "industry", "name": "Industry", "description": "Recycling industry.", "findings": [ { "id": "industry-finding", "name": "Industry", "description": "Industry.", "questions": [ { "text": "How is the recycling industry structured, and how do markets for recycled materials work?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits a specific sector?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did recycling develop from historical salvage to modern schemes?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should each material be a separate entry?", "How should local rules be linked?", "How should effectiveness data be linked?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a recycling, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain recycling and how materials are processed, support correct recycling practice under local rules, present evidence on effectiveness and debates with attribution, and describe policy and industry.", "characteristics": { "substance": "activity", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: Ressourceries, POLLAST!C, plastic recycling, carbonization of plastics waste, bottle recycling, Plastic bottle recycling, metal recycling, upcycling, soil recycling, paper recycling, waste recycling, recycling in Finland.", "43 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 93 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a recycling, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "something that happens over time", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "Ressourceries", "POLLAST!C", "plastic recycling", "carbonization of plastics waste", "bottle recycling", "Plastic bottle recycling", "metal recycling", "upcycling", "soil recycling", "paper recycling", "waste recycling", "recycling in Finland" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 93 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 43 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one recycling from another, and a recycling from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a recycling, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a recycling, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a recycling is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a recycling, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a recycling, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a recycling is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a recycling sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a recycling, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a recycling, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a recycling is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a recycling from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a recycling, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a recycling, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a recycling is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a recycling passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a recycling between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a recycling, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a recycling, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a recycling is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a recycling, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a recycling is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a recycling, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a recycling, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a recycling is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "process-and-outcome", "name": "Process, inputs and outcome", "description": "How a recycling proceeds, what it needs and what it leaves behind.", "rationale": "An activity is known by its steps and its results, and both have to be recordable while it is still running.", "layers": [ { "id": "steps-and-sequence", "name": "Steps and sequence", "description": "The steps of a recycling, their order and what may run in parallel.", "findings": [ { "id": "steps-and-preconditions", "name": "Steps, preconditions and completion", "description": "What has to be true before each step of a recycling and what marks it done.", "questions": [ { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a step of a recycling, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a step of a recycling, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a step of a recycling is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-results", "name": "Inputs, resources and results", "description": "What a recycling consumes and what it produces.", "findings": [ { "id": "inputs-and-outputs", "name": "Inputs, outputs and side effects", "description": "The resources a recycling takes and the results it leaves, wanted or not.", "questions": [ { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the inputs and results of a recycling, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the inputs and results of a recycling, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the inputs and results of a recycling is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What recycling is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of recycling are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is recycling operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of recycling and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of recycling?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as recycling?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a recycling came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a recycling and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a recycling, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a recycling, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a recycling is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a recycling is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a recycling, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a recycling, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a recycling is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }