Sorting waste · Alberta Grade 4 · maddyhelps.com
Tick where each thing should go in your town — the rules differ between places, so checking your town's website is part of the job. Then answer the question underneath.
| Item | Recycle | Compost | Garbage | Special drop-off |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A banana peel | ||||
| A pop can | ||||
| A cereal box | ||||
| A dead battery | ||||
| A broken toy | ||||
| Old paint | ||||
| Grass clippings | ||||
| A glass jar |
Where does it go?
Usually: recycle the can, box and jar; compost the peel and grass (if your town collects compost); garbage for the broken toy; special drop-off for the battery and the paint. Batteries and paint contain chemicals that can leak out of a landfill into soil and water, which is the environmental impact the outcome is about. Reducing comes before recycling because the most useful waste is the waste that is never made.
Whether a town collects compost, and which plastics it takes, really does vary across Alberta. A child who looks it up is doing better science than one who guesses from another town's rules.
Why this matters is on the looking closely page. More sheets