From old to new

Recycling materials is often very much cheaper then producing new materials. You can melt metal and use it again and again. Cars are usually recycled for their scrap steel. Have you ever seen a car breaker at work? He takes out all the parts that can be reused.

Preventing pollution

Some companies try hard to reduce waste and prevent pollution. The American company 3M have a plan called `3P - Pollution Prevention Pays`. They pay extra money to their workers to encourage them to reduce waste and conserve energy and materials. Since they started 3P, the company has saved almost a billion dollars, and reduced its waste by fifty per cent.

Dump it - or recycle it?

How much rubbish do you throw out every week? If you live in Los Angeles, you probably throw away about twenty-one kilograms of rubbish every week. Every man, woman and child in London throws away six kilograms of every week. The figure for Tokyo is seven kilograms for each person.