Conservation, Waste Reduction, Recycling, and Substitution

IB SL

Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

• Reduce the amount of the Earth's resources that we use.

• Reuse Don't just bin it, could someone else make use of it?

• Recycle Can the materials be made into something new?

Substitution and Landfill

• Substitution: is basically when you use one resource over another for example using alternative fuels rather than fossil fuels to benefit the environment.

• Landfill: Burying waste in the ground (filling in land with rubbish). It is cheap but sites are filling up/running out. This waste is mainly domestic but some hazardous waste is allowed.

Fly-Tipping

• When people or companies dump waste and old equipment and is becoming an increasing problem due to

• Increased costs of landfill.• Many goods are hazardous.• New E.U. Regulations are being imposed

which could be costly to manufacturers.

Waste Imports In China

• Dumping of old equipment is becoming an increasing problem.

• A new PC requires at least 10 times its weight in fossil fuels and chemicals.

• Old PC’s are often shipped to LEDC’s to be recycled.

• Workers bathe the components in acid to strip the materials apart.

Waste Imports In China

• Imports more than 3m tonnes of waste plastic and 15m tonnes of paper and cardboard per year.

• A third of UK’s waste plastic and paper is exported to China every year.

• Low wages and a large workforce means this waste can be sorted out cheaply.

• This is not responsible as a lot of countries are just exporting their waste to other places.

Activity

• Create a Poster/Fact-Sheet to educate people of how they can make changes to their lives in order to think about the environment...

ReduceRe-useRecycle

ConserveSubstitute