A teacher's guide to recycling education in the classroom - Guide compiled and provided by
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A teacher’s guide to recycling
education in the classroom
Guide compiled and provided by
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
- Margaret Mead, 1901 - 1978
Welcome to the first edition of “Why Recycle? - A teacher’s guide to
recycling education in the classroom.” Greenstar is proud to offer this
complimentary guide to all interested educators. In addition to
background information on the solid waste and recycling industry, this
resource describes five recyclable commodities: aluminum, steel, plastic,
glass and paper. The guide provides the following for each material:
overview, material composition, recycling process, statistics (“fast facts”)
and subject application (“curriculum corner”).
Greenstar understands their role in and importance of education with
respect to environmental stewardship. We see the value of working
together and reaching out to everyone to help them understand that
individuals truly can make a difference.
Our locations offer unique tours for hundreds of school children
throughout the year in order to foster environmentally sustainable
behaviors for generations to come. In addition to offering facility tours,
Greenstar hosts, sponsors and participates in countless local events,
reinforcing their commitment and dedication to community involvement.
For more information on school tours, educational materials and
sponsorships, please visit www.Greenstar-NA.com.
- 2 -
Why Recycle?
A teacher’s guide to recycling
education in the classroom
Table of Contents
What is Garbage? ……..….. 4
Importance of Recycling …… 5
Aluminum ……………………….6
Tin/Steel ……………...……… 7
Plastics ……………….…….. 8
Glass ……………………….. 9
Paper ……………….….. 10
Beyond Recycling ……. 11
Disclaimer: Greenstar in no way claims the following guidebook is an exhaustive list of all available resources and any omission is not intentional.
The information found within is truthful and complete to our knowledge. Should you find otherwise, please contact us at 515-265-1208, as this
guidebook is a continual work in progress. We strive to provide the most current and accurate information available to educators.
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Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)—more commonly known as trash or garbage—consists of
everyday items such as product packaging, grass clippings, furniture, clothing, bottles, food
scraps, newspapers, appliances, paint and batteries. In 2006, US residents, businesses, and
institutions produced more than 251 million tons of MSW, which is approximately 4.6 pounds of
waste per person per day. Americans use by far the most resources per capita in the world.
The average American consumes nearly 20 times more than the average citizen of Mexico
and hundreds of times more than an average Ethiopian. In fact, if everybody used as many
resources as Americans, we’d need more than 5 planets to sustain ourselves.
Below are charts showing how much waste we generate (prior to recycling) and what
percentage of common materials are recycled. Notice that paper, plastics and metals comprise
over half of all materials generated. These three items are easily recyclable and most
communities already offer recycling services for them.
There are many things we can do to properly manage, prevent or divert the waste we create.
Source reduction involves altering the design, manufacture or use of products and materials to
reduce the amount and toxicity of what gets thrown away. Recycling diverts items, such as
paper, glass, plastic and metals, from the waste stream. These materials are sorted, collected
and processed and then manufactured, sold and bought as new products. Composting
decomposes organic waste, such as food scraps and yard trimmings, with microorganisms
(mainly bacteria and fungi), producing a humus-like substance.
Other practices address those materials that require disposal. Landfills are engineered areas
where waste is placed into the land. Landfills usually have liner systems and other safeguards
to prevent groundwater contamination. Combustion is another MSW practice that has helped
reduce the amount of landfill space needed. Combustion facilities burn MSW at a high
temperature, reducing waste volume and generating electricity.
EPA has ranked the most environmentally sound
strategies for MSW. Source reduction (including
reuse) is the most preferred method, followed by
recycling and composting, and, lastly, disposal in
combustion facilities and landfills. Currently, in the
United States, 32.5% is recovered and recycled or
composted, 12.5% is burned at combustion facilities,
and the remaining 55% is disposed of in landfills.
MSW information compiled from the US Environmental Protection Agency: www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/facts.htm
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Recycling, including composting, diverted 82 million tons of material away from disposal in
2006, up from 15 million tons in 1980. As a whole, Americans recycle or compost about
1/3 of their waste. Typical materials that are recycled include batteries, recycled at a rate of
99%, paper and paperboard at 52%, and yard trimmings at 62%. These materials and others
may be recycled through curbside programs, drop-off centers, buy-back programs and
deposit systems.
Curbside Program Drop-Off Center Deposit System
Once the materials are gathered using these various systems, they are most often
transported using large packer trucks and semi-trucks to a recycling processing center. At
the recycling center, the materials go through a variety of processing, including sorting,
shredding, crushing, cleaning and baling to prepare them for the manufacturing mills. These
mills are usually specialized to one type of recyclable – i.e. a paper mill or a glass processing
facility – where the materials are further processed into new products (also known as end-
products) for consumers to purchase.
These materials have been processed and are ready to ship to mills. L to R: cardboard, glass, PET soda bottles, and aluminum cans.
The chasing arrows so closely aligned with recycling are called the Mobius
Loop. The three arrows represent the steps in the recycling process: collect,
reprocess and reuse. The last step is most important part of the process:
ensuring that consumers buy the item made with recycled material, also called
a recycled content product. Look closely at labels when you shop to make
sure you’re selecting products made with recycled materials.
There are several benefits associated with recycling. Recycling prevents the emission of
many greenhouse gases affecting global climate, prevents release of several air and water
pollutants, saves energy, supplies valuable raw materials to industry, creates jobs, stimulates
the development of greener technologies, conserves resources for our children's future and
reduces the need for new landfills and combustors.
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Ninety-five percent of all beer and soft drink cans in the United States are made of
aluminum. American can-makers produce about 100 billion aluminum beverage cans a
year, equivalent to one can per American per day. While almost all food cans are made of
steel, aluminum's unique properties make it ideal for holding carbonated beverages.
The raw material of the aluminum beverage can is, of course, aluminum.
Aluminum is derived from an ore called bauxite, which is a nonrenewable
resource. The bauxite is refined and then smelted, and the resulting
molten aluminum is cast into ingots. A large portion of the aluminum used
in the beverage can industry is derived from recycled material. The
average aluminum cans contains approximately 51% recycled material.
Using aluminum cans to make new aluminum cans saves 95% of the
energy needed to make the cans directly from the bauxite ore. That
means you can make 20 cans out of recycled material with the
same energy it takes to make one can out of new material.
Fast Facts:
• The aluminum beverage can returns to the grocer’s shelf as a new, filled can in as
little as 60 days after collection. That means a consumer could purchase
basically the same recycled aluminum can from a grocer’s shelf approximately
every 9 weeks, or 6 times a year.
• While aluminum cans are typically recycled into more aluminum cans, they can also be
used to manufacture window frames, highway signs, storm doors, pie plates,
thumbtacks and license plates.
• Americans throw away enough aluminum every three months to rebuild our entire
commercial air fleet.
• Recycling just one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a television for 3 hours.
• Recycling 1 ton of aluminum cans saves enough energy to power 950 computers or
TVs for a week or 120 100-watt light bulbs for a week (approximately 10 homes)
• One ton of recycled aluminum saves 14,000 Kwh of energy, 40 barrels (1,663 gallons)
of oil, 238 million Btu's of energy and 10 cubic yards of landfill space.
ARITHMETIC
The first beverage can, filled by a brewer in Newark, New Jersey in 1935, weighed three
ounces. Today, an aluminum beverage can weighs one-half ounce — 600% less than the
original beverage can.
Math Question #1: How many aluminum beverage cans does it take to equal one pound?
Math Question #2: The average bale of aluminum beverage cans weighs 1,000 pounds. How many
cans on average are in one bale?
Math Question #3: A full truckload of aluminum headed to the mill for reprocessing contains
approximately 43 bales. How many cans are in each truckload?
Answers: 1. 32 cans 2. 32,000 cans 3. 1,376,000 cans
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Steel is a part of our daily life even if you don’t realize it. Steel cans package a wide variety of
products including fruits, vegetables, soups, sauces, meats, juice, pet food, cleaning products, shoe
polish, paint and coffee. Oftentimes called “tin cans,” these containers are actually 99% steel, with a
thin layer of tin added to prevent rusting.
The recycling process for steel cans is similar to that of aluminum. At
the recycling processing facility, magnets are used to separate steel cans
from other recyclables. The steel cans are then crushed into large
cubes called bales and shipped to steel mills or foundries for recycling.
Steel cans are combined with other steel scrap and melted in a furnace
to make new steel for new steel products. Basic oxygen steel furnaces
can use 28% scrap steel as feed stock while electric arc furnaces can
use up to 100% scrap steel.
Like aluminum, steel can be recycled over and over without wearing out.
More than two-thirds of the amount of steel produced each year is
recycled, making steel the most actively recycled material. Recycled
steel cans are used to make new steel products including steel cans,
automobiles, bridges, appliances and construction materials.
Using old steel to make new steel has many environmental benefits including landfill conservation,
natural resource and energy preservation and reduced pollution. Recycling steel cans saves 74% of
the energy used to produce them from raw materials. Scrap steel reduces related water pollution,
air pollution, and mining wastes by about 70%. For every ton of steel recycled, 2500 pounds of
iron ore, 1400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone are conserved. And in a year, the steel
industry conserves the equivalent energy to power about 18 million homes for 12 months.
Fast Facts:
• Americans use 100 million tin and steel cans every day, enough to make a steel pipe running from
Los Angeles to New York and back again daily.
• We throw away enough steel every year to build all the new cars made in America.
• Recycling one pound of steel conserves enough energy to light a 60-watt light bulb for 26 hours
(5,450 BTU) (Approximately 7 cat food cans or 4 dog food cans = 1 pound)
• More than 28% of the average new steel can consists of recycled steel.
• The steel industry recycles nearly 19 billion steel cans into new products, equating to 600 steel cans
being recycled every second.
Steel recycling information compiled from the Steel Recycling Institute: www.recycle-steel.org
PR/MARKETING
Steel and iron components make up nearly 65% of the average automotive vehicle. The steel
used in car bodies is made with a minimum of 25% recycled steel, and many internal
automotive parts, such as engine blocks, are made using even higher percentages of
recycled steel.
Marketing Question: What car manufacturers are promoting the recycled content usage in their
automobiles?
Marketing Project: Design an advertising/marketing campaign to promote not only the recycled
content used in vehicles, but also the environmental benefits from using recycled steel. Be sure to
include the answer to WIIFM (What’s in it for me?) to engage consumers in the recycling process.
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Plastic plays an integral role in our lives as an affordable yet sturdy material for many of the items
we use every day. Plastic is one form of polymers that are composed of a long chain of smaller
molecules known as monomers. Monomers themselves are made of atoms that are usually extracted
from natural or organic substances, and are generally classified as petrochemicals. All sorts of
monomers can be utilized in the creation of plastic. Plastics are mostly made from petroleum (oil).
# Type Common Usage
There are thousands of plastics, but many plastic 1 PET/PETE Soft Drink, Mouthwash and Peanut Butter Containers
consumer containers can be categorized using the # 1 2 HDPE Milk, Shampoo and Detergent Containers; Grocery Bags
- # 7 classification system. Simply look at the 3 PVC Packaging, Cable Insulation, Construction Products
bottom of a container for the recycling mobius—the 4 LDPE Stretch/Shrink Wrap; Redemption Bags
number inside the arrows tells the type of plastic. 5 PP Yogurt, Margarine and Medicine Containers
6 PS Egg Cartons, Sytrofoam Cups/Plates
7 Other 3 and 5‐Gallon Reusable Water Bottles
All of these seven types can be recycled if you find the right market. The
order of most to least commonly recycled is PETE, HDPE, LDPE, PP, PVC,
PS and Other. HDPE and PET bottles show the highest recycling rates of
any plastic bottles types, at 23.8% and 22.8% respectively.
Plastics are recycled using several techniques including sorting, code-separating, cleaning, granulating,
pelletizing, flaking, melting and spinning. Plastics are not typically recycled into more food
containers, but instead make a wide variety of consumer products. PET is most commonly used in
carpeting, clothing and strapping. HDPE is recycled into new non-food containers, plastic piping,
lawn and garden products, plastic lumber and injection molding products (i.e. buckets, crates and
automobile parts).
Fast Facts:
• Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.
• Recycling 1 ton of plastic milk jugs saves enough energy to light a home for approximately 1 year
(10,000 plastic milk jugs = 1 ton).
• Since 1990, plastic bottle recycling has increased six-fold.
• PET & HDPE accounted for more than 99% of the 1.45 billion pounds of bottles recycled. The two
resins also accounted for more than 94% of all resins used in the production of plastic bottles
during 1998.
• Five PET bottles yield enough fiber to make an extra large T-shirt.
• It takes 35 two-liter PET bottles to produce enough fiberfill for a sleeping bag.
CHEMISTRY & WRITING
Chemistry (Older Students)
Plastics have a chemical property known as permeability, meaning it has the ability to
absorb and/or take on the qualities of what is contained inside the plastic container.
Can you think of an example? A ketchup bottle smelling like ketchup after being thoroughly rinsed
How is our skin like plastics? Skin absorbs lotion applied to it; you cannot remove the lotion later
Why is this an important fact to know? Plastics previously containing a dangerous substance should not be
recycled into something that holds a food product. For example, a plastic container holding motor oil should
never be recycled into a drink container - in fact, it shouldn’t be recycled at all!
Writing (Younger Students)
Grammar, penmanship and communication are all very important skills. Have your students practice
these as they write a letter to a company that uses/manufactures plastics to thank them for recycling
and/or to ask them to do more to recycle.
Example: A school in Des Moines, Iowa wrote to Heinz Ketchup asking them to use either a #1 or #2 plastic for
their ketchup bottles since a #5 plastic was not recyclable in their area. Heinz responded to them personally and
shipped only #1 and #2 bottles to the Des Moines market area.
- 8 -
Glass is the oldest form of recycled material, produced by the Egyptians in 12,000 B.C. for jewelry
and drinking cups. Glass can be recycled again and again with no loss in quality or purity.
In 2005, glass made up 5.2% of the municipal solid waste stream by weight, and 25.3% of those
glass containers were recycled. In many recycling programs, glass must be separated by color,
usually into flint (clear), green and amber (brown). Before recycling glass, make sure that it is a
container and is contaminant-free. Keep out non-container glass and metals, such as ceramic
cups/plates/pottery, laboratory glass, drinking glasses, mirrors, light bulbs, metal caps/lids/neck rings.
Recycled glass is turned into “cullet,” which is furnace-ready scrap glass, through a cleaning and
crushing process. Paper labels and metal lids are removed with a vacuum and magnet respectively.
The containers are then crushed into pea-sized pieces. This cullet is then mixed, or “batched,”
with silica, sand, soda ash and limestone – with up to 70% of the mixture being recycled glass.
These combined materials are then heated to a temperature of 2600 to 2800 degrees Fahrenheit
and molded into the desired shape.
Recycled glass is used for new glass containers, fiberglass insulation,
road beds (aggregate), concrete block and glassphalt (asphalt).
Manufacturers benefit from recycling in several ways - it reduces
emissions and consumption of raw materials, extends the life of
plant equipment, such as furnaces, and saves energy.
Fast Facts:
• As late as 1947, virtually 100% of all beverage bottles were
returnable.
• The average American can save six pounds of glass in a month.
• Every day, Americans recycle about 13 million glass jars and bottles.
• All newly purchased glass food jars contain at least 35% recycled glass.
• Recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for 4 hours.
• Making glass from recycled materials cuts related air pollution 20%, water pollution
50% and mining waste 75%.
• We save over a ton of resources for every ton of glass recycled -- 1,330 pounds of
sand, 433 pounds of soda ash, 433 pounds of limestone and 151 pounds of feldspar.
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Why did Egyptians choose gold for jewelry when they had so many other precious gems available?
Egyptians considered glass to be in the same league as precious gems and metals, that the process of
creating glass stimulated special and priceless magical powers.
What significance did the jewelry hold? Why was ornamentation so important?
The ancient Egyptians loved ornamentation. In their typical holistic fashion, fine jewelry was valued not only for
beauty but also for the magical and spiritual protection it provided for its wearer.
Egypt utilized many resources from the environment to create a distinctive culture. Encourage your students to
learn more about the culture of Egypt:
Significance of Glass Beads/Jewelry: http://www.egyptmonth.com/mag4.htm
Ancient Egyptian Culture: http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/egypt/index.shtml
Life in Ancient Egypt: http://www.watson.org/~leigh/egypt.html
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The average American uses 650 pounds of paper per year. Paper, which is primarily made from
trees, is 40% of all that we throw away. In 2005, a record 51.5% of the paper consumed in the
U.S. (51.3 million tons) was recovered for recycling. That’s a high recycling rate compared to some
other materials, but we’re still throwing away nearly half of all recyclable paper.
All paper (i.e. fiber) is recyclable, but not indefinitely. Individual fibers become too short after
about 6 times through the recycling process. During the recycling process, which can be likened
to doing laundry with water, detergents and driers, paper is shredded & mixed with water to make
pulp. Pulp is washed, refined and cleaned, then turned to slush in a beater. Color dyes, coatings
and other additives are mixed in, and the pulp slush is pumped onto a large moving screen. As
the pulp travels down the screen, water is drained away and recycled. The resulting paper sheet,
also known as web, is pressed between massive rollers to extract most of the remaining water and
to ensure smoothness and uniform thickness. The semidry web is then run through heated dryer
rollers to remove any remaining water. The finished paper is then wound into large rolls, which
can be 30 feet wide and weigh close to 25 tons. A slitter cuts the paper into smaller, more
manageable rolls, and the paper is ready for use.
Recycled paper is turned into a wide variety of products. Cardboard will most likely be used to
make more cardboard and paperboard (cereal and shoe boxes). Newspaper is usually made into
new newspaper, but can also be used for egg cartons, paperboard and building insulation. Other
types of paper including printing paper, junk mail and magazines can return to us as more paper,
paperboard, tissue, paper towels and napkins.
Fast Facts:
• Each ton of recycled paper saves an estimated 17 trees, 4100 kilowatt hours of energy, 7000
gallons of water, 60 pounds of air pollution and 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space
• The average office worker produces 1.5 pounds of waste each day while work. Of that, 1/3
is 100% recyclable paper products.
• Each and every day, Americans recover well over 2 million pounds of paper.
• More than 1/3 of the fiber used to make paper products is made from recycled paper.
• It takes 75,000 trees to print a Sunday Edition of the New York Times.
• Americans throw away enough office and writing paper annually to build a wall 12 feet high
stretching from Los Angeles to New York City.
HISTORY
Did you know that paper was first used in 3,000 B.C.? Paper, whose name is derived from
papyrus, in its earliest form was made mostly from the inner bark of paper mulberry, fig and
daphne.
When did the first paper mill open in the U.S.? England began making large supplies of paper in the
late 15th century and supplied the colonies with paper for many years. It wasn’t until 1690 that the
first U.S. paper mill was built.
Encourage your students to learn more about the history of paper:
www.paperrecycles.org/paper_environment
www.paperonline.org/history/history_frame.html
- 10 -So, is recycling old news to you and you want to do more for the world? Below are 12 things
you can do to lessen your environmental impact. Try to introduce one new action into your life
every month. Think of the impact you’ll have by the end of a year….or 10 years!
Buy products made from recycled material. The
loop doesn’t close unless consumers purchase the
new products made of the materials they recycled.
Look for the recycling symbol and a message like
“this product contains 100% recycled material.”
Precycle. As you’re shopping, look for unnecessary packaging.
Examples include a cardboard-backed packaged with a see-
through plastic face and single-serving packs like chips, puddings
and applesauce. Buy refillable/reusable containers and then
purchase items in bulk to save packaging - and money!
Use canvas bags. Say ‘neither’ the next time
you’re asked ‘paper or plastic.’ Both paper and
plastic bags create a lot of pollution and waste.
Bring canvas or mesh bags that can be used over
and over.
Buy local, organic and read the labels. There’s more than
calorie information on those labels. Typically, the fewer
ingredients listed, the more natural the product. Support your
local farmer’s market where the food is fresh, uses fewer
chemicals and hasn’t traveled many miles to get to you.
Keep the car at home. Automobiles are among
the largest contributors to pollution. For short
trips, encourage your family to walk, bike, roller-
skate or take the bus. You’ll have great bonding
time while enjoying the outdoors. Change a light bulb. By changing a standard bulb with a
compact fluorescent light bulb, you will get more light for less
money, save a lot of electricity and reduce carbon emissions.
Face it, no one likes to switch out light bulbs, and with CFLs,
you only have to do it once every 5-10 years!
Stop Unwanted Catalogs & Junk Mail! Spend 10
minutes a week calling to request that your name
be removed from catalog mailing lists. Requesting
your name to be removed from junk mail lists at
www.DMAConsumers.org protects you for 5 years!
Create a compost pile. Find a corner of the yard that’s out
of the way. Carefully throw food wastes (leftovers, eggshells,
coffee grounds, spoiled vegetables, etc.) into a pile and mix
with dirt. Every week, turn the pile over with a shovel to
give it more air. In a few weeks, it will turn into rich,
Shop at second-hand stores. Donate your old toys nutritious soil to help plants grow.
so that someone else can enjoy them. Shop for
clothing and gently used items at thrift stores. You
can reuse what’s already there and help support
local businesses.
Cancel your book club, magazine and newspaper
subscriptions. Use the copies at your local
library or search for the information online.
Avoid fast food. The fast food industry creates
tons of waste. While convenient, it will never come
close to a home-cooked meal. Take a few more
minutes to make meals yourself. Eating in saves
money and keeps you healthier. Volunteer for a green cause. There are a million
ways you can help the environment. Adopt a whale.
Plant a tree. Clean up a stream or park. Protest
animal cruelty. Draw up a petition for an
important environmental cause. Help elect
environmentally-minded candidates.
- 11 -Greenstar would like to give a special
thank you to all educators.
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