Question: how do you recycle metal and plastic

Alex Leide answered on 11 Nov 2019:

You have to separate different types, so iron in one pile, aluminium in another, copper in another… all the metals separately. Then each type is melted where it can be purified or mixed with other elements to make the new metal you can use again. Most metals we use are actually a carefully controlled mix of different elements (called alloys) which give different properties. Metal is normally recycled because we are very good at it now, and recycled metal is as good as new metal, and it is expensive to get new metal from mines.
Plastic is more difficult. It has to be separated, then chopped into little pieces where it can be cleaned, heated and softened and made into new shapes. But normally the recycled plastic is not as good as new plastic, so it can’t be used for some purposes. We are still working on ways to make recycling plastic better because it is really important to do.