A. What materials can be recycled?

The following materials are ones that can and are recycled:

1. Steel (alloy of iron).
2. Aluminium
3. Some plastics.
4. Glass.
5. Paper.

Go to  internet site  go to "Teachers and Children" and then "Secondary Schools" and the Bin for more information on materials we recycle

B. Why do we recycle certain materials?

We can make a good new use of materials at the end of their natural life by recycling them. The material from the old object is reprocessed to make new things. The main reason for recycling is to save on valuable resources such as raw materials and the energy needed which also comes from raw materials such as oil, coal and gas. It needs to be decided if it is viable to recycle a material in the first place. For example taking a few bottles to the bottle bank may use more raw materials such as oil than you would save in the glass.

Example :

To make 10 cans to hold fizzy drink, 300g of Aluminium and 70 million Joules of energy are used. To make 10 new cans it needs the same amount of aluminium, but only about 5 million Joules of energy so quite a big saving.

Other reasons for recycling are environmental reasons such as saving trees and preventing the build up of waste particularly those that are non biodegradable, that is a material that is not broken down naturally by microbes. If it is not biodegradable the only way to get rid of it is using landfill sites or burning, neither of which are environmentally friendly

See: internet site for other reasons why we recycle

C. How do we recycle materials?

One of the big problems with recycling is separating the materials that can be recycled from those that can’t. In many countries there are special bins, containers and recycle centres for people to place the different materials.

Once separated correctly the recyclable materials can be recycled.

Internet site   This is a very useful site with games, activities and facts about recycling.

• Introduction
• Homework Activities

© Linda Noan 2009