Recycling Food Cans
How children can work together and improve the environment.

Teacher Briefing

This unit shows children that food cans are recyclable. As the majority of food cans are made from steel the Recycling Food Cans section specifically covers recycling steel food cans.

It will help children understand the recycling process and how it benefits the environment. The children will also learn that they can be active participants in promoting both environmental change and more sustainable development.

The unit can be differentiated for all children in Key Stage 2. It will link with several areas of the curriculum. These include:

• National Literacy Strategy Framework, particularly units of work that involve sequencing of ideas, designing posters, communicating by letter etc;
• The National Numeracy Strategy Framework. Units involving collecting and handling data;
• The QCA Science Curriculum, especially those units concerned with materials and their properties;
• PSHE and Citizenship, particularly children playing their part as active citizens.

Steel and the environment

Steel cans originate from iron ore. These ores are widely distributed and are mined and quarried in many parts of the world. e.g. Spain, Australia and Brazil. However, because steel cans are easily recycled into a range of new steel products – including steel cans - it makes sense to recycle the metal that has already been produced and reduce future impacts on the environment.

As well as iron ore, the production of steel involves the use of considerable quantities of limestone. This sedimentary rock, made from the shelly remains of creatures that lived in ancient seas, is used to assist the conversion of iron ore into iron, which is then used to make steel.

Crushed limestone is added to iron ore in hot blast furnaces. Once heated the limestone reacts with sandy impurities and produces a compound called basic slag. This is removed from the furnace and therefore removes the impurities from the iron. The iron is then refined in a steel-making furnace to make steel.

Limestone is abundant and is quarried in several parts of Britain. However, limestone quarrying can spoil the aesthetic environment (e.g. The White Peak of Derbyshire).

In both the mining of minerals and the heating of iron furnaces fossil fuel energy is consumed in converting these minerals to a useful end product. The carbon dioxide from the manufacturing process may well be contributing to the environmental problem of climate change. Producing steel from recycled materials uses much less energy and CO2, so increasing the volume of recycled cans has a positive effect by reducing the pollution produced.

How else does recycling steel cans help the environment.

All steel cans, produced and used in the UK, could be recycled. The challenge is to collect more cans from all regions of the UK for recycling.

Currently about two thirds of all the cans produced in the UK are made of steel.

The European Union, which legislates on environmental matters, sets member states recycling targets based on their historic recycling performance. Compared to some other members of the EU the UK has a low rate of recycling. In 2001 the UK achieved its target of recycling 15% of the metal packaging produced in the country. The target for 2008 is 50%.

There are other good environmental reasons to achieve this and higher targets. Not only does recycling reduce the consumption of both finite mineral resources and energy (see above) it also reduces the quantity of material going into landfill sites. Even though the UK recycling performance is improving, the volume of waste that is dumped in landfill is still increasing annually. This is because every one of us is producing more waste in our lifestyles, so we have to recycle to help reduce the amount of landfill waste where possible. This is against the background of a diminishing supply of new landfill sites. There is a clear need to recycle more.

Helping children evaluate the success of their project

Before starting this project it would help the children if some data were collected from either parents of their classmates or from the school as a whole.

You'll need to organise a simple questionnaire attached to a newsletter or some other general correspondence with parents.

A short letter, such as the following, would help the children in the third lesson of this project: