A guide for kids like YOU!By

Treonda S. Carter

All Pictures in this presentation are courtesy of Microsoft Clip Organizer. 2009. Microsoft Corporation.

You may not know it, but you can play a very big part in keeping the environment and our planet Earth clean and healthy. Recycling can make a better place to live for you, your family, friends, and pets! My name is Recycle Ron and I’m going to help you learn how you can help! Follow me to the next page to learn more!

Recycling means taking materials from products you have finished using and making brand new products with them. For example, most of the aluminum cans in the United States are made with recycled aluminum. So if you drink juice or soda from a can, recycle that can instead of throwing it in the trash. That can will stay in the Recycling Loop and out of the landfill.

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Environmental Protection. 2009.

The Earth is our home and it should be taken care of with respect. Without a clean Earth, we can’t survive. When we make new things from recycled ones it takes less money, less energy, and less of the Earth’s resources. Because less energy is used, factories don’t release as much pollution either.

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Environmental Protection. 2009.

Everyone can recycle! You can recycle at home and at school.

Your friends, parents, other adults and kids all around the United States can also recycle.

 

Recycling starts with people separating recyclable materials from their other trash. The separated recyclable materials are collected by recycling programs, processed and then sold to manufacturers for use in new products Commonwealth of

Pennsylvania, Department of Environmental Protection. 2009.

steel bottles

milk bottles plastic

aluminum cans steel cans

glass jars news paper

cardboard white paper

paper

Cookie, cereal and cracker boxes Pens and pencils Bicycles Tennis shoes Clothes Notebook paper Carpet Wallpaper

Environmental Protection Agency(EPA). 2008.

The U.S. is the #1 trash-producing country in the world at 1,609 pounds per person per year. (Recycling-Revolution.com, 2009)

Every month Americans throw out enough glass bottles and jars to fill up a giant skyscraper (think: Empire State Building), but all of these jars are recyclable! (dosomething.org, 2009)

Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures a year! (dosomething.org, 2009)

If all of our newspapers were recycled, we could save about 250 million trees each year!(dosomething.org, 2009)

An estimated 80,000,000 Hershey's Kisses are wrapped each day, using enough aluminum foil to cover over 50 acres of space -- that's almost 40 football fields! All that foil is recyclable, but not many people realize it.(Recycling-Revolution.com, 2009)

A typical family consumes 182 gallons of soda, 29 gallons of juice, 104 gallons of milk, and 26 gallons of bottled water a year. That's a lot of containers -- make sure they're recycled! (Recycling-Revolution.com, 2009)

Only buy what you need Buy products that are reusable, refillable or

concentrated. Buy products in bulk or larger containers rather

than multiple small containers. Use a sponge rather than disposable towels.  Buy fresh fruits and vegetables without

packaging. Avoid products with excessive packaging. Repair, rather than replace, broken items. Donate unwanted materials to charity

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Environmental Protection. 2009.

To reuse means to find another use for something instead of throwing it away. For example, you can decorate an old juice box and use it as a pencil or crayon holder. The possibilities are endless. Just use your imagination!

You can make a difference by starting your own recycling program in your community. You can set up recycle bins at home and in your classroom at school. It’s easy to do!

First you need to get two different bins, each a different color and labeled.

One bin will be used for: glass bottles and jars, Carton and drink boxes, plastic bottles, and metal and aluminum cans.

The second bin will be used mainly for paper such as: newspapers, magazines, cereal boxes, cardboard containers and boxes, school papers and much more!

After the bins are full, the items collected will be taken by an adult to a recycle plant where they are broken down so that new things can be made from them. That’s it!

All that is left now is for you to spread the word at school, home and the community and you’re ready to be an Earth saver! Grow a “green thumb” and keep our plant clean!

Recycling can make the Earth a better place to live for all people and animals.

Anyone can recycle. Reduce trash when possible. Reuse items instead of throwing them

away. Recycle items are not reused and thrown

away. Spread the word to family and friends so

they too can make a difference!

Keeping our planet clean and safe is up to everybody who lives on Earth. If we all take the time to reduce, reuse and recycle, we can make the world a better place. So, go for it! Protect our planet today and everyday!

With your parents approval and assistance read some of the fun books below or go to one of the websites below to learn more about recycling. National Institute of Environmental Health (NIEH) Kids

Pages http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/recycle.htm Kids Recycling Zone www.kidsrecyclingzone.com Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Environmental Kids Club http://www.epa.gov/kids/garbage.htm

Green, J. (2005). Why Should I Recycle. Barron’s Educational Series.

Bethel, E. (2008). Michael Recycle. Worthwhile Books.

Common Wealth of Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Health. (2009). Just for Kids Recycling. Retrieved October 23, 2009 from http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/justforkids/cwp/view.asp?a=3&q=464803

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).(2009). Environmental Kids Club: Garbage and Recycling. Retrieved October 23, 2009 from http://www.epa.gov/kids/garbage.htm

Do Something.Org.(2009). 11 Facts About Recycling. Retrieved November 5, 2009 from http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-recycling

A Recycling Revolution.(2009). Recycling Facts. Retrieved November 5, 2009 from http://www.recycling-revolution.com/recycling-facts.html

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).(1998). Buy Recycled Products on ‘America Recycles Day’. Retrieved November 6, 2009 from http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/d0cf6618525a9efb85257359003fb69d/7bc5a4207f93ddd4852570d6005e7d44!OpenDocument