We went to an environmental centre last Tuesday to learn all about recycling! It is something we need to learn how to do better to help contribute to the achievement of the Global Goal of Responsible Consumption and Production. We also learned how to talk about recycling in Mandarin, so that we could share our learnings to both the English and Mandarin speaking communities of Brisbane 🙂
(for more insight into the Global Goals see our blog posts Heroes for Change, sending light , a day without electricity, and using milk to make plastic)
So from their research, the kids learned that Australia is not recycling as well as we could, and it seems mostly to do with confusion of what can and cannot be recycled, especially when each City Council has its own rules! So we thought we would start with finding out what we can and cannot recycle in the Brisbane City Council area…we learned things we didn’t know! So the kids made a video to share their findings about ‘Recycling’ in Brisbane. They made this one in both English and Chinese, so that we could share these findings with both the English and Chinese speaking communities in Brissie!
Words to the song in our video are same as Groovi Pauli’s version below…but we had to change the words in our version to reflect our Council’s classifications! 🙂 Our classifications are Plastic 塑料 (sù liào) Glass 玻璃 (bō li) Paper 纸 (zhǐ) Cardboard 纸板 (zhǐ bǎn) and Metal 金属 (jīn shǔ). There are tables in the video that show examples of what can and cannot be recycled in each classification, in both English and Mandarin. These tables are copied in this post at the bottom, but unfortunately I cannot colour code them on this page like they are in the video!
Some piks from the Recycle talk at Osprey House Environmental Centre:
The song that the kids sing in the video is taken from Groovi Pauli’s ‘Recycle song’ on his ‘Go Green’ album (top album to buy and listen to!), they had to change the lyrics a little to suit our Council’s classification and rules! But here is Groovi Pauli’s version to listen to:
Lyrics to Groovi Pauli’s Recycle song are:
我说嘿!
垃圾分类
要资源回收
看看你的垃圾
你有没有回收?
OH哦,没有没有
分类一下
回收容易了
瓶子 玻璃
纸 电池
都可以回收
不要乱丢
wǒ shuō hēi !
lā jī fēn lèi
yāo zī yuán huí shōu
kàn kan nǐ de lā jī
nǐ yǒu méi yǒu huí shōu ?
OH ò , méi yǒu méi yǒu
fēn lèi yī xià
huí shōu róng yì le
píngzi bōli
zhǐ diànchí
dōu kě yǐ huí shōu
bù yào luàn diū
I said ‘Hey’
separate your rubbish
you must recycle natural resources
look at your rubbish
have you recycled it?
Oho, no, no
sort it
recycling is easy
bottles, Glass,
paper, batteries (NB lyrics/materials in our kids’ version changed to reflect Brisbane City Council’s classifications)
all can be recycled
don’t throw it away!
The following tables were created to give examples of what can and cannot be recycled in each classification of the Brisbane City Council..in both English and Mandarin 🙂
Metal materials that can be recycled:
Metal | 金属 | jīn shǔ |
Tin cans | 罐头 | guàn tou |
Soft drink cans | 软饮料罐 | ruǎn yǐn liào guàn |
Foil trays | 银箔托盘 | yín bó tuō pán |
Aluminium foil | 铝箔 | lǚ bó |
aerosols | 喷雾罐 | pēn wù guàn |
Paint tins | 颜料罐 | yán liào guàn |
Metal Materials that cannot be recycled:
Metal | 金属 | jīn shǔ |
Batteries | 电池 | diàn chí |
Gas bottles | 煤气罐 | méi qì guàn |
Metal wire | 金属线 | jīn shǔ xiàn |
Scrap metal | 废钢铁 | fèi gāng tiě |
Stainless steel cutlery | 金属制的餐具 | jīn shǔ zhì de cān jù |
White goods | 白色家电 | bái sè jiā diàn |
Glass Meterials that can be recycled:
Glass | 玻璃 | bō li |
food bottles and jars | 食物玻璃瓶和玻璃罐 | shí wù bō li píng hé bō li guàn |
Drink bottles | 饮料玻璃瓶子 | yǐn liào bō li píng zi |
Perfume bottles | 香水瓶 | xiāng shuǐ píng |
Glass Materials that cannot be recycled:
Glass | 玻璃 | bō li |
Drinking glasses | 玻璃杯 | bō li bēi |
Heat resistant glass | 耐热玻璃 | nài rè bō li _ |
Mirror glass | 镜玻璃 | jìng bō li |
Window glass | 窗玻璃 | chuāng bō lí |
Light bulb | 灯泡 | dēng pào |
Plastic Materials that can be recycled:
plastic | 塑料 | sù liào |
Soft drink bottles | 软饮料瓶子 | ruǎn yǐn liào píng zi |
Takeaway containers | 塑料容器 | sù liào róng qì |
Butter/yoghurt tubs | 黄油/酸奶包装容器 | huáng yóu / suān nǎi bāo zhuāng róng qì |
Disposable plates /cutlery | 塑料餐具 | sù liào cān jù |
Shampoo/detergent bottles | 洗发水/洗涤剂瓶 | xǐ fà shuǐ / xǐ dí jì píng |
Biscuit / sushi trays | 饼干/寿司盘 | bǐng gān / shòu sī pán |
Milk /juice bottles | 牛奶 /果汁瓶 | niú nǎi / guǒ zhī píng |
Plastic Materials that cannot be recycled:
plastic | 塑料 | sù liào |
Hard plastics (eg. toys /toothbrushes) | 硬质塑料 (比如玩具/牙刷) | yìng zhì sù liào ( bǐ rú wán jù / yá shuā ) |
Straws | 吸管 | xī guǎn |
Plastic bags | 塑料袋 | sù liào dài |
Cling wrap | 保鲜膜 | bǎo xiān mó |
Chip packets | 薯片包装 | shǔ piàn bāo zhuāng |
Toothpaste tubes | 牙膏管子 | yá gāo guǎn zǐ |
Bubble wrap | 气泡包装 | qì pào bāo zhuāng |
Paper Materials that can be recycled:
paper | 纸 | zhǐ |
newspaper | 报纸 | bào zhǐ |
Junk mail / advertising brochures | 垃圾邮件/广告邮件 | lā jī yóu jiàn / guǎng gào yóu jiàn |
Office paper | 办公废纸 | bàn gōng fèi zhǐ _ |
Gift wrap | 礼物包装纸 | lǐ wù bāo zhuāng zhǐ _ |
Note books | 笔记本 | bǐ jì běn _ |
magazines | 杂志 | zá zhì _ |
Phone books | 电话簿 | diàn huà bù |
Greetings cards | 贺卡 | hè kǎ |
Paper bags | 纸袋 | zhǐ dài |
envelopes | 信封 | xìn fēng |
Paper Materials that cannot be recycled:
paper | 纸 | zhǐ |
Padded envelopes | 软包装的信封 | ruǎn bāo zhuāng de xìn fēng |
photos | 照片 | zhào piàn |
Wax coated paper | 蜡纸 | là zhǐ |
tissues | 纸巾 | zhǐ jīn |
Toilet paper | 卫生纸 | wèi shēng zhǐ |
Baking paper | 烤纸 | kǎo zhǐ |
Cardboard Materials that can be recycled:
cardboard | 纸板 | zhǐ bǎn |
boxes | 纸箱 | zhǐ xiāng |
milk / juice cartons | 牛奶箱 /果汁箱 | niú nǎi xiāng / guǒ zhī xiāng |
Egg cartons | 鸡蛋箱 | jī dàn xiāng |
Toy boxes | 玩具纸板包装 | wán jù zhǐ bǎn bāo zhuāng |
Pizza /cereal boxes | 比萨饼盒 /谷物盒子 | bǐ sà bǐng hé / gǔ wù hé zi |
Detergent boxes | 洗涤剂盒子 | xǐ dí jì hé zi |
Tissue boxes | 纸巾盒 | zhǐ jīn hé |
Cardboard coffee cups | 纸板咖啡杯 | zhǐ bǎn kā fēi bēi |
Cardboard Materials that cannot be recycled:
cardboard | 纸板 | zhǐ bǎn |
Wax coated boxes | 蜡涂层的纸板箱子 | là tú céng de zhǐ bǎn xiāng zi |
Happy Recycling!