What should we recycle for kids

The pulp is injected between wire mesh sheets to form a wet sheet of paper. This is dried and new paper is made out of recycled paper. After it is dry, the paper is polished and rolled into big reels.

Some of these are 30 feet wide and weigh up to 30 tons! The paper reels are cut into small sizes and sold to companies that need paper for their products. Fun facts about paper recycling: It takes 17 trees to make one ton of paper! Some paper grades can be recycled seven times. Plastic bottles to be recycled are collected from recycling points and from the recycling bins in your neighborhood. The bottles are taken away in big trucks to be sorted and smashed into big plastic blocks.

The blocks can be many feet across and are taken to a recycling factor. They are chopped into small plastic flakes — think small, colorful corn flakes. The flakes are washed and dried and taken to be melted and made into new plastic items.

Fun facts about plastic recycling: A plastic bottle recycled can save as much energy as it takes to light a 60 watt bulb for six hours! Also, old plastic bottles can be turned into new products such as car parts, carpeting and clothes. Glass is especially important to recycle because it will never decompose in landfills. Glass bottles are thrown into recycling bins, and the glass is picked up in trucks and taken to a glass treatment facility.

The glass is hand sorted by color and washed to get rid of contaminants. The glass bottles are crushed and melted and molded into new jars and bottles. Fun facts about glass recycling: Glass does not degrade through recycling, so it can be used endlessly. Also, old glass bottles can be used for new products such as bricks and for many decorative uses. Consumers throw aluminum cans into recycling bins. The aluminum is collected in trucks and taken to a special aluminum treatment plant.

The aluminum cans and other items are sorted and cleaned. It is remelted and turned into liquid aluminum. This removes the colorings and coatings. The aluminum is made into giant blocks called ingots. Each ingot has about 1. The ingots are shipped to mills where they are rolled out; this provides the aluminum with more strength and flexibility. The recycled aluminum sheets are then fashioned into new contains, such as cans, food packaging and chocolate wrappers.

In just a few weeks the recycled aluminum products are back in stores and ready to be sold again. Fun fact about aluminum recycling: Most of the bauxite used to make aluminum cans is mined in tropical forests. So recycling aluminum saves our precious rainforests! Used cardboard is picked up from community recycling centers, offices, stores and factories.

All cardboard is sent to a waste cardboard company that puts it into large bails to transport it to the paper mill. At the mill, a forklift picks up the bales and puts them onto a conveyor. It is sent to the pulping machine. In the pulper, water anc chemicals are added to make a mushy, soggy pulp. The pulp is purified and cleaned, ink removed and dried into flat rolls of paper. The big rolls of new paper are cut into smaller rolls and sold to customers that will make them into all kinds of cardboard for packaging, containers and boxes.

Recycling does not have to be difficult. With the tips below, anyone can recycle and help our environment for current and future generations:. It is important to know what we should and should not do in recycling. Here are some simple tips:. Large plastic bottles can be used as hanging planters.

They can go home with students or be hung in the school as a lovely hanging garden to promote recycling in your school. Aluminum beverage pop tops become wearable jewelry, thanks to some ribbon ninja work. Put this video onto your interactive whiteboard to give your students the full and then get crafting. Get into the swing of spring by making plastic bottle birdfeeders.

Talk to local nature stores about getting bird seed donated. And for every six tons of recycled container glass used in manufacturing, we can reduce one ton of carbon dioxide emissions, which contribute to climate change.

Make sure the plastic containers are empty and dry. When they are processed for recycling, the bottles and caps are ground into plastic flakes that are vigorously washed and separated in a tank where different materials float and sink.

The United States annually recycles enough iron and steel scrap metals known as ferrous scrap , by weight, to build more than Golden Gate Bridges — a bridge stretching nearly 9, feet. More than 52 million tons of paper products were recycled in Recycling helps save energy. If you recycle one glass bottle, it saves enough energy to light a watt bulb for four hours , power a computer for 30 minutes, or a television for 20 minutes.

Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a inch HDTV to watch your favorite movie. If we recycled all of the aluminum cans in the U. What happens to recycled plastic containers? Recycled plastic can also be used in creating other things like cell phone cases, playground equipment, clothes, and rugs. Did you know recycling has always been a part of the process of making paper?

Paper, as we know it today, is believed to have originated from China thousands of years ago, made out of mulberry bark, hemp, and rags mixed with water, mashed into pulp, pressed, and hung to dry in the sun. As adults, we know it usually ends up in a landfill. But by teaching your kids about eco-friendly practices and using them in your home, they will understand not only where trash ends up, but how they can be a part of producing less waste.

This guide can help you talk to your kids about recycling and what it is, challenges, and how they can improve our recycling efforts every day. When your kids ask you what recycling is, it may be difficult to get all the terms right. The terms reduce, reuse, and recycle sound so similar and need to be explained in ways children can understand, in a way they can easily get the concepts and meaning of green practices.

In the process, we can also educate ourselves about the relationship between these three words and their importance. Reuse —means to find ways to reuse some items we already have, instead of throwing them away.

This includes toys, paper, electronics, and more. Reusing items saves the energy it costs to create a new one and reduces overall pollution. Recycle —this is probably the most well-known term, but also needs to be explained correctly. Some things and materials may not be reused in their current form but can be turned back into raw material and used to make new items, such as kids' swim shorts.

This way, we can waste less and help the environment. Recyclable items include soda and other aluminum cans, plastic water bottles and milk cartons, newspapers, cereal boxes, and old computers, depending on your local recycling program. Encourage your children to recycle as many items as they can. Over million Americans recycle. When you finish a box of cereal or a bottle of water, it is important to recycle for the following reasons. Knowing what to do and what not to do when recycling is also important.

Recycling is not hard, but it does need to be reinforced. By designating different roles to your kids, they can learn about the importance of recycling. These are just some of the ways you can teach your kids the importance of recycling and how they can contribute. What better way to teach a young person about taking care of our planet than by learning some fun recycling facts? Recycling is the processes of taking an organic material such as glass, plastic, metal, or paper, and processing it so that it can be used all over again!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle — three great ways to be kind to the planet. But how can you do each? Reduce: Only use things you really need. Reduce your waste by only using what you need. Reduce your use of plastic water bottles by drinking water from a reusable sports bottle or glass at home.

Reuse: Have you ever used a shoe box to collect treasures? Good job! That means you reused it!