SYNAPSE : ECOINFO Hidden Treasures A whopping 80% of the stuff we throw away is recyclable. Most things that we think are trash, really aren't. Recyclable items can be broken down and made into new things. For example, glass can be recycled and made into new glass. When objects are recycled, we save precious resources, like trees and oil. We also cut down on garbage which helps keep our land, water and air clean. In this way, we help protect the earth's natural resources each time we recycle an item. Take a close look at what you throw away today. Who knows? There could be "gold" in your trash! Well, maybe not real gold, but there are probably valuable materials to find, like glass, paper, plastic and aluminum. Can you guess which of these four was once worth more than gold? If you guessed aluminum, you're right! When it was first discovered aluminum cost more than gold! Today, aluminum is one of the most recycled materials. Fun Fact: Over 2000 aluminum cans are recycled every second in the United States! More Good News Recycling doesn't cost any money. It can even save you money, especially when you reuse items for other purposes. Then, you don't have to spend your allowance on new stuff. Now that's re-using your noodle!! Fun Fact: If you stacked up all the paper the average American used in a year, the pile would be as tall as a two-story building! Recycling is easy, too. Begin with simple things like newspapers and aluminum cans. Call your local recycling center to find out how you can recycle glass, metal, cardboard, motor oil, batteries, yard waste and plastic. Be careful to follow their directions on how to sort the items. Different communities have different recycling programs. For example, there are many types of recyclable plastics, but most recycling centers can't handle all of them. Plastics are divided into numbered categories. Your local center will tell you the plastics it can process. Look for those numbers on your plastic containers before putting them into the recycle bin. Fun Fact: Did you know that you could watch a whole morning's worth of cartoons from the energy you save by recycling one soda can! The Three R's: Roller-skating, Running, and Recess Do you know what the Three R's of the recycling world are? They're not Rollerskating, Running and Recess! Synapse has got the right idea: reduce, reuse and recycle. Reducing means that you buy less in the first place. Can you think of a time when you bought something that you thought you really wanted...and then it ended up stuffed in a drawer a few days later? To get into the habit of reducing, we have to get into the habit of thinking about our purchases carefully. When we reduce our intake, we save the natural resources that it takes to make something new. Like reducing, reusing saves natural resources. Reusing means that you come up with creative ways to use something, instead of simply throwing it away. Plastics, for example, are made from oil. So plastics are actually reformed fossil fuels. Fossil fuels, like coal, petroleum, or natural gas, are the decayed remains of animals and plants that lived in prehistoric times. They are impossible for us to replace. If we continue to use these fossil fuels as quickly as we are, these limited energy sources will run out completely. When you reuse plastics you are actually saving fossil fuels. If you'd like to know more about fossil fuels, visit Geo's EcoInfo! It's at www.ecopals.com. How can you help save fossil fuels? There are lots of ways! Here's one idea: The next time you finish using a plastic bottle, you could turn it into a plant holder or bird feeder instead of tossing it in the trash! You can come up with oodles of ways to reuse common things at home and school. The backs of used paper make great scratch pads and egg cartons are perfect paint trays. So now that you know about the three R's, are you ready to take the EcoPals' pledge? A Banquet Fit for a Turnip We've already learned a lot about items that can be recycled, like plastics, glass, aluminum, paper and more. But what about food? Can it be reused or recycled? Composting is a great way to reuse and recycle some food and garden waste. You might not think it's appealing, but plants love it! Scraps like coffee grounds, vegetables, fruit peels, egg shells, old bread, pasta, and cake can be mixed with grass clippings, weeds, dead flowers, and leaves to make a delicious meal for your garden plants! Some foods shouldn't be put in the compost pile. Things that are greasy like French fries or salad dressing, meats and dairy products aren't good for the plants and can attract pests. If you want to learn more about how to make your own compost pile, dig up the book, I Can Save the Earth: A Kid's Handbook for Keeping the Earth Healthy and Green, by Anita Holmes (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993). Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Garbage Gone? Have you ever thought about where your garbage goes? It doesn't just disappear like in magic shows! Most garbage winds up in sanitary landfills, or it is burned or recycled. Not so long ago trash was taken to the city dump. Peeeuuuw! Those open dumps were pretty smelly and were home to insects, rats and other disease-carrying critters. Open dumps were also fire hazards. Even worse, they allowed leachate to seep into the underground water supply. Leachate is a mixture of rainwater and other liquids that come from garbage. Today, sanitary landfills are replacing these dumps. Sanitary landfills have specially designed liners that protect the environment by keeping the waste and leachate in the ground within the landfill. The leachate drains to the bottom of the landfill where it is pumped out. Then it's treated at the landfill site or at a sewage treatment plant. Once treated, the liquid can be safely released into the city waterways. The garbage in the landfills is crushed and compacted by bulldozers. Once the landfill is full, it is covered with clay, then soil. The soil will become the home for grass, plants and trees. The landfills themselves are often recycled or reused as parks and other recreational areas! Landfills are better than open dumps, but they are not the final answer in garbage disposal. Though the United States has over 6000 landfills, they are already filling up faster than expected. Because of the strict rules that landfills must follow, new ones are difficult to create. It is important that landfills be taken care of properly so that they can last. It's up to each of us to cut down on garbage! Fun Fact: Tires are now being recycled and reused in asphalt. They actually make the pavement in the road last a lot longer! Not In My House! Did you know that many items you use on a daily basis are actually hazardous waste? Hazardous waste is trash that shouldn't be thrown away like normal garbage because it is dangerous or toxic to the environment. Some strong glues, batteries (nickel-cadmium), cosmetics (nail polish, soap or shampoo), and medicine become hazardous waste when they are thrown away. DID YOU KNOW? Not all sewage plants can treat the hazardous wastes that are poured down sink drains. This means that liquids like household cleaners, paints and pesticides end up in lakes and rivers. Call your local sewage plant and ask! Toxic chemicals are sometimes used around the house for cleaning floors, washing dishes and painting walls. They can also be used in car products, gardening materials and hobby supplies. A product is toxic when it has any of these words on its label: poison, corrosive, flammable, warning or caution. Make sure you get permission from an adult before handling these products. Fun Fact: Some towns, like Santa Monica, California, have paint exchange programs where people can swap or give away their reusable paint rather than throwing it away. Start one in your community! Chemicals found in household products can be harmful in many ways. Poisons can make you sick; corrosives can burn your skin and eyes; and flammable items can cause a fire or explode under certain conditions. These chemicals must be used with care and disposed of properly by adults. DID YOU KNOW? Many "green" consumer products like shampoos, soaps and other cleaning materials can be found in stores. Green products are safe for the environment because they are made from recycled materials, are degradable and contain no chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Remember those three R's? Here's a few tips on how to apply the first two to hazardous waste. Reduce: Select the least toxic product that will do the job. Buy rechargeable batteries. Make a homemade cleaner that isn't toxic, like vinegar and warm water instead of window cleaner. Buy only what is needed and use it up. Reuse: If you don't use it all, give it to someone else who will use it. Hazardous waste is difficult to throw away safely. Even experts have different opinions about what to do. Dumping waste in landfills is one way. But as you've already learned, space in landfills is limited and the leachate can be a problem. For these reasons, hazardous waste is often burned. Unfortunately, this can cause air pollution if the toxic ash is released into the environment. Sometimes the waste is put into deep wells that are dug below groundwater sources, or placed in man-made ponds in industrial areas. Environmentalists are concerned that one day this may effect our water resources if toxins leak into the soil. It is best to limit our use of hazardous materials from the start! The Buzz Beneath It All        What do these three things have in common? Electricity. Each of these need power to run. Electricity is a very powerful energy source and has many uses. At home, it gives us light. Electricity also powers our computers, printers, stereos, televisions, coffee makers, toasters, hairdryers and many other appliances. DID YOU KNOW? Watts and kilowatts are the units used to measure electricity. A kilowatt (kW) has 1,000 times the power of one watt. Most clocks run on about 2 watts per hour. One kilowatt could run a clock for 5 months. That's a whole lot of ticking! In businesses and schools, electricity is used to run fax and copy machines, computers, air conditioning, projectors, printers and calculators. When you think about how many schools and businesses there are in just one city, it's clear that the demand for electricity is very high. DID YOU KNOW? Energy-efficient lighting could reduce the United States' demand for electricity by 10 percent, or about 33.8 billion kilowatt hours. This would keep millions of metric tons of carbon dioxide from polluting the air. To keep that much carbon dioxide out of the air, you'd have to plant 9,750,000 trees! The Shocking Truth about Conservation With so many machines and appliances that are powered by electricity, it's important to know how to use it wisely. Here are some energy saving tips: Do not overuse electrical sockets. Turn off lights when you leave a room. Use natural sunlight to light a room when possible. Turn off appliances when you aren't using them. Close windows to keep heated or cooled air in. Close the doors to rooms that aren't in use. Don't leave water running while washing dishes. Reduce hot water by taking shorter showers or filling tubs halfway. Put on a sweater or use an extra blanket and lower the heater during the day and night. Don't Burn Me Up! DID YOU KNOW? The average American uses 55 times more kilowatts (kW) per day than the average person in India! The electricity for our homes, businesses and schools comes from local power plants. Most power plants in the United States use steam generators to create the electricity. The steam comes from burning fossil fuels, like coal. Smoke from burning fossil fuel pollutes the air and is a source of acid rain that harms the environment. Fossil fuels are a nonrenewable energy source. There is only a limited amount of fossil fuels on the earth. That's why it is important to conserve electricity. Conserving helps cut down on the fossil fuels that need to be burned. Using less electricity also protects the environment by helping keep the air and water clean. So how can we conserve on electricity? By using the one source of energy that's never used up? Brain power! You've got an endless supply! Why not use a little to come up with bright ideas on how to save energy? Related Books and Websites If you'd like to learn more about recycling, composting, trash or energy conservation, check out these cool books and websites! Books: The Earth Works Group. 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth, (Berkeley: Earth Works Press, 1990). The Earth Works Group. The Recycler's Handbook, (Berkeley: Earth Works Press, 1990). Holmes, Anita. I Can Save the Earth: A Kid's Handbook for Keeping the Earth Healthy and Green, (New York: Simon and Schuster,1993). Seabury, Debra L. Earth Smart!, (West Nyack: Center for Applied Learning in Education, 1994). Websites: Roscoe's Recycle Room has some great info at: http://www.recycleroom.org/html/welcome.html The World's Shortest Comprehensive Recycling Guide is at: http://www.obviously.COM/recycle/guides/shortest.html Be sure to check out the State of California's Energy Commission site for lots of powerful fun at: http://www.energy.ca.gov