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Description

sorting boxes of waste into recycling types and take to recycling centre

Resources

Buckets of various (clean) household rubbish (including some recyclables and some not)
6 boxes/buckets for sorting it into.
Hand washing facilities for after the game.

A magnet makes the metal-identification bit easier
You may want to tweak the local-facilities bit for your area.

Instructions

Have the YP sit in a circle around a bit pile of rubbish. Ask them not to touch anything.

Risk Assessment:
- Be careful of bits of dirt/mould on everything
- Watch out for sharp edges (on especially on metals, plastics and cardboard)
- Have the YP wash their hands after this activity

__ Intro __
Ask the Cubs what they know about Recycling. They'll probably know something about having to sort, and perhaps have an idea that the materials get re-used.

__ Identify the materials __
Explain that waste needs to be separated before it can be recycled - we can't be mixing up glass with plastic when we melt it down!

Split the pile of rubbish into basic material types, into the boxes/buckets:
- Non recyclables
- Glass
- Cardboard
- Metal
- Plastic

__ Each Material __ (this section needs some work!)
Now go through each box and talk a bit about how each can be recycled.
- Glass: Is separated into similar colours (clear, green, brown) and simply melted down and moulded into new bottles.
- Plastic: Is separated into types (more on that later) and ground up into pellets - which are then melted down and re-moulded.
- Metal: Is separated using magnets and electricity before being melted down.

You can recycle some kinds of things in your door-step recycling box - but not everything. Some things you need to take to a specialist place.

__ Different kinds of material __
Ask if they know if there are many different kinds of plastics, and some can be recycled while others can't. Also - recycling is done in lots of different factories and some places can't recycle everything.

Look through a few of the bits of hard plastic - show the YP the recycling symbol - that tells us the type of plastic (see attachment for details). See if you can identify a few different plastics.

For interest: 1 is PET, 2: HDPE 3: PVC 4: LDPE 5: Polypropylene 6: Polystryene

Can the YP imagine ways a machine could separate the different types of plastic? It's very difficult! (and in fact, black plastic is almost impossible to recycle at the moment because nobody has invented a machine which can see it yet).

__ What's better than recycling? __
Ask if the Cubs can think of a better way to deal with all this waste than recycling?
Explain that plastics can only be recycled a few times - while Glass and Metal can be recycled forever.
It takes less energy to recycle something than to make it new, but it still takes a lot of energy.

Can we cut-down how much we produce in the first place?

Bottles: We could refill bottles instead of melting them down and making new bottles.
Plastics: We could use less plastic. We usually use plastic to make our lives easier or cheaper. Would it be OK for life to be a bit harder, but to be sustainable?

There is a movement called "Zero Waste" which is people who aim to reduce the waste they produce as much as possible - even if it could be recycled. There are Zero Waste shops opening all over the world where you can take in your own packaging and re-fill it, instead of getting new bottles and bags and things.

__ Wrapping Up __
Ask if anyone has any questions, and send everyone to wash their hands before the next activity (because they've been handling waste).

Tags

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Badge Links

• Environmental Conservation - Rubbish