Recycle!

Recycle!

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The Earth was once full of natural resources. Many of them are un-renewable. Now, many of these resources are nearly extinct and they can not be replaced. Some resources being used up are oil, coal, iron, and aluminum. Recycling is one way to prevent the resources from being wiped off the face of the earth. Aluminum, paper, oil, plastic, and cardboard are all resources that can be recycled. Also, paper and cardboard are both made of trees so recycling paper and cardboard would also save a lot of trees so that they will not be cut down. Another advantage about recycling would be that it takes much less energy to recycle products than to make new ones. Products are recyclable only if the recycling symbol is on it. The symbol looks like this:

Recycle!

Nature has been recycling for a long time. Nature has been recycling the carbon dioxide into oxygen and turning unwanted things into compost. Now it is our turn. Did you know that an average person throws 3½ pounds of trash away each day? We can reduce that amount considerably if we recycle. Recycling is a way of reusing the material, or turning old material into new. Recycling the material is important because the resources on Earth are very limited. Not only does recycling conserve resources, but also conserves space. For example, glass being 100% recyclable may never need to be in a landfill. The three main places that trash goes to is open dumps, sanitary landfills, and incinerators. Landfills have many problems. First, it pollutes the area around it. Another thing is that the landfills give off a harmful gas called methane. One other bad thing about landfills is that harmful substances may go into the ground and pollute the underground water.

Many cities don’t have any place to dump their trash. The major problem with incinerators is that it pollutes the air. Recycling also conserves energy. It takes 95% less energy to make products out of old material than to make it from raw material. Recycling oil is also very good because oil is nonrenewable. Another way you can conserve our resources is by reusing materials.

Here are some information about recycling the following types of materials. Look at the pictures to find out what percent of space a certain material takes up in our waste products.

can Aluminum
Aluminum cans can be easily recycled, using one-tenth of the energy needed to make aluminum from metal ore.

Glass
Glass bottles can also be recycled easily.

Metals
Metals, such as iron and steel, are used in cans for packaging canned fruits. You can recycle these too!

Paper
Offices and schools use a lot of paper everyday, which should all be recycled.

Paper Making Process
This is just a quick overview about how paper is made and recycled.

Plastics
Plastics do not discompose in landfills quickly, so it is important to recycle them.