Glass is very easy to recycle; waste bottles and jars can be melted down and used again and again.
You simply toss old glass into the furnace with the ingredients you're using to make brand-new glass.
Most of the metal we throw away at home comes from food and drink cans and aerosols.
Typically food cans are made from steel, which can be melted down and turned into new food cans.
Drinks cans are generally thinner and lighter and made from aluminum, which can also be recycled very easily.
Mining aluminum is a very energy-intensive and environmentally harmful process.
That's why waste aluminum cans have a relatively high value and why recycling them is such a good thing to do.
People have been reusing this traditional, sustainable material for as long as human history. Waste wood is often turned into new wooden products—such as recycled wooden flooring or garden decking. Old wooden railroad sleepers (now widely replaced by concrete) are sometimes used as building timbers in homes and gardens. Waste wood can also be shredded and stuck together with adhesives to make composite woods such as laminates. It can also be composted or burned as a fuel.