resources - recycling

Question 1

what are all glass, metals, building materials, plastic etc made from?

Answer 1

raw materials which are in limited supply. in some cases (metals) they are getting scarce

Question 2

what is required to turn raw materials into useful products?

Answer 2

energy. this is in limited supply as we use fossil fuels so important we try to reduce our need for raw materials eg by reusing or recycling.

Question 3

what are plastics, metals, glass, building materials etc made from? how are these extracted?

Answer 3

raw materials which are in some cases (metals) becoming scarce. they are obtained by quarrying (produces large amounts of dust + destroys habitats) or mining (release harmful chemicals) which are harmful to environment

Question 4

benefits of reusing and recycling

Answer 4

• help save limited resources and energy
• reduce the amount of waste that we produce + have a less harmful effect on the environment

Question 5

how can glass bottles be reused?

Answer 5

• reused for drinks
• crushed or melted to make different glass products for example jars

Question 6

what are plastic bottles reused for?

Answer 6

• recycled to make fleece jackets + carpets

Question 7

how do we recycle metals? problem

Answer 7

• melt them and then recast them into different products
  problem: different metals usually need to be separated before being recycled. that depends on properties of final products eg some scarp steel can be added to iron from a blast furnace. this reduced amount of iron we need to extract from iron ore