Recycle Fun & Games
For The Kids
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Recycle City
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Children
and adults will be delightedly educated by a visit to this unique site offered by the Environmental Protection Agency ’s San
Francisco office.
It’s really fun to play the game. You will learn all about recycling, and keeping your neighborhood clean at the same time! |
Did
You Know?
"Wow!"
"Look at this moutian of plastic bottles!"
The
California Bottle Bill now includes more types of containers than ever
before!
-
Un-recycled
beverage containers last year would circle the earth almost seven
times.
-
More
than six billion recyclable plastic beverage containers were
thrown away last year
instead of being recycled. The CRV (California Refund Value) for
these un-recycled containers
represented over $150 million.
-
Recycling
one aluminum can saves enough energy to run your television for
three hours.
-
Recycling
one glass bottle saves enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb
for four hours.
What
is Recycling?
Unknown
Author
Most
people are familiar with the word recycling. But sometimes we forget
that it means more than just throwing the odd pop can into a recycling
box.
What
does recycling mean?
Recycling
is a multi-stage process that describes:
- People
saving their recyclables for the curb or depot
- The
materials being collected and prepared for market
- Industries
buying those materials back
- Transporting
shipments of materials to buyers, and
- People
buying new products that have been made from recycled materials!
Have
you seen this symbol before? It's called a mobius loop (pronounced:
mo-bi-us) and it is recognized around the world. Each arrow stands
for the 3 main components of the recycling system:
- The
companies that make products and sell them to households and businesses
- People
who buy products and separate their recyclable trash, and
- The
recycling industry that collects, sorts and processes our recyclable
materials, and gets them back to the manufacturers who will make
new products from them.
Imagine
each arrow supplying goods or materials to the next one. If one arrow
stops doing its job, waste will result. It's the continuous cycle that
makes the recycling system work.
Is
recycling the only answer?
We
all know the benefits of recycling, but remember the 3 R's? Well, recycling
is the 3rd 'R' - after reduce and reuse! Recycling is a great thing
to do. Of course, it also uses energy and produces waste. For example:
think of the fuel that is burned by all the trucks that collect and
transport recyclable materials, the heat (energy) needed to melt plastic
and aluminum for remanufacturing, and the sludge that results from
newspaper de-inking.
So,
keep on recycling ... but do these things first:
Reduce
the amount of waste you generate. We can ask ourselves some important
questions before we buy something new:
- Do
we really need it?
- Can
we use something else instead?
- Can
it be repaired if it breaks?
- Can
it be recycled?
Consuming
less is still the best way to reduce waste and minimize pollution.
Watch
out for packaging
- Don't
buy products that are over-packaged.
- Purchase
refillable products or products in recyclable containers.
- Don't
buy single-serve or convenience packages.
Buy
environmentally-friendly products.
- Avoid
disposable items such as diapers, paper napkins and cups.
- Purchase
durable and repairable goods.
- Make
your own non-toxic household cleaning products.
Stay
informed!
- Become
an advocate for the environment.
- Keep
looking for ways to minimize waste to reduce your impact on the
environment.
Close
the loop by buying recycled products.
- Producing
items from recycled materials takes less energy, produces less
waste and reduces the need to cut more trees for paper, dig more
mines for metal, and process more petroleum for plastic. Wherever
possible, it is good to buy products that include recycled content
rather than those made from brand new materials alone.
We
can all do our part by putting things into our blue box at home and
participating in a school or community recycling program. We can Rethink,
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. And when we decide we really do need to
buy a new product, we can look for recycled content and help close
the recycling loop.
Thanks for visiting
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