Recycling Detectives

Recycling Detectives

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

Introduction

Waste can be sorted into three categories:

• compostable
• garbage
• recyclable

Unlike garbage, recyclable materials can be broken down and rebuilt into new items like pillow stuffing, traffic cones or even the lining in ski jackets! Recycling or reusing items reduces the amount of waste that ends up in landfills.

Objectives

Students will be able to:

• describe the environmental importance of recycling
• identify the impact that garbage/ landfills have on the environment
• identify recyclable materials, and sort household recycling
• describe the process of recycling as it relates to the creation of recycled paper

Background

Canadians generate approximately 31 million tones of garbage a year and only recycle about 30 per cent of that material. Each person produces about 2.7 kg of garbage each day. Unfortunately, our existing landfills are filling up and we have to find new locations for them. The garbage from the City of Vancouver is taken by truck miles out of the city to be dumped, burned or buried.

The solution? Reduce, reuse and recycle!

All kinds of materials can be recycled, including tin cans, paper, glass, plastics, batteries and cell phones. However, if these items are not recycled, it may take up to 1 million years for them break down or dissolve.

• Plastic takes 1 million years to break down.
• Tin cans take 100 years to dissolve.
• Aluminum cans take 500 years to disintegrate.
• Paper takes 80 years to break down.
• Glass takes 1 million years to break down.

Newly-recycled material can be back in circulation or use in as little as eight weeks.

• A glass container takes 8–12 weeks to be recycled and put back on a shelf.
• The life of an aluminum can is about five weeks. That means it takes five weeks for a can to be collected, transported, melted down, remade, refilled and put back on a store shelf.

Recyclable materials are broken down and recycled through very different processes. For example, glass is sorted by colour, crushed, mixed, melted and molded while newspaper is made into pulp, cleaned, aerated, screened, bleached, pressed, cut and baled. 

Entire Lesson

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Other Resources

Science World at TELUS World of Science | School Workshop | EnviroChallenge
Science World at TELUS World of Science | Our World: BMO Sustainability Gallery
Metro Vancouver | Education
Waste Reduction Week Canada
Recycling Council of British Columbia | Education
North Shore Recycling Program | School Programs

Looking for a wrap-up activity? Check out SuperGreen Trivia