recycle right.
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Grades K-4
Tutorial 1. The Story of Recycling
Objective: Figure out how much waste your household diverts from the landfill and identify the ways you do it.
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The Path to Zero Waste
The City of Oceanside is on the path to zero waste. This means cutting down the amount of garbage sent to the landfill to a very small amount. A landfill is a large area of land where all the garbage from the city goes. If only a small amount of garbage, or waste is sent to the landfill, what will happen to the rest of it? |
People in the community will pitch in to find other uses for the waste. Sometimes the waste isn’t garbage at all. For example, an empty yogurt container can be used to hold crayons, or it could be recycled. That makes two things someone could do besides throwing it in the garbage.
By doing the activities on this Students for Zero Waste website, you will learn about other ways you and the people in your household can cut down on waste and help Oceanside become a zero waste city.
By doing the activities on this Students for Zero Waste website, you will learn about other ways you and the people in your household can cut down on waste and help Oceanside become a zero waste city.
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Why is Too Much Waste a Problem?
Too much waste wasn’t always a problem. Our ancient ancestors did a good job of using every part of plants and animals for food, warmth and tools. They didn’t have much waste at all. The first farmers used the waste from animals to help their fields grow better. Problems with waste started when people moved to cities and there were a lot of people living close together. Imagine humans, animals, and lots of garbage all crowding the streets, and no one cleaned up. Things got so bad that many people became sick and even died. Finally people decided it would be a good idea to find a special place for the garbage and to keep the streets clean, and that special place was a landfill. Landfills worked pretty well for a long time. Waste from the cities was dumped at the landfill and the city streets, and neighborhoods stayed clean. But then the landfills got full, and the cities ran out of space to put new landfills.
Plus, landfills were not good for the environment. All that garbage was bad for the land, water, and the air. The garbage was pollution. Recycling to the Rescue!
People had to find a new way to get rid of their waste, and they wanted to do something good for the environment too. They came up with recycling. Recycling is making something new out of something that would be thrown away. For example, soda cans can be recycled and made into new soda cans. The same can be done with paper, glass, and plastic. Even our ancestors used to recycle because goods could not be made quickly and cheaply. If clothing was torn, they would mend it. When clothing couldn’t be mended, they would make something else like blankets or rags. American soldiers even used old bells and metal from their homes to make bullets and armor, and to build ships and airplanes.
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About 100 years ago, bacon became very popular and pig farmers had a difficult time keeping up with the demand. They didn’t have enough food for their pigs. Pig farmers realized food scraps from people's homes could be a source of food for their pigs. And so pig farmers began collecting food scraps in neighborhoods around their farms. The pig farmers quickly realized, their future might not be in pigs, but it might be in collecting waste. After all, they had trucks and homes where people were giving them food scraps, why not pick up all their waste? Many large waste companies today started out as pig farmers. |
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Recycling is even more important today because people create more waste now than in any other time in history. Today goods are easy and cheap to make, especially things made with plastic. Luckily plastic can be recycled and made into new products, and it can also be reused, like the yogurt container.
Recycling is an important way to help the City of Oceanside become a zero waste city. |
Tutorial Challenge
Now that you know a little bit more about recycling, it’s your turn to see how well you and your household are doing to recycle your waste. Ask for help from an older student or an adult if you need help with the challenge.
- Find your waste bins at your home. Check the garage, the backyard, or the side yard. How many bins do you have? What colors are they? Find out what type of waste goes in each bin.
- Look inside each bin. Which one has the most waste in it?
- What are some things the people in your household already do to reduce waste?
