Recycling
Contents
Key Stage 3
Meaning
Recycling is taking materials that have been used and making them into new products.
About Recycling
- Recycling allows us to use less materials from the Earth.
- Recycling makes sure limited materials do not run out.
- Recycling often uses less energy to make products than extracting materials from the Earth.
Key Stage 4
Meaning
To recycle is to process waste materials so they can be used again.
About Recycling
Recycling involves several stages:
- Collecting and transporting the used products with recyclable materials.
- Separating a product into its separate materials.
- Cleaning the material to remove contaminants.
- Reforming the material, usually by melting and molding into a block of the material.
- Transporting the material to factories where it can be used to manufacture a new product.
- Each stage of recycling carries an energy cost. Different materials require different amounts of energy to recycle.
The decision to recycle a material is based on several considerations:
- Can it be collected and transported easily?
- Can the product be easily separated into its materials?
- Can the material be recycled without significant impurities?
- Will the properties of the recycled material be good enough for use in another product?
- Is it cheaper to extract the raw material than to recycle old materials?
- Will it take more energy to recycle than to extract new raw materials?
References
AQA
- Recycling, page 100, GCSE Chemistry; The Revision Guide, CGP, AQA
- Recycling, page 222, GCSE Combined Science Trilogy; Chemistry, CGP, AQA
- Recycling, page 284, GCSE Combined Science Trilogy; Biology, CGP, AQA
- Recycling, page 293, GCSE Chemistry, CGP, AQA
- Recycling, page 349, GCSE Biology, CGP, AQA
- Recycling, pages 106, 192-3, GCSE Combined Science Trilogy 2, Hodder, AQA
- Recycling, pages 216-217, GCSE Chemistry; Third Edition, Oxford University Press, AQA
- Recycling, pages 249-50, GCSE Chemistry, Hodder, AQA
- Recycling, pages 282-283, 299, GCSE Biology; Third Edition, Oxford University Press, AQA
- Recycling, pages 322-3, 325, 334-5, GCSE Chemistry; Student Book, Collins, AQA
- Recycling, pages 94, 160, GCSE Combined Science; The Revision Guide, CGP, AQA
- Recycling; glass, page 336, GCSE Chemistry; Student Book, Collins, AQA
- Recycling; plastic, page 336, GCSE Chemistry; Student Book, Collins, AQA
Edexcel
- Recycling, page 119, GCSE Combined Science; The Revision Guide, CGP, Edexcel
- Recycling, page 57, GCSE Chemistry; The Revision Guide, CGP, Edexcel
- Recycling, pages 161, 162, 295, GCSE Chemistry, CGP, Edexcel
- Recycling, pages 92-93, GCSE Chemistry, Pearson, Edexcel