Recycling Worksheet.

What is Recycling? When you throw things into the garbage, that garbage is taken to a garbage dump and it is usually buried underground. It is buried so that it will decompose. What is de-com-pose? Have you ever seen an old piece of fruit slowly rot and shrink over many days? It is decomposing. Decompose means to separate into parts and over many years most garbage will disappear completely. That is why we bury garbage in the ground. The problem is some things we throw away take a long time to decompose and that means we could run out of room underground to put all the garbage. Then what? You will have to keep the garbage in your house! (Likely under your bed if it's not already full). Well, hopefully that won't happen because there is something you can do. You can recycle! No, not bicycle, re-cy-cle. What does that mean? The prefix "re" means "do again" and "cycle", just like in bi-cycle, is something that goes around again and again. If you take something old that can be used again and make it new, you are recycling.

What Can be Recycled? Lots of things can be recycled. Soda cans are made from aluminum, a soft, lightweight metal, and it takes about 100 years for aluminum to decompose. Do you remember what decompose means? It means to separate into parts and disappear. So when you throw an aluminum can into the garbage you are hurting the Earth, but guess what? You're also wasting money. Old aluminum cans can be melted and made into brand new cans. Did you know paper can be recycled? Maybe the paper you are using right now was once used by a student in another school. Paper is made from trees, so every time you put paper into the garbage, not only are you filling up the Earth with garbage, but even worse, you are wasting trees. Did you know one plastic garbage bag can take 10-20 years to decompose? Don't throw garbage bags away, recycle them! Anything made from plastic can be recycled, especially the water and juice bottles we all use every day. Not just plastic bottles, but glass bottles can be melted and used again too. Making new things from recycled ones takes less money, less energy, and less of the Earth’s resources. Less energy means less pollution (harmful dirt) into the air. You can recycle at home by separating your cans, paper, plastics and bottles. Many cities give you cartons for free and pick it up from your house. Ask your parents if you are recycling at home today!