Arun Raja
Leap 1/2
2/5/13
How to Recycle, Recycling Through Time, and Recycled Materials
Recycling is the process to make old items into new reusable objects. It involves trash, and reduces the
amount of trash in landfills by about 23%. Some people think recycling doesn’t really help the
environment, but the truth is, it makes new items a type of fashion now. Recycling can also be as simple
as reusing something: passing down an old iPod to a younger brother or sibling. But, it can also mean to
be the act of reprocessing materials in metals, plastics and paper to make new products. Recycling not
only helps to cut waste reduction, but also lessens the pollution that results from processing those
resources. It lessens pollution because in landfills and dumps, they burn trash to reduce the amount of
land needed to conserve space. So, when you cut down the amount of trash in landfills, the amount of
smoke released into the air lessens. According to DoSomething.org, if 1 ton of paper is recycled, it can
save up to 17 trees, two barrels of oil(enough to run the average car for 1,260 miles), 4,100 kilowatts of
energy(enough to power the average home for six months), 3.2 cubic yards of landfill space, and at last
0.60 pounds of pollution.
There are also some cars that reduce pollution into the air by a lot, like the Mercedes-Benz B200
Natural Gas Drive. This car is a hybrid that runs on 30% of gasoline, 50% on Ethanol, and 20% on
electricity. There is also another chemical on which very few cars run on because this chemical is made
out of recycled materials that have not been proved very safe yet. This chemical is called Aviation
biofuel. The engine of one of these unique cars is made up of a grinder that converts the recycled
material into a substance like gasoline that can very effectively make the car go places. “The Mercedes
Benz 200 is very efficient with a mpg of 42(Mercedes-Benz B200 Natural Gas Drive.).”
There are a lot of materials that can be recycled. One of the most frequent recycled materials is
metal. What I mean by metal is aluminum, cans, and steel. They are all processed and made into new
materials through the recycling plant and process. The most frequently recycled material is paper. For
example, newspapers, old books, and scrap paper after finishing an art project or school paper. If you
recycle about 5 pounds of paper, you could save up to one and a half trees. Metals are often found in
landfills and trash dumps because lots of people in the world do not know they are recyclable. Soda cans
and many other types of metals are recyclable. Always look for the recycling triangle and number before
throwing anything away.” Paper is the most common recycled material (Facts about recycling).”
In Cambodia, the capital of Phnom Penh has a dump that is 75 acres. The dump has poor and
hungry people roaming in it. During the day, if you collect 1 bag of recyclable items, you get 1.5 riels.
($1.50 in their currency of riels)That is not even enough to get 1 small bag of cooked rice with some
gravy for them to eat. If the poor parents are getting old or have a disease, they will tell their children to
go and pick up the trash. Often people go to pick up trash at night, when many trucks full of trash come
in from a day’s hard work. Many people get run over by these trucks and are killed. The families of these
victims often mourn over them and do not get enough money as they used to and they starve.
If you would like to recycle to the maximum to save the environment, here are some good ways
to do just that. For children, do not waste any paper at school after you are done with a project or craft
at school. If you do not have a recycling bin or can at school, (which is very unlikely) just store the paper
in your backpack, find a recycling bin outside of school and dump it there. At home where you should
have a big recycling bin, just make sure something is not recyclable before throwing it away. If the item
is recyclable, of course do not throw it away and just throw it in the recycling bin. For adults, it is a little
different. At home, you should do the same thing your children do and recycle to the max and make
sure something is recyclable before throwing it away. But at work, instead of throwing away your office
papers that are bad into the wastebasket, put a recycling bin near your desk and throw your office
papers into the recycling bin. According to Livestrong.com, Pollution is one of the world’s largest causes
of Global Warming.
Some things made out of recycling are stationery items. Stationery means writing materials such
as pens and pencils. One example of a recycled pencil is Smencils. Smencils are made out of recycled
paper and erasers with the only thing new being the lead. Smencils are called smencils because of the
strong scent that the pencil gives off because of this special sticker fitted with that particular scent.
Smencils are also very attractive looking because they come with a little bag-type mechanism that holds
12 smencils. Each smencil also has its own little case that fits only that one smencil. You will know which
smencil to put in each because the lid for the smencil case has the flavor of the scent. Binders are also
made out of recycled materials. The recycling plant uses recycled metals to make the ring of the binder.
The cover of the binder is made out of aluminum and paper. The binder is very stable and durable too. It
is very convenient and the ring is much larger than an average size three ring binder that has not been
made out of recycled materials. Paper can also be made out of recycled paper. This type of paper
formed out of recycled materials has a really thick and a little bit harder to cut. One more last tip: try to
buy items that use less packaging at the grocery store.
Recycling can help out the world a lot. Just remember to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Also
remember to recycle everything you can. Who knows? Maybe you will even buy recycled paper one day!
Recycling reduces air pollution and many other things. Recycling main advantage is that it reduces
landfill space and helps create new materials. You can help out the world just by recycling a lot. The
Mercedes-Benz B200 Natural Gas Drive helps out the world by not giving off smoke from the exhaust
pipe. One day maybe even you will create something like that Mercedes!