======  Old Materials Made New/舊材料變新 ======
by [[steve-wang|Steve Wang]]

[[https://renickbell.net/jrhigh/2021newvalue/doku.php?id=steve-writing-about-mark_s-recycling-presentation#chinese_version|中文版]]


Mark Chen came to our school to talk to us about his work, the importance of recycling and why we should do it too. Mark works in a company that recycles old materials and makes it into new ones. He also does research about using recycled materials to make new products. Sometimes, they also work with big companies like Nike to help them make their products with recycled materials.

First, he started with trying to debunking some people's belief that recycled materials are dirty. He assured everyone that the materials are thoroughly senitized before being melted down with the other materials. In addition, he also told us that some materials that are being sold are made out of recycled materials but just not advertised. Fearing that people would not buy it if they knew.

Mark then proceeded to show how useful recycled materials could be. He used his work as an example. He stated that he his company has worked with the company Nike to provide recycled materials for them to create some of their shoes. He also metioned another project which was how he used recycled plastic to provie wood floor tiles. Which was better than normal wood in some instances. This shows that recycled material are not inferioTr to new materials. If it good enough for a big company like Nike it should be good enough for us.

Which brings us to his next point which was the potential that the recycled materials have. Again, he used his company as an example whihc also experiments with materials to try to make new products out of recycled materials. For example, they have made velcro out of a kind of cloth. The difference is their velcro does not make loud noises when taken apart and it can also be made of recycled materials. Another example is that they would also make fake wood out of recycled plastic. Which is also better than real wood in some ways. Not only does it look exactly like real wood, the wood would also not be damaged if it is moist. By using these examples, he proved that recycled materials are just as good as new materials and sometimes can be made better than new materials.

In closing, Mark helped us understand why recycling is important and the potential of recyled materials. Which can be made to be as good as new materials. I think he also allowed people to see past their prejudice against recycled materials and by doing this encouraged people to recycle.

===== Chinese Version =====
馬克來到我們學校與我們談論他的工作、回收的重要性以及我們為什麼也應該這樣做。 馬克在一家回收舊材料並將其製成新材料的公司工作。 他還研究使用回收材料製造新產品。 有時，他們還與Nike等大公司合作，幫助他們使用回收材料製造產品。

演讲的开头，他開始試圖揭穿一些人認知回收材料很髒的信念。 他向所有人保證，這些材料在與其他材料熔化之前已經過徹底消毒。 此外，他還告訴我們，一些正在出售的材料是由回收材料製成的，只是沒有做廣告。 怕人家知道不買。

馬克接著展示了回收材料的有用性。 他以他的作品為例。 他說，他的公司已經與Nike公司合作，為他們提供回收材料來製作他們的一些鞋子。 他還提到了另一個項目，即他如何使用再生塑料來證明木地板磚。 在某些情況下，這比普通木材更好。 這說明再生材料並不遜色於新材料。 如果它對Nike這樣的大公司來說足夠好，那麼對我們來說也應該足夠好。

這讓我想到了他的下一點，回收材料的潛力。 再次，他以他的公司為例，該公司還對材料進行了實驗，試圖用回收材料製造新產品。 例如，他們用一種布製作了魔術貼。 不同之處在於它們的魔術貼在拆開時不會發出很大的噪音，而且它也可以由回收材料製成。 另一個例子是，他們還會用回收塑料製造假木頭。 這在某些方面也比實木更好。 它不僅看起來和真正的木頭一模一樣，即使是潮濕的木頭也不會損壞。 通過使用這些例子，他證明瞭回收材料與新材料一樣好，有時可以比新材料更好。

最後，馬克幫助我們理解了為什麼回收很重要以及回收材料的潛力。 他也让我们知道回收材料也可以跟新的材料一样好。 我認為他還幫助人們擺脫對回收材料的偏見，並通過這樣做鼓勵人們回收利用。

[[steve-wang-essays| Go back to Steve Wang`s essay page]]