Recycling - How you can help!

Have you ever wondered what happens to the things you Recycle? Here we cover the benefits, the facts, and how you can help to make our planet a better place. We also have some videos compliments of YouTube.com about Recycling & Global Warming.

What Exactly is Recycling?

Recycling is a term that describes the process of converting "waste" into resources that can be made into new products. It sounds simple, but there are several critical steps involved:

First, it is up to us to separate recyclable material from regular garbage.
Then, your city collects the materials, sorts them, and sends them for recycling; the materials go to companies all over the world.
These companies use the recycled materials as feedstock to produce new products, conserving natural resources.
The process isn't over yet! Then we need to buy items made from recycled materials to ensure that companies continue to use recycled material in their products.
Buy Recycled!

Recycling Videos

Whats your Carbon Footprint?

One of the first things you should know is what your carbon footprint is, to see what you help contribute to the pollution of the Earth. For that we will send you to Zerofootprintkids.com.

	Zero Foot Print is a children friendly site that will show you just how much you help contribute to the problem that faces us all.

The Facts about Recycling

	Every ton of paper that is recycled saves 17 trees.		Recycling and composting diverted nearly 70 million tons of material away from landfills and incinerators in 2000, up from 34 million tons in 1990-doubling in just 10 years.
	The energy we save when we recycle one glass bottle is enough to light a light bulb for four hours.		Recycling benefits the air and water by creating a net reduction in ten major categories of air pollutants and eight major categories of water pollutants.
	In North America, we produce enough garbage each day, to fill 70,000 garbage trucks. Lined up bumper to bumper, over a year, they would stretch halfway to the moon.		Since 1950, Canadians have consumed as much as all the generations before us combined.
	Canadians take home more than 55 million plastic bags each week.		To create just one kilogram of consumer goods, manufacturers create five kilograms of waste.
	It takes 95% less energy to recycle aluminum than it does to make it from raw materials. Making recycled steel saves 60%, recycled newspaper 40%, recycled plastics 70%, and recycled glass 40%. These savings far outweigh the energy created as by-products of incineration and landfilling.		A national recycling rate of 30% reduces greenhouse gas emissions by as much as removing nearly 25 million cars from the road.
	Recycling conserves natural resources, such as timber, water, and minerals.		When one ton of steel is recycled, 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone are conserved.
	Recycling prevents habitat destruction, loss of biodiversity, and soil erosion associated with logging and mining.		Tree farms and reclaimed mines are not ecologically equivalent to natural forests and ecosystems.
	Every bit of recycling makes a difference. For example, one year of recycling on just one college campus, Stanford University, saved the equivalent of 33,913 trees and the need for 636 tons of iron ore, coal, and limestone.		Mining is the world's most deadly occupation. On average, 40 mine workers are killed on the job each day, and many more are injured. Recycling reduces the need for mining.

If everyone on the earth lived like the average Canadian, we would need at least four planets to sustain our lifestyles and provide all the materials and energy we currently use.

We create a lot of waste - over 1,000 kilograms per person each year. Did you know the majority of stuff we throw out isn't "waste" at all? It can be reused or recycled!

What happens to the Stuff I Recycle?

Office Paper

The average office worker generates about 73kg of waste each year.
80% of that waste is recyclable paper products.
Recycled office paper can become new office paper.

Cardboard

Cardboard boxes can contain up to 100% recycled fibres.
On average, the recycled content of a cardboard box is about 59%.
The cardboard box is one of the most widely recycled items, the national recovery rate is about 80%.

Newspaper

About 40, 000 trees are cut down each day just to produce the newsprint for Canada's daily papers.
Recycling newspapers and magazines reduces the need for mining clay soils, which is used to make newsprint pulp.
Old newsprint is made into new newsprint (so the Sunday comics you're reading now may be the Sports pages you read two months ago!).

Plastics

Plastics take about 400 years to break down in a landfill.
PET plastic bottles collected for recycling in BC are usually made into carpeting and fibrefill for pillows, sleeping bags and ski jackets, but can also be made into t-shirts and fleeces, automotive parts, and floor tiles!
Most plastic containers have a code on the bottom that tells you what type of plastic it is.

Glass

It takes one million years for a glass bottle to break down in a landfill.
In BC, recycled container glass is used to create new bottles and jars, fiberglass, and is used as aggregate material in roads and sidewalks.
If laid end to end, all the glass bottles collected in recycling programs in Canada would circle the equator four times.

Aluminum

Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a television for 3 hours.
Aluminum takes 500 years to break down in a landfill.
Aluminum is the most valuable recyclable material, when they have been re-melted, aluminum cans can be used in any product made from aluminum.

Steel (Tin) Cans

When recovered steel is used instead of iron ore to make new steel, water consumption is reduced by about 50%.
It would take about 100 years for a steel can to break down through natural processes.
Most of the steel cans collected in BC are recycled in the Pacific Northwest region.

Last Updated on Friday, 08 May 2009 07:12

Earth Facts

What percentage of the world’s water is in the oceans?

About 97 percent. Oceans make up about two-thirds of Earth's surface, which means that when the next asteroid hits the planet, odds are good it will splash down.

From SPACE.com - 101 Amazing Earth Facts
By Robert Roy Britt - Senior Science Writer

Earth Links

A site that shows students what their carbon foot print is, and gives suggestions on how we can improve it.

Air
A site with various air related topics for youth.

Envirofacts Data Warehouse
The Envirofacts Warehouse is a one-stop resource for environmental information on all topics from waste, water and air to radiation.

Environmental Canada Kids
A general environmental education site with links for homework help, knowledge tests, contests and clubs and more governmental environmental sites for kids.

Game Room
A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency site for Kids, called the Environmental Kids Club, containing games on various environmental subjects.

Global Warming
A website that talks about global warming\'s details, effects/problems, and ways that it could be fixed in the future.

National Geographic Global Warming
A site dedicate to explaining global warming that is perfect for simply gathering general information, or doing research homework.

How Global Warming Works
An article on the site "Howstuffworks" containing the basics on how global warming really works.

Kids Face- Mission: Helping Habitats
A website designed for kids to explain habitats and how human population growth hurts other species.

kidsRgreen
A website designed for kids that explains Global Warming, the environment and ways we can all help the environment.

Make A Difference
This site contains ten tips about how to make a difference and do your part for the environment. The tips can be used by any person of any age.

Natural Disasters
A website discussion the issue of natural disasters such as volcanoes, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes.

Ozone Alerts
A site for information on the ozone that can help students with their homework and assignments as well as provide general information regarding the topic.

Pollution: A Global Threat to the Environment
A website discussing pollutants and the detrimental impacts they have on our environment.