A beverage company redesigns its bottle to use 20% less plastic while holding the same volume. Which waste-management strategy is this?

A school stops buying individual ketchup packets and instead serves ketchup from large bulk containers in the cafeteria. Which strategy does this primarily use?

A neighborhood tool library collects drills that households no longer need and lends them to other residents. Which strategy is illustrated?

A student washes and refills the same durable water bottle each day. Which strategy is this?

A paper mill collects used office paper, pulps it, and makes new paper products. Which strategy is being used?

During a building renovation, intact doors are removed and sold for installation in other buildings. Which strategy is this?

A city collects leaves and grass clippings, then manages them in oxygen-rich windrows until they become a soil amendment. Which strategy is this?

A repair center replaces cracked screens and batteries so tablets can remain in service. Which strategy does this most directly support?

A bottle-return company collects durable glass bottles, washes them, and refills them with juice. Which strategy is used after collection?

A materials recovery facility sorts used plastic bottles by type and processes them into pellets for manufacturers. Which strategy is this?

A manufacturer sells concentrated cleaner in smaller containers that customers dilute at home, reducing packaging per use. Which strategy is illustrated?

A community program accepts food scraps and soiled paper napkins, then aerates the mixture to make a soil amendment. Which strategy is used?

After curbside collection, a materials recovery facility sorts, cleans, and processes bottles and cans. What does this work create for manufacturers?

Food scraps and dry leaves are kept moist and supplied with oxygen as microorganisms decompose them. What useful product results?

A recycling plant melts sorted aluminum cans and forms new cans. Which raw material does this reduce the need to mine?

A gardener applies finished compost to a vegetable bed. What does the compost primarily return to the soil?

A company collects used shipping pallets, inspects them, and sends sound pallets back to warehouses. What is recovered?

Why can paper be recycled only a limited number of times?

A specialized electronics recycler dismantles retired computers and separates circuit boards and metals. What is the main recovery goal?

A county collects food scraps separately from trash and sends them to a compost facility. Which valuable resource is conserved in the finished product?

A shopper buys a notebook labeled “100% post-consumer recycled content.” What does “post-consumer” identify?

A city uses crushed recovered glass as aggregate in asphalt for a road project. What does this demonstrate?

A single-stream recycling load contains food residue, plastic bags, and items the facility does not accept. What is a likely result?

A plastic container displays a resin identification code, but the local recycling program does not accept that plastic type. What does the code guarantee?

Why should a student check local rules before placing plastic film in a curbside recycling bin?

Recyclables are bought and sold as raw materials. How can a drop in demand for recovered material affect a recycling program?

A district wants cleaner recyclable feedstock and asks students to separate paper from containers. What trade-off can this create?

A pizza box is soaked with grease and food. Why is it a problem in a paper-recycling load?

A family puts old electronics in its curbside bin without checking local guidance. What recycling limitation is most relevant?

A community's single-stream program accepts glass bottles, but a neighboring program does not. What conclusion is supported?

A resident puts a garden hose in a recycling bin because it is made of plastic. Why can this be a problem?

A cafeteria buys disposable cups labeled “biodegradable” but has no composting collection or processing facility. What is the key limitation?

Use the table. Recycling 1 kg of which material avoids the most greenhouse-gas emissions compared with making it from virgin inputs?

Use the table. A bottling plant needs 5 kg of packaging material. Which switch from virgin to recycled input avoids the most greenhouse-gas emissions?

Use the table. For 1 kg of each material, which recycling choice saves the most energy compared with making the material from virgin inputs?

Use the table. A factory needs 10 kg of one material. Which switch from virgin to recycled input reduces energy use by the greatest total amount?

A mill uses 80 MJ to make 1 kg of virgin paper and 50 MJ to make 1 kg of recycled paper. How much energy does recycling save per kilogram?

Recycled aluminum requires 20 MJ per kg instead of 200 MJ per kg for virgin aluminum. What percentage of the virgin-production energy is saved?

A recycling audit finds that recycled glass saves 12 MJ per kg and recycled plastic saves 35 MJ per kg compared with virgin production. For 4 kg of each, which saves more energy and by how much?

Making 1 kg of virgin steel emits 9 kg CO₂e, while recycled steel emits 3 kg CO₂e. A project uses 6 kg of recycled steel. How much emission is avoided versus virgin steel?