Recycling in Allen Lauri Mc Intosh Education Specialist

Recycling in Allen Lauri Mc. Intosh Education Specialist Sponsored by Keep Allen Beautiful

What is recycling? It’s part of the four R’s. . .

Reduce Don’t use more than you need.

Reuse Clean it up and use it again.

Recycle Turn it into something else.

Rebuy Buy new things made out of recycled things.

Why should I recycle?

1. We don’t need to dig up lots of new metal if we melt old metal.

2. We don’t need to find as much new oil if we melt old plastic.

3. We don’t need to cut down as many trees if we recycle old paper and cardboard.

4. We don’t have to dump as much trash in the landfill.

5. Recycling saves energy and water. It takes lots of these to make new things in factories.

What can I recycle?

What can Allen kids recycle where they live? Paper and cardboard Plastic Metal Glass

Plastic Look for the number in the recycle symbol.

Recycle these plastic numbers… • 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 7 Wait— what number did I miss? 6—If you live inside Allen, you can’t recycle 6 at your house.

These cups are number 6. (styrofoam)

Let’s take a test. Ready?

Number 1—Can you recycle this? Yes!

Number 5—Can you recycle this? Yes!

Number 4—Can you recycle this? Yes!

Number 6—Can you recycle this? No—not if you live inside Allen.

You did a good job on plastics! Now, let’s look at paper, metal, and glass.

Paper (and cardboard)

Can you recycle this paper and cardboard? Yes! You can recycle lots of paper and cardboard: chipboard boxes, newspaper, school paper, and more!

Wait—can you recycle this paper and cardboard, too? No. The sack has dog food grease on it. The milk carton has wax on it.

Can you recycle a used pizza box? No. It has pizza grease on it.

Metal Aluminum Steel

Can you recycle these metals? Yes! You can recycle soda cans and food cans.

Wait—can you recycle these metals, too? No. You can’t recycle pie plates or aluminum foil in Allen.

Glass

Can you recycle this glass? Yes! You can recycle jelly jars and sauce bottles.

Can you recycle this glass? No. You can’t recycle dishes or drinking glasses.

Where do I recycle?

In Allen, you’ll put your recyclable things in a big blue cart if you live in a house.

If you live in an apartment, you’ll put them in big green bins.

From there, they ride in a truck to the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in Irving.

At the MRF, people and machines separate it into the different types of things you can recycle.

The MRF makes big bales (blocks) of everything except glass and sends them to be made into new things. Glass goes into a huge metal box for its trip to a glass recycler.

The MRF makes bales of paper…

Bales of plastic…

And bales of metal…

Have you ever seen a 1, 200 -pound bale of soda cans?

You’re doing great! I bet you can take one more test. Ready?

What is recycling? a. Riding your bike again and again. b. When you can’t use something anymore, turn it into something else.

What is one reason you should recycle things? a. Riding your bike a lot makes you strong! b. We don’t have to dump as much trash in a landfill.

How many of these things can you recycle in Allen? a. Your plate c. Your plastic water bottle with a #1 on it b. Your dog

Thanks for learning about recycling!