What is recycling?
When something is recycled it is reused or turned into something else.
Materials such as glass, metal and paper are quite easy to recycle. Certain types of plastic can be recycled too.
Objects that aren’t recycled are taken to landfill sites.
These are places where rubbish gets buried and left to rot away and biodegrade.
What does sustainability mean?
If something is sustainable, it can be carried on for a long period of time.
Throwing plastic bags or packaging away is not sustainable because the planet will eventually run out of landfill space.
Being sustainable means doing little or no harm to the environment.
Watch: Sustainability and plastics
Learn about sustainability and plastics with Sue Venir.
I’m really good at recycling! Not just because it’s good for the planet, but because on an airship like this there’s no one to collect the rubbish!
I reuse my water bottle instead of buying bottled water, otherwise I’d have lots of plastic bottles to get rid of. And I get fruit and vegetables without packaging otherwise I’d have lots of plastic wrapping to get rid of.
When you live without making waste like this, it’s called being sustainable! And it’s not only important for the way I live, but the way we all live.
This is because we’re throwing away a lot of rubbish, especially plastic! Food wrapping and drinks bottles are called single-use plastics because they’re only used once, and then thrown away.
Even things that don’t look like they’re made of plastic can still have plastic in them, like coffee cups that have a plastic lining.A lot of this rubbish doesn’t get recycled which is a big problem, because plastic doesn’t rot or biodegrade, so it takes a long time to break down.
A plastic bag can take hundreds of years to decompose. If plastic ends up in rivers, lakes, seas and oceans, it can do a lot of harm, as wildlife can get tangled in it, or mistake it for food!
Eight million tonnes of plastic enters the world’s oceans each year, so we all need to live more sustainably to stop polluting the planet! Because, just like my airship, there’s no one to collect the rubbish!
Single-use plastics
Some plastic objects are only used once then thrown away.
These are called single-use plastics. They include things such as plastic bags, bottles, straws and crisp packets.
These objects cannot be recycled and can take hundreds of years to biodegrade.
It is not sustainable to keep on using them. If we do, we could permanently harm the environment.
Plastic also harms animals and wildlife in rivers, lakes and oceans. They can get tangled up in plastic objects or can even eat them.
By recycling, reducing packaging and reusing things such as bottles, we can help protect the planet.
Why is plastic a problem?
Plastic is a very useful material but difficult to get rid of. More than eight million tonnes of plastic pollute the world's oceans each year alone. Plastic items and other waste follow the ocean currents and become huge floating rubbish patches.
Activity: Quiz – Sustainability and plastics
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