Rubbish to our rescue – Recycle

Ready for some mind-boggling facts?

You can mash (called pulping) magazines and churn out new toilet paper and recycle plastic bottles for a fabulously warm fleece jacket. I have two handy hints that you need to know to make this happen. First rescue recyclable items from the rubbish dump and then close the loop and buy items made from recycled material.

Recycling depots collect and sort items into common groups like plastic, paper, cardboard, clear glass, green glass, drinking cans, tin cans and more. Recycling makes lots of sense because the old items can be melted down and made into new and different items. This saves some energy and keeps water and air cleaner than if the materials needed to be dug up from the Earth.

As well as the up side to recycling, there is also a down side. The cost of collecting and sorting the recyclable items often means that they can cost the same or more expensive than new ones, and the recycled or used items have to compete in the marketplace with new materials.

Why recycle?

It does good things for the environment, the economy and society: 

1. Recycling saves the Earth’s precious natural resources because we don’t need to drill for oil or dig for minerals so often;
2. Making products from recycled materials keeps the air and water cleaner than making products from brand new materials;
3. Recycling slows down landfilling;
4. Recycling teaches us about the environment and makes us proud of our community.

 What can be recycled?

The most common items we recycle from around the house include:

1. Printer cartridges;
2. Aluminium drinking cans;
3. Aerosol cans;
4. Steel;
5. Food;
6. Plastic bottles and containers;
7. Glass bottles and jars;
8. Paper, newspapers, magazines and cardboard.

Did you know?

1. In just 12 months, cartridge recycling could save 4.3 million litres of oil in a country of 22 million people.
2. Glass from bottles can be recycled an infinite number of times without any loss of quality.
3. Office paper and cardboard can be recycled into toilet paper, newspaper and magazines.
4. Food cans can be recycled to make cars and bridges.
5. 25 two–litre plastic bottles can be recycled to make an adult fleece jacket.
6. Recycling just one plastic bottle saves enough energy to power a 60W light bulb for six hours.
7. Plastic bags can be recycled to make outdoor furniture
8. We need to recycle three times more plastic than we already do to keep up with demand and stop more resources being taken from the Earth.
9. Up to 40% less fuel is used to transport drinks in plastic bottles compared to glass bottles.

Well thanks for jumping on the trail. I hope that you have learnt something about the 3Rs along the way. Are you ready for a quiz?