Using materials again
Chemistry · Key Stage 1 · The School
Sorting waste
Not everything goes in the same bin. Paper and card can be RECYCLED. So can glass, metal cans and many plastics. That means they are collected, cleaned, broken down and made into something new. Food waste can be composted. Sorting properly matters. One wrong item can spoil a whole load. Sort by what a thing is MADE OF, not by what it was used for. A glass jam jar and a glass bottle go the same way, because both are glass. A plastic tub and a glass jar can sit side by side on a shelf and still belong in different bins.
What recycling does
A glass bottle can be melted down and made into a new bottle. Paper can be pulped and made into new paper. Aluminium cans can be melted and reused again and again. Recycling saves energy, and it saves materials too. Making things from scratch costs much more of both. That is why the sorting is worth it.
Using less comes first
Recycling is the third choice, not the first. Better still is to use LESS in the first place. After that comes REUSE. Refill a water bottle. Use a bag again. Pass clothes on. Reduce, reuse, recycle. In that order. And the order is the important part.
Follow one plastic drinks bottle. It is collected, sorted, shredded, washed, and melted into pellets. Then it usually becomes fleece fabric, or a bin. It does not usually become another bottle, because the plastic gets a little weaker each time. Now follow a glass bottle. It can be melted and made into a glass bottle again. And again. An aluminium can comes back as a can. Now count them up. Which of the three would you rather your drink came in?