Recycling Research by Robyn https://padlet.com/robyntober/recyclingresearch en-us 2017-11-12 23:41:44 UTC 2025-12-01 05:06:59 UTC hello@padlet.com What does biodegradable mean? robyntober https://padlet.com/robyntober/recyclingresearch/wish/206054698 Biodegradation is a chemical process in which materials are dissolved by bacteria or other biological elements. If a material is biodegradable, it means that it can be consumed by microorganisms and turned into compounds that are natural. Items that are biodegradable are considered environmentally friendly because they can turn back into elements found in nature.]]> 2017-11-12 23:44:36 UTC https://padlet.com/robyntober/recyclingresearch/wish/206054698 Where does the stuff you recycle go? robyntober https://padlet.com/robyntober/recyclingresearch/wish/206054720 2017-11-12 23:44:51 UTC https://padlet.com/robyntober/recyclingresearch/wish/206054720 What is the plastic predicament? robyntober https://padlet.com/robyntober/recyclingresearch/wish/206054832 The U.S. uses over 100 billion plastic bags each year. That’s is more than 300 bags per person per year, with less than 10% of these bags being recycled. MOST of them end up as pollution, with large amounts in the ocean.]]> 2017-11-12 23:46:03 UTC https://padlet.com/robyntober/recyclingresearch/wish/206054832 What is trash soup? robyntober https://padlet.com/robyntober/recyclingresearch/wish/206054848 Trash soup is another word for the garbage patch. The garbage patch has a lot of marine debris. Marine debris is litter that ends up in oceans, seas, and other large bodies of water.]]> 2017-11-12 23:46:16 UTC https://padlet.com/robyntober/recyclingresearch/wish/206054848 How can we help our environment? How can we reduce the trash that gets into the ocean? robyntober https://padlet.com/robyntober/recyclingresearch/wish/206054868 Know What to Throw. ...
Recycle More in Our Homes. ...
Recycle More Outside Our Homes. ...
Select Lighter Packaging. ...
Protect Our Leftovers. ...
Buy Recycled. ...]]> 2017-11-12 23:46:29 UTC https://padlet.com/robyntober/recyclingresearch/wish/206054868 Why do people litter? robyntober https://padlet.com/robyntober/recyclingresearch/wish/206247859 People litter because they do not feel responsible for public areas like streets and parks. The more they litter, the more it becomes a habit, and the worse the community looks. People usually litter outside their own neighborhood where their trash becomes someone else's problem.]]> 2017-11-13 14:30:56 UTC https://padlet.com/robyntober/recyclingresearch/wish/206247859 How does trash get in the water? robyntober https://padlet.com/robyntober/recyclingresearch/wish/206247959 About 80% of the trash in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch comes from activities on land. Litter like plastic bottles, bottle caps, and candy wrappers can end up in storm drains or in rivers and streams that empty into a bay or the ocean.]]> 2017-11-13 14:31:05 UTC https://padlet.com/robyntober/recyclingresearch/wish/206247959 How does plastic hurt animals? robyntober https://padlet.com/robyntober/recyclingresearch/wish/206248160 Many marine animals ingest plastics, mistaking them for food. Marine researchers around the world have observed hungry sea turtles eating plastic bags, mistaking them for jellyfish, and seabirds eating all kinds of plastic objects, including cigarette lighters and toothbrushes, mistaking them for small fish. In the Great Pacific Garbage Patch within the Northern Pacific Gyre off the California coast, albatrosses and other birds were repeatedly observed picking through the
floating plastic to find and eat red, pink and brown pieces of plastic (“Anything that looked like shrimp”). Small plastic fragments called microbeads, which resemble fish eggs, are routinely found in the stomachs of numerous sea creatures including marine mammals, reptiles, jellyfish, fish and birds. Research performed last year found an average of 8 pieces of plastic in small-sized fish, 20 pieces in medium-sized fish and 44 pieces in cormorants, large sea birds that eat these fish.
When plastic is ingested, it can get lodged in the windpipe, obstructing airflow when swallowed or when birds try to regurgitate it to feed their chicks, eventually causing suffocation. Once in the digestive tract, plastic debris can either block the tract, or accumulate in the stomach, producing a false sense of fullness, causing the animal to stop eating, resulting in malnutrition as it slowly starves to death.]]> 2017-11-13 14:31:24 UTC https://padlet.com/robyntober/recyclingresearch/wish/206248160