Reducing The Use Of Resources (GCSE Chemistry)

Reducing The Use Of Resources

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

• End users must reduce material use. In order to keep developing sustainably, end users must reduce the amount of materials that they use. This can help to reduce the use of limited resources.
• Users must reuse materials. Reusing materials reduces the amount new materials created. This in turn can reduce the amount of waste on earth.
• Recycling materials saves energy. In comparison to creating new materials, recycling materials uses less energy. This means that we can also reduce the amount of waste and pollution.

Raw Materials

Limited Resources

• Raw materials are limited. Some products, like metals, glass and  building materials are made from limited raw materials. The energy to create these products also comes form limited raw materials.
• Obtaining raw materials has a negative environmental impact. When we extract these raw materials from the Earth by quarrying and mining, this can cause damage. This is a negative environmental impact.

Reusing Glass Products

• Glass bottles can be reused. We can reuse glass bottles more than once. This is better for the environment in comparison to single use bottles.
• Glass bottles can be recycled. As well as being reused, glass bottles  can also be recycled. This can be done by crushing and melting the glass to create a different glass product.
• Some products can only be recycled. As opposed to glass, some products aren’t able to be reused, but they can be recycled for a different use. For example, we can recycle metals.

Recycling Metals

• Metals can be recycled. We can recycle metals by melting them, then recasting them into a different shape or product. This saves energy, as there is no mining or extraction processes.
• Metals may need to be separated. Before we melt down metals, we can separate them according to their properties. Sometimes, we will melt certain metals together to achieve a final product with certain properties.
• Steel can be added to iron. A good example of this is when steel is added to the blast furnace in the manufacture of iron. Instead of using lots of energy to extract a large amount of iron from iron ore, we can simply just add scrap steel.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Recycling Polymers