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Recycle City Scavenger Hunt
By Linda Lindroth

Recycle City, sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, was created for the classroom. All of the activities at Recycle City are designed so the teacher can set different goals to match the classroom curriculum. You can also check out "Things To Do In Recycle City" for some more ideas.

Recycle City image

Visit these Recycle City locations to find each item in the scavenger hunt...

Cardboard box:

  • Widget Manufacturing

  • Marie's Market

Plastic milk carton:

  • City Hall

Glass jar:

  • School

  • Materials Recovery Center

Wooden board:

  • Community Warehouse

  • Materials Recovery Center

Plastic bag:

  • Marie's Market

  • Materials Recovery Center

Newspaper:

  • MoonBeam Cafe

  • Used Pets

Then name three ways that each of these items can be reused, instead of throwing them away. (You can use the whole thing or only part of it.)

Cardboard box

Plastic milk carton

Glass jar

Wooden board

Plastic bag

Newspaper

Can you find other ways these items are put to use in Recycle City?

Challenge your students to find other recycling examples to add to your reduce, reuse, and recycle list. Create a Recycle City Bulletin Board to post all of their discoveries. Students can do posters or drawings to show each example of reuse.

Suggested Answers for Recycle City Scavenger Hunt:

Cardboard box:

  • Widget Manufacturing - pay for shipping when customer returns the packaging (it can be reused 5 times before being recycled);

  • Marie's Market - use boxes for carrying groceries; also collected for recycling to make paper bags, and building.

Plastic milk carton:

  • City Hall - used to make the benches outside the Hall.

Glass jar:

  • School - collect glass jars for computers;

  • Materials Recovery Center - melted to make new glass; makes insulation and road-construction materials.

Wooden board:

  • Community Warehouse - recycled building materials;

  • Materials Recovery Center - remilled for furniture and flooring, particle board; painted wood is mulched and used as filler in construction.

Plastic bag:

  • Marie's Market - get a discount for returning plastic bags;

  • Materials Recovery Center - recycled for garbage cans, railroad ties, and manhole covers.

Newspaper:

  • MoonBeam Cafe - a box in the store to provide papers free; old magazines.

  • Used Pets - shredded newspaper for pets to play with in the pen.

For a Recycling Reproducible click here. PDF 1454KB

Linda K. Lindroth is Technology Editor and Web Coordinator for Teaching K-8. She is also a Technology Resource Teacher in a K-5 computer lab in Lexington, KY.