Recycling Facts To Make You Think
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Some Interesting Recycling Facts
Do you know that:
* The unreleased energy contained in the average dustbin each year could power a television for 5,000 hours? Err, ok maybe not the best use for it but better than adding to the waste mountain :-)
* The largest lake in the Britain could be filled with rubbish from the UK in only 8 months?
* Up to 60% of the rubbish that ends up in the average dustbin could be recycled?
* On average, around 16% of the money you spend on a product pays for the packaging, which ultimately ends up as rubbish?
* As much as 50% of the waste thrown in the dustbin could be used as compost?
* Up to 80% of an average car can be recycled?
* 9 out of 10 people would recycle more if it were made easier?
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Recycling News
Recycling stories making the news around the world.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byA Great Kids Starter Book On Recycling
Recycling For Kids - Quick Tip 1
For younger kids in particular one really simple way is to make use of the fact that when they first go to nursery and school they're invited to loads of parties.
Instead of buying a card get them to make one of their own by using old cards and wrappings. Kids of that age love being involved with anything arty and it helps you to explain to them how they can recycle just like you.
And don't forget... it's a great way to show how much you care about someone to actually spend time and thought on their card instead of just spending cash.
In fact why not do it for your friends as well?
What You Should Know About Recycling Plastic
Environmental agency reports estimate that 80% of plastic waste is currently reaching landfill sites and this is a major cause for concern as the space required for land fill sites is increasing.
Recycling Plastic - Fast Facts
- In the UK around 455,000 tonnes of plastic bottles are thrown away every year - that's the equivalent of about 9 billion bottles
Only 25 2 litre plastic bottles are needed to make a recycled fleece jacket
Recycling 1 plastic bottle will save enough energy to power a 60 Watt light bulb for 6 hours
Nearly 11% of all household waste is plastic and 40% of that are plastic bottles
Interesting Recycling Facts - Take Two
* If just one million people would recycle their glass, metal, newspaper and plastic they would help us reduce CO2 emissions by an incredible 192,000 kilograms.
* If one million people (no, not the same million!) would reduce their rubbish by only ten percent then every year we would have 600,000 less CO2 in the atmosphere.
* Recycling one tonne of plastic saves 2,600 litres of oil compared to making new plastic.
Freecycling As Recycling
A simple way of reusing is to be part of the growing band of people who freecycle. In fact around the world there are millions who are now taking part in this method of saving precious resources and you can find your local group by visiting http://www.freecycle.org/
Here on Squidoo there's also a great lens by ThePrancingPony that you may also wish to checkout for more on Freecycling - http://www.squidoo.com/freecycling
50 Great Ways To Get The Kids Involved In Recycling
It's targeted at children aged between 9 and 12 which means they're likely to be able to not only get on with the projects themselves but that they're also going to be capable of developing their own ideas for recycling things afterwards.
Recycling For Kids - Quick Tip 2

This is specifically for children in the UK and Ireland but there are no doubt similar schemes in your part of the world. If not then why not start one yourself?
Every year throughout Europe there are enough mobile phone handsets thrown away to make a chain stretching from London all the way to Perth. And it's not just mobiles there are printer cartridges and PDAs that are just discarded as well.
Instead of being added to the growing landfill problem they can usually be recycled and re-used and I've just found a company based in the UK that currently have over 6,000 schools there and in Ireland who are already involved.
For older kids there are posters and letters that could be used to connect with local businesses to gain their help and support in raising funds.
Why not get your child involved in recycling and helping their school as well? Recycool have a great programme that allows them to do just that. You can get all the details and get started here at Recycool.
Featured Lenses
Sites Worth A Visit
- Recyclezone
- Recyclezone, the site for schools, children and teachers that tells you what's what in the world of waste!Although this site is called recyclezone, recycling is only one of the things we can do about waste. We talk about the 3Rs -reduce, reuse, recycle.
A neat site for parents who are looking to introduce their children to the world of recycling! - Climate Change At Earth 911
- We hear about climate change in the news-from devastating hurricanes to heat events-but what is it and what can we do to help stop climate change? Climate change refers to any significant change in measures of climate (such as temperature, precipitation, or wind) lasting for an extended period (decades or longer).
- Recycool
- A brilliant way of raising cash for schools as well as getting older kids interested in the possibilities of recycling.
They even plant a tree just for a school signing up! - Friends Of The Earth
- Our throw-away culture is risking people's health and squandering the world's natural resources.
Prioritising recycling and investing in waste reduction would go a long way to solving the waste crisis. Instead the Government is opting for wide-scale incineration. - Eco Friendly Kids
- Not just a great resource for encouraging children into recycling but for making them aware of all the eco friendly was of living.
- Waste Aware Schools
- The Waste Aware Schools Pupil Zone is packed with information about how you can reduce, reuse and recycle at School.
Why not check out the recycling journeys to find out what happens to the materials that you recycle?
There are also some very good resources for teachers in the staff section of the site. - Fun Games For Kids
- Here's a site where kids can play with glass safely and learn about the benefits of recycling it at the same time.
Recycling Experiments For Kids
Garbage and Recycling (Young Discoverers: Environmental Facts and Experiments)
Amazon Price: $3.52 (as of 02/13/2012)![]()
A great little book (32 pages) for children aged 4-8. It's excellent for your young discoverers if you're trying to get them involved at an early age when they want to make a game of recycling. There are a good selection of activities and experiments for them to get involved with that will make a good base for them to build on later.
Here's a list of the contents:
What a waste
Where does it go
Nature's recycling
Garbage that won't rot
Waste not, want not
Gardens and garages
Down the drain
Plenty of paper
Banks for bottles
Cans count
Recycling plastic
Recycle your rags
Do YOU Recycle?
Time to own up on your recycling habits - be honest now!
Do You Know Any Good Recycling Tips?
Then recycle your knowledge here!
Please share your tips for helping to reduce, re-use or recycle. If you know of any websites that should be added to the "Sites Worth A Visit" please share them with us all.
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tcorbs
Dec 27, 2011 @ 2:17 pm | delete
- I am a freecycler! Very important information.
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mrducksmrnot
Nov 2, 2011 @ 5:29 pm | delete
- Great lens. Here in the USA recycling is catching on but not as much as it could and should. This is great for the whole world to see and practice what is already being done and keep doing more. Thanks for reminding everyone.
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Mia-Mia
Sep 24, 2011 @ 11:28 am | delete
- In my new hometown I am really frustrated because, in the curbside recycling, they take only paper, paperboard, cardboard, plastic, and aluminum cans. We moved from a city that also took glass, aluminum foil, and many more items. I hate, hate, hate, trashing glass bottles and jars, but don't know where to take them.
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manchester Sep 6, 2011 @ 2:02 pm | delete
- There are so many simple things that we could do, but we really have to get everyone motivated if it will make a difference.
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bikerministry
Jul 10, 2011 @ 9:59 am | delete
- I'm trying several ideas for "upcycling" used clothing. I Upcycle old wool sweaters into wool gloves, armwarmers, etc. I upcycle unwound wool sweaters into yarn then use the yarn for wool felted designer handbags. I need to do more with our rubbish though.
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Irenemaria
May 17, 2011 @ 2:41 pm | delete
- http://www.bukisa.com/articles/435895_how-to-use-a-telephone-book
My article with a little touch of humor
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poddys
May 9, 2011 @ 12:38 am | delete
- We recycle what we can. It's sad that the cost of recycling is so high, but I think companies ought to re-think their packaging accordingly. It's good to see that some finally are doing that and saving on packaging.
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ChrisDay
May 8, 2011 @ 12:25 am | delete
- This is such an important piece of work
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Rockett
May 7, 2011 @ 2:52 pm | delete
- More than ever we need to make recycling a part of our daily routine. Thanks for the information.
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Tipi
May 4, 2011 @ 8:01 pm | delete
- I've done reduce, re-use and recycle for so long that I don't even think about it any more, it just comes naturally. Great tips on getting people more involved at every age.
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May 2, 2011 @ 2:07 am | delete
- nice to see a lense about helping the environment
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katiecolette May 1, 2011 @ 11:28 am | delete
- I really got into recycling after finding out that they make Eco Felt out of plastic bottles (I have a lens about it). We now go to a local recycling center every week.
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stefanruse
Apr 26, 2011 @ 8:02 am | delete
- Really GREEN lens. Thank you.
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ltraider
Apr 25, 2011 @ 1:48 pm | delete
- Nice lens! I am glad freecycling made your list
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janices7 Apr 25, 2011 @ 9:27 am | delete
- Great lens....so many resources and I love that you've presented so many interesting tidbits about recycling too.
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The_Health_Lady
Apr 25, 2011 @ 6:38 am | delete
- We try to do what we can to cit down on waste. We would love to recycle our plastics, glass etc., but they don't have a system in our town where either we can drop our recycles off or they pick them up on trash day. We live in a big town & you would think that they would.
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mulberry
Apr 19, 2011 @ 1:29 pm | delete
- Great info, I need to be more committed to recycling...and composting too for that matter.
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Momsbusy247 Apr 17, 2011 @ 11:06 am | delete
- What a wonderful lens and so full of great information. Thank you for sharing it.
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HSSchulte
Apr 13, 2011 @ 11:07 am | delete
- Interesting facts. I'm particularly fond of the one about packaging waste because I find that the most difficult to avoid. Why do manufacturers insist on over-packaging everything?
~Blessed by the Green Living angel
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jackiebolen Mar 2, 2011 @ 12:17 am | delete
- They did make me think, thank you!
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DecoratingforEvents
Oct 19, 2010 @ 3:15 pm | delete
- Talk about eye opening! Thanks for sharing your passion and knowledge! *Blessed
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annettestevenson
Apr 3, 2010 @ 6:14 pm | delete
- I've always been a big believer in making things the 'home made' way with recycled materials. Thanks for the great source list!
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safewell
Dec 9, 2009 @ 12:37 am | delete
- Another great lens! I am a big time recycler!
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HenryE
Sep 22, 2009 @ 10:31 am | delete
- What a great source of information! Very informative and interesting to read. 5 stars for sure!
Henry
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GeothermalVids
Sep 9, 2009 @ 12:00 pm | delete
- This lens has so much great information. Recycling is really such an easy way to help the environment.
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totalhealth
Mar 20, 2009 @ 5:29 pm | delete
- great recycle facts and very informative.
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TheGreenerMe
Jan 23, 2009 @ 8:59 am | delete
- Great work, Welcome to A Million Ways to Go Green! I also have have a lens on how to reuse things that you might be interested in.
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TimeHacker
Jan 22, 2009 @ 1:53 pm | delete
- Very nice and informative lens, 5* from me :)
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MyZeroWaste
Jun 18, 2008 @ 8:04 am | delete
- Hi :)
I'm so pleased that I found your lens. I'm new to Squidoo, as from today, so I'm still fumbling around the dashboard! I love that you've written so much to include children in the recycling journey - this is where it has to begin. It's lovely to see a more UK based lens too.
Keep up the great work and please do take a peek at our site - we've set ourselves a zero waste challenge!
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BradKamer May 20, 2008 @ 12:57 pm | delete
- Make use of re-usable tote bags offered at markets and grocery stores. It eliminates waste of plastic bags. I like this lens. Great job.
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CarolSue
Mar 18, 2008 @ 7:04 pm | delete
- Alot of good information.
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Ms_Appleseed
Mar 12, 2008 @ 4:13 pm | delete
- Very well done. It's nice to be entertained and educated. Five Stars!
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SemperFidelis
Sep 11, 2007 @ 1:27 pm | delete
- Nicely done recycling lens. A 5 to ya! Perhaps you can stop by and take a look at my Recycling lens. Keep up the good work and kindest regards to you.
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Graceonline
Sep 8, 2007 @ 3:38 am | delete
- Eco, blogger Shirley Gregory at Green Options asks whether recycling is as green as we all think it is. I commented with a link to your lens because of your superb info and stats.
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Amazing Recycling Skills
if you think your recycling is good read this
They have taken a proactive approach to the need to recycle and even the rubbish they did have to consign to the bin included items which are only there because their council don't recycle those things.
Here's the BBC video
Help Your Child Understand Global Warming
An Easy Way To Recycle
Take a look at another of my lenses to see how simple it is to get started. Oh and the kids love it as well because it's something they can do on a daily basis!
by LensSeller
I first got an interest in recycling after watching a TV film 6 years ago. That led me to discover just what a mess we're making of the planet. And no... more »
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