Understanding Recycling and its Relationship to the Environment

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Understanding Recycling and its Relationship to
the Environment
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Next Generation Science/Common Core Standards
Addressed!

• HS-ESS3-2. Evaluate competing design solutions
  for developing, managing, and utilizing energy
  and mineral resources based on cost-benefit
  ratios. Clarification Statement Emphasis is on
  the conservation, recycling, and reuse of
  resources (such as minerals and metals) where
  possible, and on minimizing impacts where it is
  not. Examples include developing best practices
  for agricultural soil use, mining(for coal, tar
  sands, and oil shale), and pumping (for petroleum
  and natural gas). Science knowledge indicates
  what can happen in natural systemsnot what
  should happen.
• HS-ETS1-2. Design a solution to a complex
  real-world problem by breaking it down into
  smaller, more manageable problems that can be
  solved through engineering. HS-ETS1-3. Evaluate a
  solution to a complex real-world problem based on
  prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account
  for a range of constraints, including cost,
  safety, reliability, and aesthetics, as well as
  possible social, cultural, and environmental
  impacts.

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Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resource Standards
Addressed

• ESS.04.02. Manage safe disposal of all categories
  of solid waste in environmental service systems.
• ESS.04.02.03.a. Research and summarize the
  benefits and processes of composting.
• ESS.04.02.04.a. Examine and describe the
  importance and potential impact of recycling.

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Bell Work/Learning Objectives

• What is the recycling process.
• What is the importance of recycling.
• Identify ways in which people can make a
  difference through recycling.
• Identify items that can be recycled.

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Terms

• Recycling
• Remanufacturing
• Renewable natural resources
• Reusing

• Compost
• Composting
• Microbes
• Natural Resources
• Nonrenewable natural resources

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What is Recycling?

• What are the advantages to recycling?
• What are the disadvantages to recycling?
• Which one out ways or is more important than the
  other?

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Recycling

• Reusing a product or using waste materials to
  make a new product.
• In recycling, products are broken down,
  reprocessed, and returned to active use instead
  of being discarded.

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Recycling

• Key component of waste management and is vital to
  the conservation of natural resources.
• In addition, recycling will save energy and
  extend the life span of landfills.
• As the population has increased in the United
  States, the amount of waste generated has
  increased dramatically.
• As landfills begin to fill, recycling is quickly
  becoming a necessity.

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Reusing

• Using a product again without remanufacturing.
• A form of recycling.
• Cleaning a glass bottle after use and refilling
  it is a good example of reusing a product.

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Remanufacturing

• Making a previously used product into another
  product.
• A form of recycling.
• For example, aluminum, steel, plastic, and glass
  containers can all be melted down and reformed
  into new containers.

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Importance of Recycling

• Recycling is important for numerous reasons.
• For instance, recycling conserves natural
  resources, reduces pollution, saves energy, saves
  money, saves landfill space, and creates
  recycling jobs.
• As population continues to grow recycling will
  become more important than ever before.
• Many urban areas require sorting of recyclable
  waster before it is picked up by municipal waste
  carriers.

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Natural Resources

• Raw materials supplied by nature such as
  minerals, water, and plants.
• Any item that is produced, used and thrown away
  comes from natural resources.
• Natural resources are classified as renewable and
  nonrenewable.

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Renewable Natural Resources

• Renewable natural resources can be replenished.
• Examples include trees and other plants, animals,
  and water.

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Nonrenewable Natural Resources

• Nonrenewable natural resources cant be replaced.
  
• Examples include minerals, natural gas, coal and
  oil.

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Recycling

• Helps to reduce pollution, reduces the demand for
  the incineration of waste and by reducing the
  manufacturing of new items.
• Saves energy
• To illustrate this point, it takes half as much
  energy to make a recycled newspaper as it takes
  to make fresh newsprint from trees.
• Saves money
• For example, scrap aluminum is about half the
  price of raw aluminum.

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Recycling

• Helps save landfill space, which is very
  important due to the fact that waste continues to
  increase as the population grows.
• The ability to develop new landfill sites will
  continue to become increasingly more difficult.
• Helps in the creation of jobs due to the need to
  separate and remanufacture the waste.

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Recycling

• By practicing the four Rs everyone can make a
  difference.
• Reduce
• Reuse
• Recycle
• Rebuy

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Reduce

• Reduce the amount of waste created.
• Listed below are ways in which people can reduce
  waste
• Give away or sell things that are no longer used,
  instead of throwing them away.
• Compost yard waste.
• Use paper on both sides.
• Borrow things that you dont use very often,
  instead of buying them.
• Dont use disposable utensils, cups, and plates.

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Reuse

• Using products more than once.
• Listed below are ideas for reusing products
• Reuse glass containers to store food.
• Pack lunches in reusable containers instead of
  using lunch sacks.
• Use grocery bags to hold garbage instead of
  buying garbage bags.

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Recycle

• Changing one product into another.
• If items are not reusable, then be sure to
  recycle the product if at all possible.

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Rebuy

• Buying products made from recycled materials.
• Buying recycled products completes the cycle.
• If you dont buy recycled products, it defeats
  the purpose of recycling.

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Recyclable Items

• Many types of materials can be recycled.
• Check with local recycling centers to see what
  items they accept for recycling.
• The following materials can be recycled
  aluminum, paper, glass, plastics, metals, and
  lubricating oils.

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Aluminum, Paper and Glass

• Aluminum
• About two-thirds of all aluminum cans in the
  United States are recycled.
• Paper products
• Nearly half of all wastepaper in the United
  States is recycled.
• Glass
• It is important to separate the colors. Colored
  glass should not be mixed with clear glass.

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Plastics and Metals

• Plastic
• It typically takes 200 to 400 years to decay in a
  landfill.
• Plastic items are coded based on the type of
  plastic used in making the product. In order to
  recycle plastic, it must be sorted by codes.
• Metals
• Metal from old cars can be recycled.

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Lubricating Oils

• Oil dumped into a water source or on the ground
  could cause pollution problems.
• It is recommended that used oils are collected
  and recycled.

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Composting

• A waste management technique in which organic
  matter is decomposed through the action of
  microbes and other decomposers such as
  earthworms.
• Microbes are microscopic organisms such as
  bacteria and fungi.
• The composting process yields compost that can be
  used as soil amendment to enrich or improve the
  consistency of soil.

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Composting

• Composting turns organic matter, such as grass
  clippings, fallen leaves, or food waste into a
  rich, natural fertilizer.

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Composting Process

• Requires organic matter, decomposers, water, and
  oxygen.
• When compost bins have sufficient water and air,
  bacteria will thrive.
• Bacteria can generate temperatures of up to 150
  degrees Fahrenheit.
• Compost bins vary in design and construction
  they are usually made of a variety of materials.

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Composting Process

• A mixture a several materials will decompose
  faster than a single material and adding water
  and partially decomposed animal manure promotes
  bacterial action, which leads to quicker
  decomposition.
• Composting can be used on a large scale by waste
  disposal systems or on a small scale by people at
  their homes.

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Composting Method

• Place coarse stems and twigs at the bottom of the
  compost bin.
• Alternate a one-inch layer of soil with two
  inches of organic waste, add small amounts of
  fertilizer, and add water.
• Add a one-inch top layer of soil on the completed
  pile.

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Composting Method

• Add earthworms
• Add water periodically to keep the pile moist but
  not soggy.
• Promote air circulation.

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Review / Summary

• Understand the recycling process.
• Understand the importance of recycling.
• Identify ways in which people can make a
  difference through recycling.
• Identify items that can be recycled.
• Understand the composting process.

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The End!