For education that sets an example

Recycle Your Waste

« Back to Purchasing and Waste

Even after you have reduced and reused, you still have some things that you just can't keep or find another use for. Now think of what happens to all the things you throw in the bin. It ends up on a landfill site, where it is dumped in a big pile of rubbish on the ground, this big pile takes ages to break down. All of the organic matter (food waste, flowers, etc.) breaks down into methane, a greenhouse gas. The rest of the waste in the landfill site simply sits there, doing only one thing - making the countryside look horrible. 109 square miles are used in the UK as landfill. Also chemicals in batteries and other toxic waste can leach into the soil and into the water system, causing eutrophication.

In 2006/2007 16.9 million tonnes of waste were sent to landfill. This was a decrease from 17.9 million tonnes in 2005/2006.

The proportion of household waste which was recycled or composted rose from 27.1% to 30.7% from 2005/6 to 2006/7.

You should aim to recycle as much waste as possible, this means that similar waste is gathered and made into new materials, which is often much cheaper than making things from scratch and is better for the environment.

Plastic

• Plastics do not normally decompose, and even plastics that do decompose take many years to do so.
• When they are burned they create a variety of harmful gases that enter the atmosphere
• Old plastics are melted down and turned into new plastics. This is better because:
• It costs less as the plastic is already in the correct form and new petrochemicals would not have to be removed from the ground
• It is better for the environment because
• The recycling process produces less harmful gases
• The plastics don't end up on a landfill site

Glass

• Glass is created from two readily available natural materials: sand and limestone
• However, the glass making process is very long and requires huge amounts of energy
• Making new glass products out of old ones is much cheaper and requires far less energy

Paper

• Paper is made of wood pulp from trees
• By recycling paper we can help reduce the number of trees cut down from forests around the world each year

Organic Material

• Organic material can be put into special green waste bins or bags provided by the council
• This is then made into compost for use on council grounds or sold by the council
• You can have your own compost bins and produce compost for your own garden
• You can also have a wormery, where worms digest the waste from your kitchen and turn it into good compost and liquid plant feed.

Cans

• Cans are commonly made of aluminium, an unreactive metal that has no effect on the food inside
• The extraction of aluminium is expensive and requires huge amounts of energy to extract from the ore.
• It is therefore cheaper and better for the environment to make new cans from recycled ones.

Technology

• Mobile Phones - a lot of charities accept used mobile phones, which they can then sell on. This would be a great opportunity for Young Enterprise, or for your school to earn money to become greener. This can also be done at home.
• Computers - charity shops will happily accept computers, both laptops and desktops, or these can be taken to the local recycling centre.
• Batteries - can be taken to your local recycling centre. Alternatively, try to purchase solar powered items, use mains electricity or rechargeables.