Recycling in Action

All Sorts of Savings
Recycling is getting more convenient than ever. You may have used the self-contained recycling machines found at many supermarkets. The process is simple: You place cans and bottles in designated slots, and a computer prints a receipt that you can take inside the grocery store to be redeemed for cash. How many months do you think will pass before the aluminum cans you just recycled reappear on the supermarket shelves?

It takes just three months for an aluminum beverage can to be collected,melted, rolled, manufactured, and distributed. You could possibly buy the same recycled can four times in a year!

Recycling is the process in which waste is returned to raw material and made into new products. Recycling is important because while the world's population keeps creating lots of garbage, we are quickly running out of places to put it!

Using recycled material also helps us conserve natural resources, such as fossil fuels. For example,using the same amount of energy, businesses can make up to 20 times more cans from recycled material than by using bauxite ore, the virgin material that aluminum is originally made from.

Look at this energy conservation analysis chart. It shows that making a ton of new cans from virgin material uses slightly more than 225 million BTUs. (A BTU is an energy unit that represents the amount of heat needed to increase the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit.) In contrast, less than 12 million BTUs are needed to make a ton of cans from recycled containers.

• Using a percentage, express how much energy is saved by using recycled cans to make new cans.
  
  
• Judging from the chart's data,approximately what percentage of energy is saved by making newsprint (the paper used for newspapers) from recycled material as opposed to virgin material such as wood pulp?

The Materials That Surround You
Look around your classroom. What materials do you think are biodegradable (easily broken down)? Is there anything that cannot be recycled? What about the computer that you are using to read this story?

Disposing of computers is a growing problem. Due to advances in technology, computers quickly become outdated. A recent National Safety Council study predicts that by 2005, the number of outmoded computers per year will exceed the number of new computers produced by 18%.

• If 30 million computers are built in America in 2005, how many outdated ones will be discarded that year?

More computers are being made each year, but less are being recycled. It costs the consumer less than$20 to recycle a monitor and computer, but many people are reluctant to do so after they have already paid thousands of dollars to purchase a computer system. As a result, EPA studies show that most discarded desktop computers — about 80%—end up at garbage dumps, taking up precious landfill space.

This is also problematic because computers contain hazardous waste that can find its way into our drinking water. (Read related story, "Pumped Up and Falling Flat.") It also takes a lot of natural resources to manufacture a new computer. One-and-a-half gallons of crude oil are required to make the plastics used in just one system.

• About 25 million computers are made in America each year. How many gallons of crude oil are required to make the necessary plastic?

Look at the chart below to see what materials you can find in a ton of random electronic boards, which include computer circuit boards. Some hazardous computer wastes include lead and the nickel and cadmium in the batteries used in laptop computers.

• Using the chart below, calculate what percentage of hazardous materials (nickel, cadmium, mercury, and lead) might exist in a ton of electronic boards.
  
  
• Which of the materials below do you think could be recycled by precious metal refiners?
  
  
• Here's something else to think about. Photo labs in this country use a lot of silver. Should they be required to collect silver waste for recycling? You can explore this question and more with the Chemistry Explorer activity: The Cost of Electricity.

SOME OF THE MATERIALS FOUND IN A TON OF ELECTRONIC BOARDS

Source: Technical University of Denmark

Alternative Strategies
If you think about the product you use the most of in school, it is probably paper. Each American, on average, generates 3.5 pounds of waste daily, and almost half of this is paper waste. In addition to writing paper,paper products include computer printouts, folders, facial tissues, toilet paper, and paper cups and napkins. Some of these products may contain recycled fiber, but most are still made from the wood pulp of newly cut trees.

There are many ways you can help conserve paper and preserve trees, both at school and at home.

• Examine ways to become a "wood wise" consumer.