This is just an example of a landfill with plastic bottles. This proves, that many people are throwing plastic products in the trash instead of the recycling boxes.
While these early plastics were made from organic materials, oil based plastics really transformed the fortunes of the material. After World War II plastics such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), became standard materials in the manufacturing industries due to their high adaptability and cheap cost – but unless it has been melted or recycled, all the plastic products ever made, are of course, still in existence, rotting slowly on landfill sites all over the world.
Over 60 million tons of HDPE is produced and thrown away every year. Even though HDPE can be easily recycled, most of it still ends buried in waste pits. As well as the effect on the environment, plastic in landfills is also a health concern, as chemicals leach out of the plastics, entering the atmosphere, the ground, and water systems. Recycling, of course, is becoming more common – and if you have ever wondered what happens to the milk jugs and margarine tubs you throw in the recycling bin, take a look at the website for Raw Polymers Ltd, a company that has been specializing in recycling plastics on a vast scale for over 20 years. Plastics sent to their reclamation plants pass through a series of sorting and cleaning stages to separate contaminants or other materials, the plastics are then sorted for color, and shredded into small pieces, with the end result being plastic granules, ready to be transformed back into new bottles, clothing, carpet or furniture. This is the survey that my co-group did using my questions. This proves that many people recycle a lot and don't use a lot of plastic.
As usual, Ms. Leslie helped me with the water project. This time, we got many things done. LIke, we put all the stuff on the Weebly about my process journals, my plan, my co-group’s survey letter, research from books for research, and gathered all of my research. I should get the information about my survey questions from my co-group that I used in my own research.
Title of the Book: Recycle, Reduce, Reuse, Rethink by Kate WalkercThis is a primary resource with number 978-1-4202-6102-8 Three things I found interesting from this How Plastics are Recycled chart are: 1. A developed country throws away 64 kilograms of plastic each year - -WOW!! That is a lot and where does it go? To a landfill? 2. Plastics which are recycled are separated into pure streams because they have different melting points. I didn't know this and just thought that they all got recycled the same way. 3. The shredded plastic has to be washed to remove food, oil, labels, and glue. This is just a waste of water, another precious resource. Here is a letter from my co-group. The survey on SurveyMonkey asked the questions I needed to know from my part of the research. This is what Megan and Aubrey wrote.We are grade 7 students (Chris, Megan, Aubrey, Christine, Harry and Ilya) who are currently working on a project about our school's recycling of plastic. This survey asks questions about your daily recycling practices at home and at school. It would be really helpful to us if you could complete this survey by the end of tomorrow (Friday June 3). Please be honest because the results could affect the possible actions that we will take to help the school's recycling program. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8TPKVSQ Thank you very much, Aubrey, Megan, Christine, Harry, Ilya and Chris Ms. Leslie and I reviewed the objectives of the water investigation unit. We re-looked at my plan based on Olivia’s 6-step plan which was very well organized. I worked with my former group (Chris and Aubrey), now known as my co-group, by coming up with questions for our data collection. We copied some information from primary sources (i.e. library books). We also took some more notes from BrainPop and we started to plan out my Keynote (even we’re ahead of the game). We put our notes, plans and links I have found into the Weebly. I feel good about today.
Since I was sick, it was pretty hard to work for the reason that I was coughing a lot and I just couldn’t concentrate working at home. I did some research when I was ill and found more information about the recycling of plastic all around the world. I also found out the life cycle of plastic and that’s something I need to put in the Weebly.
I did some research with some help by Ms. Leslie, she was trying to cheer me up and it kind of worked. She was telling me about the pros why should I work alone. She convinced me that working alone is better than working in a group. She even told me that one person was pulled out from the team because he was not contributing towards his teammates. In the end, I finished some work and research and I realized that I was way ahead of all the other groups.
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