Balers are machines that are used to gather and bind materials for storage or shipping. These machines compress and bind materials with plastic, paper, cardboard, etc. Farmers use them to bind straw wasted after grain crops are raked with twine to make bales. This process of gathering all materials, binding them with twine or wire to make bails makes it easier to transport for recycling. Balers come in many varieties of sizes and shapes according to the purpose for which they are used. The two main types of baling machine styles are vertical and horizontal. Horizontal bailer machines take up more space than the vertical ones, but they have the advantage of greater load capacity and more fully automated functions. Vertical balers often are single load machines and need to be manually unloaded when the compacting and baling is complete. These are used in smaller facilities, which produce less waste, and ones that often deal with scrap that is lighter in density and volume. Large industrial heavy-duty baler machines are stationary and are used for heavy industrial jobs. An industrial baler is used to compress and bind materials, which is usually industrial waste or by-products. Industrial baler machines are often part of a line, with conveyer belts or systems and shredders. Since industrial baling machines usually deal with large volumes, they usually have a large input area either on the side or top, depending on the type of bale. The input area leads to a chamber where the material is pounded, smashed or squeezed into a compact size and then bound. Wire, plastic or string is often used in the binding process. Balers can be used for organic materials as well as cloth or paper, and certain types of these can also compact metals and plastics. There are also specialized baling and compacting equipment available for the extraction of oils and liquids from material. Industrial baling equipment can also be found in many other areas such as medical facilities, restaurants, junkyards and schools. Baler machines can make material storage easier and cheaper as well less costly to transport.

Industries, offices and households consume many things made of cardboard or packed in cardboards everyday. This leaves a large amount of cardboard to waste. Recycling has been a common practice throughout human history. It is the reprocessing of materials into new products, and it prevents useful material resources from being wasted. The concept of recycling is the main element of modern waste management theory. It is practiced by many industries and organizations as well as individuals in order to reduce and save cosumption of raw materials and energy. Cardboard recycling can also save a huge amount of consumption of materials and energy. Cardboard is a thicker and stronger version of paper. It is often used for packaging and to make boxes and other containers, as it is lightweight and strong. Due to its ability, cardboard is one of many recyclable materials, and cardboard recycling is practiced widely, in homes and industries. The process of recycling needs a lot of care with regard to hygeine and health, as many materials might be contaminated. Since cardboard is a kind of material that can hold moisture and can be easily contaminated, it also needs to be sorted out carefully. This sorting can be performed either by the producer of the waste at semi or fully-automated material recovery facilities. Cardboard recycling is important because, like paper, it is made from wood pulp from trees. Preserving forests benefits our rivers and lakes, as well as the air we breathe. Used cardboard is usually recycled into new cardboard material for packaging and storage. Like paper, cardboard can only be recycled a finite number of times due to the shortening of the fibres making the material less versatile. Therefore, cardboard recycling can only be done at certain levels and for certain kinds of products. Nevertheless, the recycling industry of paper and cardboard is considered to be the largest recycling industry as compared to other recylates.

A compactor is a machine or mechanism that is used to condense or crush material or soil to reduce the size of it or to pack it tightly through the process of ‘compaction`. ‘Compaction` is a process in which soil or materials, especially waste materials, are forcefully pressed, thus, reducing size or volume occupied. This process, while making the size of the material compact, also puts material into a particular shape. Compactors have one or two mechanisms that press the material with extreme force and power to the desired size. At a junkyard, a scrap automobile is flattened through the process of compaction or is compressed from several directions until it resembles a large cube. Junkyards, besides having a large automobile compacting mechanism, also keep smaller sizes for smaller scrap metal waste. Compactors are manufactured in many shapes and sizes. For example, a bulldozer is a gigantic compactor, which can be seen at landfill sites. It drives over waste that is deposited or is used at road construction sites to press and tighten the soil. Waste collection vehicles themselves incorporate a compacting mechanism, which is used to compress waste collected immediately to increase the payload and reduce the number of times it has to empty waste. Other kinds of compactors, to compress different materials like organic materials or plastic and paper, also consist of different sizes. They can be seen in use at shops and small industries to perform small scale jobs. Compactors are widely used by organisations that produce large quantities of waste. Hotels, food processors, manufacturing industries, waste cardboard companies, universities, distribution centres, pharmaceutical companies and other large companies tend to use a compactor for their waste. Besides the recyclable materials and waste materials, new raw materials or products are also packed through the process of compacting, thereby, making compactors an essential item amongst other machines used for these procedures.