Background Information

Educator Information: What do you do with the things you no longer want or need, such as the packaging from the food you buy or bottles you drink from? Many of us have grown up thinking of this as 'waste', as something we need to just get rid of. But what if we think of these materials as a resource for creating new and useful products? What if we can re-imagine how we think about and use these materials?

Thinking of waste items as the resources required for creating new products is a great way to shift our thinking about what we should do with these materials. Recycling is key to this thinking as it means we can keep returning recyclables to the recycling system to be re-manufactured without requiring the extraction of natural resources from our environment: this is called 'closing the loop'. Closed-loop recycling assumes that materials will be re-manufactured over and over again, reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill and the number of natural resources extracted from the earth.

What does this mean for us? All it takes is putting the correct recyclables in the right bin. But why do it? There are a number of reasons and they're all very important:

When left in our environment, some types of waste - such as plastic waste - can leach chemicals into the environment, harming plants and animals. In the ocean, some marine animals mistake plastic waste for food and eat it. And some animals eat so much plastic they die of malnutrition. In addition, the chemicals that leach from the plastic can enter the food chain, being consumed by other animals and eventually people.
All the raw materials required to make any of the goods that we use come from resources that are finite, meaning that once they run out you won’t be able to get them back. Recycling means we can recover resources and find innovative ways to re-use these items over and over again.
Getting the raw materials to make products uses more energy than recycling. Take aluminium cans, for example. Making an aluminium can from recycled aluminium cans only takes 5% of the energy that is required to make aluminium products from raw materials (source). What about paper? Sure, we can always grow more trees to make more paper but growing more trees requires water and energy.
Recycling reduces the amount of waste going to landfill. Less waste in landfill is less waste in our environment, which is better for everyone.
By recycling in the right way we can increase the amount of materials recovered and reused to make new products. In this way, we can all contribute to closing the loop and enabling materials to be reused over and over again.

What is the future of the stuff we no longer want or need? By following a closed-loop principle, we are securing a future where there is no waste, only resources. To not re-think, re-imagine and re-manufacture these resources would be a wasted opportunity.

Information about Visy: This activity has been developed in partnership with Visy. For over 70 years Visy has been committed to finding sustainable solutions for Australia’s recyclables and helping to reduce local landfills. Visy collects, receives and sorts paper, cardboard, glass, plastics, steel and aluminium from households, businesses and schools with the purpose of reusing these products in the re-manufacture of new packaging products.

Many of us are familiar with the terms 'reduce, reuse and recycle' or even 'refuse, reduce, reuse and recycle'. In these statements 'recycle' is the final step. However, at Visy there is a unique, local dedication to their recycling with the aim to recover and re-use as much material as possible to 're-manufacture' those materials back into recyclable packaging within their own operations. This model helps demonstrate how the materials we place in the recycling bin can be remade into new products, which, once no longer needed, can again be recycled and re-manufactured. This is core to the idea behind closed-loop recycling; that the materials and resources we use in our day to day lives can be re-manufactured and reused over and over again.

Definitions:

Recycling – Recycling is a process of re-manufacturing materials into new materials or products ready to be used again. This prevents the waste of useful materials, natural resources and human-produced resources
Waste/Rubbish – Stuff we no longer want or need
Composition – The parts or materials that make up something
Environment – Our environment is all the plants and animals (including people) on Earth, and all the things that are needed to keep the plants and animals alive, such as the air, water, soil and sunshine
Sustainability – Sustainability is about making sure there is enough for our environment and for everyone on earth, both now and in the future.

New words for children to learn:

Recycling
Waste

Ages 0 to 2

Preparation:

Collect a range of familiar objects made from different materials, such as:

Plastic toys of different shapes and sizes
Wooden blocks
Metal toys (like cars)
Fabric toys or objects (like cushions or towels)
Natural materials (like sticks, bark, pebbles or sand).

Activity:

Begin by displaying your objects on the floor, either inside or outside. You should mix the objects up so that they are not in any order or any categories.

Invite children to handle these objects, and as they do, talk to them about what each object is made from. Work with children to sort the objects based on the materials they are made from, such as plastic, wood, metal etc.

You could also invite children to test how these different materials:

React to water
Sound when tapped (what sounds do they make?)
Feel – Are they hard or soft, cold or warm, rough or smooth?

You could also work with children to sort these objects based on the following:

Size – Can you order them from smallest to largest?
Weight – Which item is lightest? Which is heaviest?
Colour – Can you group them by colour or create a rainbow of coloured objects?

Provocations:

I wonder what this is?
I wonder what this is made from?
I wonder if we can find anything else that is made from this material?
I wonder what colour this is?
I wonder which of these is smallest or largest?
I wonder which of these is lightest or heaviest?
I wonder which of these are smooth? I wonder which are rough?

Possible lines of development:

Sorting other objects according to size, weight and colour.
What materials are you wearing? Remember to include shoes, zippers, buttons etc.
What are the objects we put in the bin made from?
Investigate recycling further with these activities: What goes in that bin? And What is recycling?

Ages 3 to 5

Preparation:

Collect a range of recyclable materials (ensuring all objects are clean and cover any sharp edges with sticky tape or masking tape):

Old paper and cardboard of different sizes, thicknesses and colours
Plastic containers, bottles and bags of different sizes, thicknesses and colours
Cans of different shapes and sizes, including old Milo cans and deodorant cans
Aluminium foil.
Fabric scraps.

Organise a set of What Is It Made From? Flashcards – Flashcards can be printed and cut in half, with questions glued to the back of the corresponding picture.

Activity:

Begin by displaying your objects on a table or the floor. Invite children to stand or sit around these objects and to begin handling these objects. As they go, talk to children about how these are items of rubbish, explaining that rubbish is something we no longer need or want. Talk to children about why we might no longer want these objects, using the following provocations to guide you (some suggested answers have been provided):

I wonder what these things were used for?
Suggested answers: This was used for holding food, or for wrapping something.
I wonder why we no longer need this thing?
Suggested answers: All the food is gone, or we have unwrapped the thing that was inside and we don't need the wrapping anymore.

Now explain to children that although these things they are looking at are now rubbish, they are still made from something and they can still be used for something. Invite children to suggest answers to the following question:

I wonder what these things are made from?

Explain to children that some of the things are made from paper, cardboard, metal, glass, wood, fabric etc. Spend some time examining the objects and working with children to determine their composition. Sort the materials into piles based on their composition (e.g. a paper and cardboard pile, a metal pile, a plastic pile).

Once you have sorted the materials you can begin talking to children about where the materials that these things are made from actually come from. Use the What Is It Made From? Flashcards to assist in your discussion.

Finally, you can explain to children that knowing what something is made from can help us understand which bin to put it in. Most things that are made from paper, metal or glass can go in the recycling bin. Many things made from plastic can go in the recycling bin. Things like old clothes can go to in the op-shop collection bins. Food scraps can go in the chook, worm or compost bin. And old leaves and grass can go in the compost or the green waste bin.

You can also explain to students by putting the right materials into the recycling bin, we can ensure that these materials get made into new objects that we can use. And just because they've been recycled once, it doesn't mean they can't be recycled again - things that belong in the recycling bin can get made into new things over and over and over again.

You can use the Recycling Factsheet or this poster to help you find out what you can and can't put in your recycling bin.

Provocations:

I wonder what rubbish is?
I wonder if these things are rubbish?
I wonder what these things were used for?
I wonder what these things are made from?
I wonder what other things are made from these materials?
I wonder which bin we should put these things in?

Possible lines of development:

Sort these materials according to size, colour and weight
Reuse these materials in craft or building activities
Identify other uses for these materials in your yard or building
Investigate recycling further with these activities: What goes in that bin? And What is recycling?
Being safe with waste and recyclables
Take a juice box apart to see what different materials the box is made from.

Evaluation

Complete an analysis of learning listing evidence about:

Belonging	Finding something of interest
Communication	Expressing an idea or feeling
Exploration	Engaging with challenges and persisting when difficulties arise
Wellbeing	Being involved

Embedding into daily practice

Contact your council to find out what materials your council collects through kerbside collection
Encourage families to donate recyclable materials to the centre (e.g. empty boxes, containers, lids etc.)
Provide families with tips or suggestions on ways to increase recycling rates at home
Review your purchasing habits and buy products with recycled content (e.g. toilet paper and paper towel)
Work with other rooms at your service to ensure your bin system and recycling policy is consistent throughout.

The information and statistics included in this document are approximate and have been simplified for educational/illustrative purposes. They should not be relied upon for any other purpose.

Visy Education - What Is It Made From?

Summary

Activity Guides and Printables

Activity Details