Recycling

Question 1

Recycling

Answer 1

-reusing/reprocessing waste materials to produce new materials

Question 2

Advantages of recycling

Answer 2

-less mines (destructive) are needed to extract finite reserves of metal ores
-less crude oil needs to be extracted to make plastic
-less energy is used for recycling compared to making a new product form natural resources (release of greenhouse gases reduced)
-waste in landfill is reduced

Question 3

The table shows the percentage of energy saved by recycling compared to extraction from a metal ore.
Metal Energy saved (%)
Iron 70
Aluminium 92
Suggest an explanation for the difference.

Answer 3

-aluminium is extracted using electrolysis
-iron is extracted by heating with carbon
-electrolysis uses more energy, so more energy is used to extract aluminium in the first place
-thus the difference in percentage and extraction is bigger

Question 4

Disadvantages of recycling

Answer 4

-collection and transport of used items needs organisation, workers, vehicles and fuel
-can be difficult to sort different metals from one another

Question 5

A simple way to separate aluminium from iron

Answer 5

-magnet or
electromagnet
will attract iron but not aluminium