Student Writing: The Recycling Center

Recycling Center

Rebecca

January 13^th, 2011

Today at the recycling center, Nancy talked about what we can recycle and how.

She told us we could recycle plastic, metal, card-board, paper, and glass. She also talked to us about how the system at the recycling center worked and what was the cycle.

Then we went in a big work shop where the peoples where working. I saw many conveyer belts with all the trash on it. I felt like it was dark, dusty, smelly but I still loved it. It had the emotions of being in a gigantic work shop where it was almost just machines working and trash.

The people working there had to take out the things that weren’t at there place. Also 60 percent of the employees are handicapped. Because this job is an easy job, you always do the same thing every day, so it is reassuring them.

Then we went in another part of the work shop where there was trash smashed together in a big rectangle. THERE WAS HUNDRETDS OF THEM. It was really awesome because we saw a big truck tacking the packs and throwing them on the ground. He did that so that after all the trash could be sorted because it wasn’t sorted category by category.

Also there’s some people that put things in the recycling not washed, so it smells bad and at the summer time it attracts flies and rats. So each year they put poison everywhere in the building.

And also some of the plastic is put together to do a plastic mix, which after is sold. And if you throw away aluminum cans in the green garbage, you could of get 5 cents for each one. But they don’t mind you throwing them out because they take them and they feel an 18-wheeler with cans. They get $10 000 by 18-wheeler.

What I learned is what we can recycle and if we aren’t sure what to put in the recycle look under the container and if you see a number between 1 and 7 or the recycling sine, it is recyclable. I can teach others by telling them what, how and why to recycle.

I loved my morning at the recycling center!!!

Recycling Center

Joshua

January 13^th 2011

Today we went to the recycling center.

Our guides name was Nancy.

There we learned about what and what not to recycle.

There were conveyor belts, a press, and a magnet and separators.

I was dumbfounded by all the noise.

Here is the process.

First trucks dump the recycling on the ground.

Then they sort paper from plastic with a special machine.

After that they sort the different types of plastic containers.

On a separate line they separate paper from plastic bags.

Then it gets shipped out.

Ones a dead skunk in a bag got pressed and it stunk for a week.

They some times find wallets there to.

Some times they find money.

In January they smash big bales of recycling.

You can recycle paper, plastic, metal and glass.

Went our trip was over we clambered on the bus and went back to school.

Recycling Center

Ben

January 13^th, 2011

The fieldtrip wasn’t so long but the way Nancy was talking to us made us realized that if the planet would be like in the recycling center, it wouldn’t be so long we would all be covered of dirt. The recycling center smelled bad but the amount of dirt in there was impossible to imagine. There were magnets to take metal or things like that, they would take the recycling and were doing bundles and tied it with metal straps. Nancy talked us about the numbers under the things we recycle; the stuff without numbers under it goes in trash. There are numbers because there are different kinds of plastic. We always need to clean our stuff before putting it in the recycling bin or else it will smell bad and there will be rats in the recycling center. Instead of putting your pop cans in the recycling bin, go deliver it to the store. Each empty pop cans are 5 cents and beer bottles 10 cents. So if you have 60 pop cans you can have 3.00$. it doesn’t look a lot of money but if you collect it you can have a lot of money, like my brother, in about 5 years with all the pop cans he collected and delivered it to the store, the chores he made and the money gifts he got he got about 2000$ and I’m not joking.

Nancy told us about the worst thing that happened in the center, one time it was super smelly in the recycling center for one week and they realized that it was a skunk that they squished with the machines that makes the bundles… WAAAAK!!!

Nancy told us about the best thing that happened in the center, a girl was sorting the plastic papers on the conveyer belt, she found a kind of bag, opened it and found 1500$... WOW!!! INCREDIBLE!!! The girl paid for her vacation to go see her parents.

BUT I FEEL BAD FOR THE ONE WHO LOST HIS MONEY!