Recycling

Recycling is when we make something new out of something old.

Glass can be melted down and remade into bottles and jars. Recycled metals are also melted. Recycled paper is pulped with water to make a slurry from which new sheets of paper are made.

Nature is a master recycler. Nothing is ever wasted. When a tree dies, beetles eat the wood and fungi break it down, returning nutrients to the soil for other plants to use. Recycling is vital to the natural world, and we are a part of that world, so we should recycle too.

Why should we recycle ?

• Recycling uses less energy and resources than making things new.
• The raw materials for glass - sand, soda and lime - all have to be dug from the Earth. They   are then melted together at 1500º. This takes a lot of energy.
• Supplies of these raw materials and oil for energy will not last forever, so it is important to   save them.
• Bottles and jars are collected for recycling. The glass is broken into small pieces and melted   down. Melting glass that has already been made is much easier than melting the raw   materials.
• Every tonne of glass that is recycled saves 1.2 tonnes of raw materials and the equivalent of   136 litres of oil energy.
• Glass is not biodegradable, so the glass that we throw away will last forever, using up   valuable space.

What can we re-cycle ?

Nearly everything we use can be recycled:

Food and garden waste
Instead of sending food and garden waste to landfill sites where it goes smelly and makes the dangerous gas methane, turn it into compost for your garden!

Glass
Glass is 100% recyclable. It can be re-melted and re-used over and over again, for ever!

Plastic bottles
Most plastics can be recycled, look for the recycle symbol.

Paper and cardboard
Recycling paper and cardboard saves trees! Most newspapers are made with at least 50% recycled paper.

Drinks cans
Food and drink cans are either made of aluminium or steel. Both types can be recycled.

Textiles
Clothes, sheets, blankets and shoes can all be recycled.Materials can be shredded and the fibres made into new fabrics.

Facts about recycling

Aluminium
• Aluminium is valuable.
• A recycled aluminium can saves enough energy to run a television for three hours.

Glass
• When one glass bottle is recycled, the energy saved could light a 100W bulb for four hours.

Paper
• A tonne of recycled paper saves 17 trees, 2.3 cubic metres of landfill space, 32,000 litres of   water, 4200kWh of electricity (enough to heat an average house for 6 months), and 27kg of   air pollutants.

Plastic
• At the moment around 3%, of our plastic is recycled.
• Recycling a plastic bottle saves enough energy to light a 60W lightbulb for six hours.
• Recycled plastic is used for making insulation. Five 2-litre recycled bottles provide enough   padding for a ski jacket.

Steel
• The average person uses 240 cans each year. Only a quarter of these are recycled.
• Recycling one tonne of steel saves 1.5 tonnes of iron ore and 0.5 tonnes coal, and 75% of   the energy needed to make new steel.

Important Links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling - What is recycling ?
http://www.eeg-uae.org/ - Emirates Environmental Group                                               Top