Dear partners,
Our presentation is based on the existing methods of recycling and what can be efficient in schools to achieve a better environment.
Does somebody know what recycling actually means?
Well the definition of recycling is ‘’the process of collecting and processing materials that would otherwise be thrown away as trash , and turning them into new products
Do you know how many types of recycling there are?
There are 8!
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Paper and Cardboard
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Plastic Recycling
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Metal Recycling
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WEEE Recycling (Electronic Devices)
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Wood Recycling
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Glass Recycling
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Clothing and Textile
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Bricks and Inert Waste Recycling
But let’s get more into it….
Recycling paper is vital to ensure you reduce your environmental impact and to reduce unnecessary general waste. Industry and commerce dispose of approximately 12.5 million tonnes of paper and cardboard each year. Most paper is recyclable and can be diverted away from landfill sites! Every tonne of recycled paper or cardboard can save up to 17 trees, two cubic yards of landfill capacity and 4100 kW/hours of electricity!
Did you know that 70% less energy is used when making new paper from recycled stock than when using virgin pulp!
Now let’s talk about plastic recycling:
There are about 50 different groups of plastics, with hundreds of different varieties. Most types of plastic are recyclable, and because of this, they need to be recycled to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill and help prevent rubbish from ending up in the oceans.
You can find out if your plastic is recyclable by checking the resin code. These will be a number between one and seven surrounded by three arrows.
It’s believed that plastics can take over 500 years to decompose. Although no one knows for sure as plastics haven’t existed for long enough.
Metal recycling:
All grades of non-ferrous and ferrous metal are recyclable for future use. Ferrous metal includes Iron and Steel. Non-ferrous metals include aluminium, copper, stainless steel, brass and lead to name but a few.
As we know metals don’t lose quality when they are recycled, therefore we can reuse metal many times.
WEEE Recycling or in other words recycling of electronic devices, which is nearly everything powered by a battery or plug such as computers, mobile phones and TVs. By recycling electronic or electrical devices the recycling industry is aiming to prevent sending those items to landfill.
Wood recycling:
Wood is the ultimate renewable material because of its large number of different uses.
Wood grades include timber pallets, timber boxes, floorboards, chipboard, fencing, plywood, furniture etc.
Wood can be reused as a building material, recycled into much for landscaping. Even low-grade wood is useful because we can use it for fuel to generate environmentally friendly energy.
Glass recycle:
Glass is 100% recyclable and never loses any purity or quality when recycled, meaning we can recycle it many times over. Grades include such items as bottles, jars, windows, drinking glasses, computer screens etc.
Glass can take around one million years to fully decompose, which is a big issue for landfill sites getting too full. It is crucial to ensure we recycle as much glass as possible. Glass should be as clean and contaminant-free as possible for recycling. Similar to other recycled materials, recycling glass also saves significant amounts of energy.
Clothing and Textiles:
With the rise of “fast fashion” in recent years, we are buying more clothes than ever and, therefore, we have more waste textiles than ever. It’s not just the amount of textiles being sent to landfill that is the issue but also the increased use of raw materials to produce the clothes.
Bricks and Inert Waste:
Hardcore rubble can be recycled into materials for other uses in construction and building projects. Bricks can also be cleaned and reused as “reclaimed bricks” in another building or project to lower costs. Alternatively, we can crush them and turn them into brick chips to use as a landscape material.
Benefits of Recycling:
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Reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators
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Conserves natural resources such as timber, water and minerals
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Increases economic security by tapping a domestic source of materials
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Prevents pollution by reducing the need to collect new raw materials
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Saves energy
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Helps create jobs in the recycling and manufacturing industries
There are two types of recycling operations that we are going to analyse. Firstly, the internal recycling, which is the reuse in a manufacturing process of materials that are a waste product of that process. Moreover, there is also the external recycling, meaning: the reclaiming of materials from a product that has been worn out or rendered obsolete. These methods unfortunately require a lot of scientific knowledge and involves collecting used materials, processing them mechanically and chemically, and remanufacturing them into new products. These activities consume energy, water, and other resources, and cause pollution. Although the resource use and pollution associated with recycling is far less than that created by manufacturing with virgin materials, it is greater than the act of simply reusing an item. In general recycling methods are hard to explain so we decided to just show you some videos with a couple of methods
Now let me set this question, is reusing better that recycling?
We have found some advantages of reuse over recycling and at the end I want you to think about the right answer.
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Saves or delays purchasing and disposal costs
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Conserves resources
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Reduces the waste stream
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Causes less pollution than recycling or making new products from virgin materials
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Makes needed items available to those who can’t afford buying them new
What can be done in schools?
In our school we have decorative bins where students can put materials that can be reused like: plastic, paper, wood, electric appliances etc. Then there is always a contest to make things out of those materials. The contest has as propose to promote the reuse of different kind of materials in a creative way.
we made some portraits and other decorative objects out of reusable materials during this project we made out of plastic caps figures of famous people like Salvador Dali,
a well-known painter of the 20th century and an important figure of contemporary art. Also, he was associated with the artistic movement of surrealism. Nicola Tesla, he discovered a rotating magnetic field He also developed the three-phase power transmission system. And Invented the Tesla coil, an induction coil widely used in radio technology.
Lastly, Mikis Theodorakis a famous Greek musician/composer. One of the most important personalities of Greece. He was an activist honored with the Lenin Peace Prize in 1983. He had composed perhaps the most recognizable Greek rhythm internationally, ‘Syrtaki’ for the film Zorbas the Greek.
Some other objects that our student made were a seahorse out of keys or an owl out of pc attachments. You can see them in the following slides.
There are some other creations that we saw and we were impressed and wanted to share them with you…
