- In the US, we are so fortunate to have a robust waste management system.
- Trash tossed in any can makes its way to dumpsters which are picked up by large trucks.
- When full, these trucks take the waste to a giant hole called a LANDFILL.
- When full, the landfill is covered with dirt. Because some of the trash will decompose the area is too unstable to build structures, but can be turned into parks or golf courses.
- RECYCLING is a process where objects are physically reshaped into another object made of the same material.
- Recycling trucks pickup our presorted waste and take it to REFUSE STATIONS that sort it into bins of glass, metal, plastic, paper and cardboard.
- These sorted materials are sent to other facilities that shred, melt and reform them into new useful substances.
- Items like glass and metal are easily crushed, melted and reformed into new objects.
- Food and glue residues ruin paper and cardboard’s ability to be shredded into pulp and reformed.
- But the real barrier to effective recycling often comes down to money. If there is no market to sell recycled materials, no one is going to do it for free.
- These properties make them super useful for toys, sports equipment, auto body parts and water bottles.
- However, this also means that they do not decompose in the environment.
- These properties make plastics fantastic to store food and chemicals in containers that won’t corrode or break when dropped.
- However, this also means that they are more difficult to recycle than glass or metal objects.
- Recyclability is based on how easily something can changed into something useful.
- Glass and metals can be melted and easily reformed back into glass.
- Paper and be shredded into pulp and reformed back into paper.
- And while it seems that plastics should just be meltable back into plastics, that is not true for all types….
What’s next?
I’m lost😱
I need some background information:
I need practice 🤔
I want to test my knowledge
Let’s move on👍
Good grief, how else do Fossil Fuels negatively impact the environment?