Every day there is less and less space on Earth for rubbish. Yet every day we make more and more rubbish. What can we do? We can recycle some of our rubbish. Recycling means that the rubbish will be made into something that can be used again.
Recycling helps Earth. And it saves space in rubbish dumps(垃圾场). Half of everything that we put into landfills could be recycled instead. In fact, most things made of paper, metal, glass and plastic can be recycled.
Paper can be broken into small pieces and made into new paper. Steel and aluminum cans(金属罐) can be melted down(熔化) and made into new cans. The same is true of glass bottles. This can be done over and over again. Recycling doesn't take as much energy as making these things the first time. So we can use less of Earth's fuel resources.
Plastic can be melted down, too. Then it can be formed into park benches(长椅), playgrounds and so on. Some people call plastic the "wood" of the future. Things made of plastic will last about 400 years—even if they stay outside in the weather. No wood can do that!
