A Guide to Recycling Education

Guide compiled and provided by

2 Why Recycle? Mid America Recycling

Introduction: Importance of Environmental Education

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”- Margaret Mead, 1901 - 1978

Welcome to the first edition of “Why Recycle? - A Guide to Recycling Education.” Mid America Recycling is proud to offer this complimentary guide to all interested educators and caregivers.

In addition to background information on the solid waste and recycling industry, this resource describes five recyclable commodities: aluminum, steel, plastic, glass, and paper. The guide provides the following for each material: overview, material composition, recycling process, statistics (“fast facts”), and subject application (“curriculum corner”).

Mid America Recycling understands their role in and importance of education with respect to environmental stewardship. We see the value of working together and reaching out to help everyone understand that individuals truly can make a difference.

Our locations offer unique tours for hundreds of school children throughout the year to foster environmentally sustainable behaviors for generations to come. In addition to offering facility tours, Mid America Recycling hosts, sponsors, and participates in countless local events, reinforcing their commitment and dedication to community involvement.

For more information on school tours, educational materials, and sponsorships, please visit www.MidAmericaRecycling.com.

Additional Resources: Lower & Upper Elementary Environmental Education Center Quizzes & Answer Keys

Disclaimer: Mid America Recycling in no way claims the following guidebook is an exhaustive list of all available resources and any omission is not intentional. The information found within is truthful and complete to our knowledge. Should you find otherwise, please contact us at 515-265-1208, as this guidebook is a continual work in progress. We strive to provide the most current and accurate information available to educators.

Table of ContentsGarbage & Landfill Overview .............................3

How Recycling Works ........................................4

Importance of Recycling ....................................5

Aluminum .........................................................6

Tin/Steel ...........................................................7

Plastics .............................................................8

Glass ................................................................9

Paper ..............................................................10

Beyond Recycling ............................................11

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Garbage & Landfill OverviewMunicipal Solid Waste (MSW)—more commonly known as trash or garbage—consists of everyday items such as product packaging, grass clippings, furniture, clothing, containers, food scraps, paper products, appliances, computers, paint, and batteries. In 2012, US residents, businesses, and institutions produced more than 251 million tons of MSW, which is approximately 4.38 pounds of waste per person per day. Americans use by far the most resources per capita in the world. The average American consumes nearly 20 times more than the average citizen of Mexico and hundreds of times more than an average Ethiopian. In fact, if everybody used as many resources as Americans, we’d need more than 5 planets to sustain ourselves.

Below are charts showing how much waste we generate (prior to recycling) and what percentage of common materials are recycled. Notice that paper, plastics, and metals comprise over half of all materials generated. These three items are easily recyclable and most communities already offer recycling services for them.

There are many things we can do to properly manage, prevent, or divert the waste we create. Source reduction involves altering the design, manufacture, or use of products and materials to reduce the amount and toxicity of what gets thrown away. Recycling diverts paper, glass, plastic, and metals from the waste stream to be made into new products. Composting decomposes organic waste, such as food scraps and yard trimmings, with microorganisms (mainly bacteria and fungi), producing a humus-like substance that can be used in gardens and lawns.

Other practices address those materials that require disposal. Landfills are well-engineered areas where waste is placed into the land. Landfills have extensive liner systems and other safeguards to prevent groundwater contamination. Waste to Energy (WTE) facilities burn MSW at a high temperature, reducing waste volume while generating electricity.

EPA has ranked the most environmentally sound strategies for MSW. Source reduction (including reuse) is the most preferred method, followed by recycling and composting, energy recovery, and lastly, disposal in combustion facilities and landfills. Currently, the US recovers 34.5% of its waste, discards 53.8%, with the remaining 11.7% being combusted with energy recovery.

Source: US Environmental Protection Agency: https://www.epa.gov/smm/sustainable-materials-management-non-hazardous-materials-and-waste-management-hierarchy

https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-09/documents/2012_msw_fs.pdf

2012 MSW Generation 251 Million Tons (before recycling)

Yard Trimmings

13.5%

Wood6.3%

Rubber,leather &textiles

8.7%

Paper & Paperboard27.4%

Food Waste14.5%

Metals8.9%

Plastics12.7%

Other 3.4%Glass 4.6%

Waste Management Hierarchy

Source Reduction & Reuse — Reducing waste at the source, also known as waste prevention

Recycling/Composting — Collecting and processing items that would otherwise be considered waste into new products

Energy Recovery — Converting non-recyclable waste materials into useable heat, electricity, or fuel using combustion and landfill gas (LFG) recovery

Treatment & Disposal — Reducing the toxicity and properly disposing of waste, most typically in a certified landfill

Source Reduction & Reuse

Recycling/Composting

Energy Recovery

Treatment & Disposal

4 Why Recycle? Mid America Recycling

How Recycling WorksRecyclable materials are gathered through various systems including single stream recycling, curbside recycling, drop-off centers, buy-back programs, and deposit systems. Recently, single stream recycling—mixing all recyclable material in one container—has become increasingly popular with both residents and businesses alike since it makes recycling easier. Because more people participate, more recyclables are captured from the waste stream, preserving both landfill space and natural resources.

Upon arrival at the Material Recovery Facility (MRF), single stream material is separated using multiple conveyors and screens. 1 The first set of conveyors removes large contaminants and cardboard, and uses a tumbling process to separate paper from containers.

2 A glass breaker separates glass from steel cans, aluminum cans and plastics. Glass is conveyed to large storage units or directly to rail cars where they are shipped to manufacturers.

3 A magnetic separator pulls steel cans from the recyclable containers. 4 Mechanical optical sorters separate

plastics into their appropriate type based on length, width, shape, color, and surface structure.

5 An eddy current (varying magnetic field) pulls the aluminum cans from the sort line. 6 Once separated, the recyclable commodities are compressed into bales, heavily densified cubes weighing between 1,000 and 2,000 pounds each. Bales are then transported by semi or rail car to manufacturers who use them to make new products.

While single stream recycling has made it much simpler to recycle, having just one container has also made it easier for contamination (i.e. trash, non-recyclables) to be mixed with recyclable materials. In some municipalities, contamination is as high as 25%, which means a much lower value for recyclable materials as well as a higher volume of materials being landfilled. Common contaminants include:

■ Plastic Bags ■ Hoses ■ Clothes ■ Shoes ■ Toys ■ Strings of Christmas Lights ■ Microwaves ■ Vacuums ■ Diapers ■ Propane/Helium Tanks ■ Auto Parts ■ Foam Packaging ■ Yard Waste ■ Sporting Equipment (bats, balls, gloves,

shoulder pads, helmets)

Contaminants can cause major damage to and safety issues at a material recovery facility’s (MRFs) multimillion dollar machinery. Plastic bags are the worst offenders as they wrap around the gears used to separate paper and containers. With a coating of plastic bags, nothing gets separated, and the machines must be shut down, disassembled, and cleaned before processing can continue.

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These materials have been processed and are ready to ship to mills. L to R: aluminum cans, glass, cardboard and PET soda bottles.

Importance of RecyclingRecycling, including composting, diverted 87 million tons of material away from disposal in 2012, up from 15 million tons in 1980. Americans recycle or compost about 1/3 of their waste. Typical materials that are recycled include paper and paperboard (65% recycled), yard trimmings (58% recycled), and metals (34% recycled). These materials and other recyclables are collected through single stream recycling, curbside programs, drop-off centers, buy-back programs, and deposit systems.

Once the materials are collected, they are most often transported using large packer

trucks and semi-trucks to a recycling processing center. At the recycling center, the materials go through a variety of processing, including sorting, shredding, crushing, cleaning, and baling, to prepare them for manufacturing mills. These mills are usually specialized to one type of recyclable—i.e. a paper mill or a glass processing facility—where the materials are further processed into new products (also known as end-products) for consumers to purchase.

The chasing arrows so closely aligned with recycling are called the Mobius Loop. The three arrows represent the steps in the recycling process: collect, reprocess, and reuse. The last step is the most

important part of the process: ensuring that consumers buy the item made with recycled material, also called a recycled content product. Look closely at labels when you shop to make sure you’re selecting products made with recycled materials.

There are several benefits associated with recycling. Recycling prevents the emission of many greenhouse gases affecting global climate, prevents release of several air and water pollutants, saves energy, supplies valuable raw materials to industry, creates jobs, stimulates the development of greener technologies, conserves resources for our children’s future, and reduces the need for new landfills and combustors.

6 Why Recycle? Mid America Recycling

AluminumNinety-five percent of all beer and soft drink cans in the United States are made of aluminum. American can-makers produce about 100 billion aluminum beverage cans a year, equivalent to one can per American per day. While almost all food cans are made of steel, aluminum’s unique properties make it ideal for holding carbonated beverages.

Aluminum is derived from an ore called bauxite, which is a nonrenewable resource. The bauxite is refined and then smelted, and the resulting molten aluminum is cast into ingots. A large portion of the aluminum used in the beverage can industry is derived from recycled material. The average aluminum cans contains approximately 51% recycled material.

Using aluminum cans to make new aluminum cans saves 95% of the energy needed to make cans directly from bauxite ore. Therefore, it takes the same amount of energy to make 20 cans out of recycled material as it does to make one can out of new material.

Fast Facts: ■ The aluminum beverage can returns to

the grocer’s shelf as a new, filled can in as little as 60 days after collection. That means a consumer could purchase basically the same recycled aluminum can from a grocer’s shelf approximately every 9 weeks, or 6 times a year.

■ While aluminum cans are typically recycled into more aluminum cans, they can also be used to manufacture window frames, highway signs, storm doors, pie plates, thumbtacks, and license plates.

■ Americans throw away enough aluminum every three months to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet.

■ Recycling just one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a television for 3 hours.

■ Recycling 1 ton of aluminum cans saves enough energy to power 950 computers or TVs for a week or 120 100-watt light bulbs for a week (approximately 10 homes).

■ One ton of recycled aluminum saves 14,000 Kwh of energy, 40 barrels (1,663 gallons) of oil, 238 million Btu’s of energy, and 10 cubic yards of landfill space.

Curriculum Corner: ArithmeticThe first beverage can, filled by a brewer in Newark, New Jersey in 1935, weighed three ounces. Today, an aluminum beverage can weighs one-half ounce — 600% less than the original beverage can.

Math Question #1: How many aluminum beverage cans does it take to equal one pound?

Math Question #2: The average bale of aluminum beverage cans weighs 1,000 pounds. How many cans on average are in one bale?

Math Question #3: A full truckload of aluminum headed to the mill for reprocessing contains approximately 43 bales. How many cans are in each truckload?

Answers: 1. 32 cans 2. 32,000 cans 3. 1,376,000 cans

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Tin/SteelSteel is a part of our daily life even if you don’t realize it. Steel cans package a wide variety of products including fruits, vegetables, soups, sauces, meats, juice, pet food, cleaning products, shoe polish, paint, and coffee. Oftentimes called “tin cans,” these containers are actually 99% steel, with a thin layer of tin added to prevent rusting.

The recycling process for steel cans is like that of aluminum. At the recycling processing facility, magnets are used to separate steel cans from other recyclables. The steel cans are then crushed into large cubes called bales and shipped to steel mills or foundries for recycling. Steel cans are combined with other steel scrap and melted in a furnace to make new steel products. Basic oxygen steel furnaces can use 28% scrap steel as feed stock while electric arc furnaces can use up to 100% scrap steel.

Like aluminum, steel can be recycled over and over without wearing out. More than two-thirds of the amount of steel produced each year is recycled, making steel the most actively recycled material. Recycled steel cans are used to make new steel products including steel cans, automobiles, bridges, appliances, and construction materials.

Using old steel to make new steel has many environmental benefits including landfill conservation, natural resource and energy preservation, and reduced pollution. Recycling steel cans saves 74% of the energy used to produce them from raw materials. Scrap steel reduces related water pollution, air pollution, and mining wastes by about 70%. For every ton of steel recycled, 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone are conserved. And in a year, the steel industry conserves the equivalent energy to power about 18 million homes for 12 months.

Fast Facts: ■ Americans use 100 million tin and steel cans every day, enough to make a steel pipe

running from Los Angeles to New York and back again daily. ■ We throw away enough steel every year to build all the new cars made in America. ■ Recycling one pound of steel conserves enough energy to light a 60-watt light bulb for 26

hours (5,450 BTU) (Approximately 7 cat food cans or 4 dog food cans = 1 pound) ■ A new steel can consists of more than 28% recycled steel. ■ The steel industry recycles nearly 19 billion steel cans into new products, equating to 600

steel cans being recycled every second.

Curriculum Corner: PR/MarketingSteel and iron components make up nearly 65% of the average automotive vehicle. The steel used in car bodies is made with a minimum of 25% recycled steel, and many internal automotive parts, such as engine blocks, are made using even higher percentages of recycled steel.

Marketing Question: What car manufacturers are promoting the recycled content usage in their automobiles?

Marketing Project: Design an advertising/marketing campaign to promote not only the recycled content used in vehicles, but also the environmental benefits from using recycled steel. Be sure to include the answer to WIIFM (What’s in it for me?) to engage consumers in the recycling process.

8 Why Recycle? Mid America Recycling

PlasticsPlastic plays an integral role in our lives as an affordable yet sturdy material for many of the items we use every day. Plastic is one form of polymers that are composed of a long chain of smaller molecules known as monomers. Monomers themselves are made of atoms that are usually extracted from natural or organic substances, and are generally classified as petrochemicals. All sorts of monomers can be utilized in the creation of plastic. Plastics are mostly made from petroleum (oil).

There are thousands of plastics, but most plastic consumer containers use the #1 - #7 classification system. Simply look at the bottom of a container for the recycling mobius—the number inside the arrows tells the type of plastic.

All seven types can be recycled if you find the right market. The order of most to least commonly recycled is HDPE, PETE, LDPE, PP, PVC, PS and Other. HDPE and PET bottles show the highest recycling rates of any plastic bottles types, at 33.6% and 31.0% respectively. Together PET and HDPE account for nearly 97% of all recycled plastic bottles.

Plastics are recycled using several techniques including sorting, code-separating, cleaning, granulating, pelletizing, flaking, melting, and spinning. Plastics are not typically recycled into more food containers, but instead make a wide variety of consumer products. PET is most commonly used in carpeting, clothing, and strapping. HDPE is recycled into new non-food containers, plastic piping, lawn and garden products, plastic lumber, and injection molding products (i.e. buckets, crates, and automobile parts).

Fast Facts: ■ Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour. ■ Recycling 1 ton of plastic milk jugs saves enough energy to light a home for approximately

1 year (10,000 plastic milk jugs = 1 ton). ■ Since 1990, plastic bottle recycling has increased six-fold. ■ Five PET bottles yield enough fiber to make an extra-large T-shirt. ■ It takes 35 two-liter PET bottles to produce enough fiberfill for a sleeping bag.

Curriculum Corner: Chemistry & WritingChemistry (Older Students)Plastics have a chemical property known as permeability, meaning it can absorb and/or take on the qualities of what is contained inside the plastic container.

Can you think of an example? A ketchup bottle smelling like ketchup after being thoroughly rinsed

How is our skin like plastics? Skin absorbs lotion applied to it; you cannot remove the lotion later

Why is this an important fact to know? Plastics previously containing a dangerous substance should not be recycled into something that holds a food product. For example, a plastic container holding motor oil should never be recycled into a drink container —in fact, it shouldn’t be recycled at all!

Writing (Younger Students)Grammar, penmanship, and communication are all very important skills. Have your students practice these as they write a letter to a company that uses/manufactures plastics to thank them for recycling and/or to ask them to do more to recycle.

Example: A school in Des Moines, Iowa wrote to Heinz Ketchup asking them to use either a #1 or #2 plastic for their ketchup bottles since a #5 plastic was not recyclable in their area. Heinz responded to them personally and shipped only #1 and #2 bottles to the Des Moines market area.

# PLASTIC TYPE COMMON USAGE

1 PET/PETE Soft Drinks, Mouthwash

2 HDPE Milk, Detergent

3 PVC Packaging

4 LDPE Stretch/Shrink Wrap

5 PP Yogurt

6 PS Egg Cartons, Styrofoam

7 Other Reusable Water Bottles

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GlassGlass is the oldest form of recycled material, produced by the Egyptians in 12,000 B.C. for jewelry and drinking cups. Glass can be recycled again and again with no loss in quality or purity.

In 2012, glass made up 4.6% of the municipal solid waste stream by weight, and 27.7% of those glass containers were recycled. In many recycling programs, glass must be separated by color, usually into flint (clear), green, and amber (brown). Before recycling glass, make sure that it is a container and is contaminant-free. Keep out non-container glass and metals, such as ceramic cups/plates/pottery, laboratory glass, drinking glasses, mirrors, light bulbs, and metal caps/lids/neck rings.

Recycled glass is turned into “cullet,” which is furnace-ready scrap glass, through a cleaning and crushing process. Paper labels and metal lids are removed with a vacuum and magnet respectively. The containers are then crushed into pea-sized pieces. This cullet is then mixed, or “batched,” with silica, sand, soda ash, and limestone. Up to 70% of the mixture is recycled glass. These combined materials are then heated to a temperature of 2600 to 2800 degrees Fahrenheit and molded into the desired shape.

Recycled glass is used for new glass containers, fiberglass insulation, road beds (aggregate), concrete block, and glassphalt (asphalt). Manufacturers benefit from recycling in several ways - it reduces emissions and consumption of raw materials, extends the life of plant equipment, such as furnaces, and saves energy.

Fast Facts: ■ As late as 1947, virtually 100% of all beverage bottles were returnable. ■ The average American can save six pounds of glass in a month. ■ Every day, Americans recycle about 13 million glass jars and bottles. ■ All newly purchased glass food jars contain at least 35% recycled glass. ■ Recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for 4 hours. ■ Making glass from recycled materials cuts related air pollution 20%, water pollution 50%,

and mining waste 75%. ■ Over a ton of resources are saved with every ton of glass recycled: 1,330 pounds of sand,

433 pounds of soda ash, 433 pounds of limestone and 151 pounds of feldspar.

Curriculum Corner: Cultural Anthropology Why did Egyptians choose gold for jewelry when they had so many other precious gems available?

Egyptians considered glass to be in the same league as precious gems and metals, and that the process of creating glass stimulated special and priceless magical powers.

What significance did the jewelry hold? Why was ornamentation so important?

The ancient Egyptians loved ornamentation. In their typical holistic fashion, fine jewelry was valued not only for beauty but also for the magical and spiritual protection it provided for its wearer.

Egypt utilized many resources from the environment to create a distinctive culture. Encourage your students to learn more about the culture of Egypt:

Significance of Glass Beads/Jewelry: http://www.touregypt.net/egypt-info/magazine-mag08012001-mag4.htm

Ancient Egyptian Culture: http://www.ancient.eu/egypt/

Life in Ancient Egypt: http://www.watson.org/~leigh/egypt.html

10 Why Recycle? Mid America Recycling

PaperThe average American uses 650 pounds of paper per year. Paper, which is primarily made from trees, accounts for 27% of the waste we generate. In 2012, 51.2% of the paper consumed in the U.S. (44.36 million tons) was recovered for recycling. That’s a high recycling rate compared to some materials, but we’re still throwing away nearly half of all recyclable paper.

All paper (i.e. fiber) is recyclable, but not indefinitely. Individual fibers become too short after about 6 times through the recycling process. During the recycling process, which can be likened to doing laundry with water, detergents and driers, paper is shredded and mixed with water to make pulp. Pulp is washed, refined, and cleaned, then turned to slush in a beater. Color dyes, coatings and other additives are mixed in, and the pulp slush is pumped onto a large moving screen. As the pulp travels down the screen, water is drained away and recycled. The resulting paper sheet, also known as web, is pressed between massive rollers to extract most of the remaining water and to ensure smoothness and uniform thickness. The semidry web is then run through heated dryer rollers to remove any remaining water. The finished paper is then wound into large rolls, which can be 30 feet wide and weigh close to 25 tons. A slitter cuts the paper into smaller, more manageable rolls, and the paper is ready for use.

Recycled paper is turned into a wide variety of products. Cardboard will most likely be used to make more cardboard and paperboard (cereal and shoe boxes). Newspaper is usually made into new newspaper, but can also be used for egg cartons, paperboard, and building insulation. Other types of paper return to us as more paper, paperboard, tissue, paper towels, and napkins.

Fast Facts: ■ Each ton of recycled paper saves an estimated 17 trees, 4,100 kilowatt hours of energy,

7,000 gallons of water, 60 pounds of air pollution, and 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space ■ The average office worker produces 1.5 pounds of waste each day while work. Of that, 1/3

is 100% recyclable paper products. ■ Each and every day, Americans recover well over 2 million pounds of paper. ■ More than 1/3 of the fiber used to make paper products is made from recycled paper. ■ It takes 75,000 trees to print a Sunday Edition of the New York Times. ■ Americans throw away enough office and writing paper annually to build a wall 12 feet high

stretching from Los Angeles to New York City.

Curriculum Corner: HistoryDid you know that paper was first used in 3,000 B.C.? Paper, whose name is derived from papyrus, in its earliest form was made mostly from the inner bark of paper mulberry, fig and daphne.

When did the first paper mill open in the U.S.? England began making large supplies of paper in the late 15th century and supplied the colonies with paper for many years. It wasn’t until 1690 that the first U.S. paper mill was built.

Encourage your students to learn more about the history of paper: http://www.paperrecycles.org/recycling-resourceshttp://www.paperonline.org/education

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Beyond RecyclingSo, is recycling old news to you and you want to do more for the world? Below are 12 things you can do to lessen your environmental impact. Try to introduce one new action into your life every month. Think of the impact you’ll have by the end of a year…. or 10 years!

1. Buy products made from recycled material. The loop doesn’t close unless consumers purchase the new products made of the materials they recycled. Look for the recycling symbol and a message like “this product contains 100% recycled material.”

2. Precycle. As you’re shopping, look for unnecessary packaging. Examples include a cardboard-backed packaged with a see-through plastic face and single-serving packs like chips, puddings, and applesauce. Buy refillable/reusable containers and then purchase items in bulk to save packaging - and money!

3. Use canvas bags. Say ‘neither’ the next time you’re asked ‘paper or plastic.’ Both paper and plastic bags create a lot of pollution and waste. Bring canvas or mesh bags that can be used over and over.

4. Buy local, organic and read the labels. There’s more than calorie information on those labels. Typically, the fewer ingredients listed, the more natural the product. Support your local farmer’s market where the food is fresh, uses fewer chemicals, and hasn’t traveled many miles to get to you.

5. Keep the car at home. Automobiles are among the largest contributors to pollution. For short trips, encourage your family to walk, bike, roller-skate, or take the bus. You’ll have great bonding time while enjoying the outdoors.

6. Change a light bulb. By changing a standard bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb, you will get more light for less money, save a lot of electricity, and reduce carbon emissions. Face it, no one likes to switch out light bulbs, and with CFLs, you only have to do it once every 5-10 years!

7. Stop Unwanted Catalogs & Junk Mail! Spend 10 minutes a week calling to request that your name be removed from catalog mailing lists. Requesting your name to be removed from junk mail lists at www.DMAConsumers.org protects you for 5 years!

8. Create a compost pile. Find a corner of the yard that’s out of the way. Carefully throw food wastes (leftovers, eggshells, coffee grounds, spoiled vegetables, etc.) into a pile and mix with dirt. Every week, turn the pile over with a shovel to give it more air. In a few weeks, it will turn into rich, nutritious soil to help plants grow.

9. Shop at second-hand stores, Freecycle & Craigslist. Sell or donate your old toys so that someone else can enjoy them. Shop for clothing and gently used items at thrift stores. You can reuse what’s already there and help support local businesses.

10. Cancel your book club, magazine, and newspaper subscriptions. Use the copies at your local library or search for the information online.

11. Avoid fast food. The fast food industry creates tons of waste. While convenient, it will never come close to a home-cooked meal. Take a few more minutes to make meals yourself. Eating in saves money and keeps you healthier.

12. Volunteer for a green cause. There are a million ways you can help the environment. Adopt a whale. Plant a tree. Clean up a stream or park. Protest animal cruelty. Draw up a petition for an important environmental cause. Help elect environmentally-minded candidates.

12 Why Recycle? Mid America Recycling

Mid America Recycling would like to give a special thank you to all educators.

You help make the world a better place!