Presented by:San Diego Unified School District

Energy/Utility Management SectionAdapted from Loudoun County, VAOffice of Solid Waste Management

Sessions Elementary Recycles!

Stuff We Throw Away

What is TRASH?• Things we don’t want anymore?

• Things that are no longer useful?

Where does the TRASH go?• What is a landfill?

What can we do with things that don’t belong

here?

• What does it mean to recycle?– It means you don’t throw certain things away

with the garbage.

• Who knows what we can recycle at school?– Paper (all kinds)– Plastic bottles– Aluminum cans– Kids?

RECYCLE!!!

WHERE DO ALL THE

RECYCLABLES GO??

The recyclables are taken to a

Material Recovery

Facility to be sorted.

The recyclables are pushed into a pile inside the

building.

Recyclables are carried by conveyor.

Workers begin to sort the recyclables.

More workers sort the recyclables.

Some of the items are dropped into large collection areas.

Magnets, currents, and rotating “blades” are used to

separate the lighter items from the heavier items.

Newspaper falls from the conveyor.

Newspaper is carried to the baler.

Milk jugs are carried to the baler.

Recyclables in the baler.

A forklift is used to stack the bales.

Stacked bales of steel cans.

The sorted recyclables are sold to manufacturers.

Manufacturers make new products

from the recycled bottles, cans and paper.

Aluminum cans may be recycled

back into new aluminum cans.

Recycled plastic is used to make a lot of new things!

Recycled paper is used to

make new paper products.

Manufacturers sell the new recycled

products to stores.

We buy the new products

at the store.

We use the things we buy, and then we...

Recycle again!

Why Should We Recycle?

• It’s easy!• It’s good for

the planet!• It saves

landfill space

Recycling helps conserve natural resources

• Natural resources are…– Water– Land– Forests– Minerals– Fossil fuels

If we don’t recycle aluminum cans,

we must dig minerals from the earth

to make new aluminum cans.

If we don’t recycle paper, more trees must be cut down

to make new paper.

TRASH

Trees provide habitat for animals

When is it time to Recycle?

Classroom Recycling Review

• What things can you recycle in the classroom?

• What can you do with paper BEFORE you recycle it?

Recycling Begins with YOU!