Introduction to Recycling Curriculum
Key Terms in Recycling
• Introductory Survey: What do you currently know about recycling
• Basic Terms: Three Rs, The IWM Hierarchy, and To Discard or to Dispose.
Basic Concepts in Recycling
• How the materials cycle got broken
• How we recognized our shortcomings
• Conceptualizing the future: hierarchy
• The failure of recycling’s competitors: landfills and incinerators

• Market share of competing ventures—how fast things change
• What’s available for recycling: 12 categories
• How recycling works: drop-off, buyback, curbside
• Processing mixed materials vs. source-separated recycling
• The five types of material sorting/processing facilities
• Encouraging source separation-type recycling: the four policy options
• Five meanings of source reduction
• Three levels/types of recycling
• Market development and recycled product procurement
• Forming new ventures: the six areas of activity
• Recycling’s role in climate change
Know Your Materials

• Hands-on demonstrations of basic market grades of materials: metal, glass, paper, plastic, wood, etc.
Equipment Slide Show
• Independent Learning: paper and video resources
Opportunities
Click here for development & job opportunities.
Workshops
Learn about jobs in recycling & waste reduction from leaders of the industry at NCRA Jobs in Recycling Workshops.
Workshop History, article reports and video.




