Recycling Project at Home

Every piece of trash that is not recycled or composted ends up in a landfill — or worse, in a habitat where animals live. In this project you will set up a sorting station in your home and practice the real science of sorting waste.

The three sort buckets

• Recycle: paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, glass, and metal cans. Clean, dry items only — no food on them.
• Compost: food scraps, fruit peels, coffee grounds, and dead leaves. Microbes break these down into rich soil.
• Trash: chip bags, food-soiled paper, and broken items that cannot be repaired. Only what cannot go in the other two buckets.

Why sorting matters

• A landfill is a huge pit where trash is buried — it destroys habitats and releases gases that warm the planet.
• Recycling saves raw materials and uses less energy than making new items from scratch.
• Composting keeps food waste out of landfills and feeds the soil that grows our food.
• Reducing what you throw away is the strongest step of all — less waste means less damage to habitats and biodiversity.

Connecting living things to the environment

• A habitat is the natural home of a living thing — it gives food, water, shelter, and space.
• In a food chain, energy flows from a producer (plant) to a primary consumer (plant eater) to a secondary consumer (meat eater).
• Biodiversity is the variety of species in a place. High biodiversity makes ecosystems more stable and strong.
• When people pollute water or cut down forests, habitats shrink and many species lose their homes.