A science quiz about paper bridges

What would be the best materials to make a bridge from?

Steel and concrete are tough materials usually used for constructing bridges, roads and buildings. People don't usually use paper, jelly or plastic!

Jelly

Steel & concrete

Paper

Plastic

What is the force called that makes a suspension bridge strong?

Tension keeps the steel cables in a suspension bridge tense and strong. They help strengthen the bridge structure, meaning it can take more weight than a beam or truss bridge.

Tension

Compression

How much paper do we use in the UK each year?

In the UK alone we use 9.9 million tonnes of paper - that's about 1/3 of a tonne per household per year.

7700 tonnes

80 tonnes

9.9.million tonnes

1.2 million tonnes

How many trees does it take to make one tonne of paper?

It takes 24 trees to make just one tonne of paper.

Worldwide, 4 billion trees are cut down every year for paper. That’s one per cent of the Amazon Rainforest – every single year.

Facts from: https://www.recyclingbins.co.uk/recycling-facts/

Half a tree

65,000 trees

How many trees are saved by recycling one tonne of paper?

17 trees are saved for each tonne of paper recycled. Think how many would be saved if we recycled all the paper used in Britain.

7 thousand

How much water does it take to make 1 sheet of A4 paper?

It takes more than 10 tonnes of water to make just 1 sheet of A4 paper.

It saves water, energy and carbon to recycle paper rather than making it new each time. It takes 70% less energy (about 2/3) to recycle compared to making from trees. Each tonne of recycled paper saves 1800 litres of water and 32,000 litres of water.

10 tonnes

1 tonnes

7 tonnes

0.2 tonnes

How many times (on average) is paper recycled in Europe?

In Europe, paper is recycled on average 3.8 times, which is above the world average of 2.4 times.

55% of the fibre used by the European Paper Industry comes from recycled paper.

3.8

2.4

Every Christmas we waste enough wrapping paper to cover this many football pitches...

Every Christmas, it is estimated that we throw away over 227 thousand miles rolls of wrapping paper in the UK. That’s enough to cover over 11,000 football pitches.

More sustainable ways of present giving would waste less paper. Try giving experiences rather than stuff, and if you do wrap with Christmas wrapping paper make sure it can be recycled locally or use brown paper and string.

11,000

100

1 million

What can you do to reduce paper at home?

What can be done?

Think about your paper use at home and school and see what you can do to reduce it.

School ideas:
Do you need to send a paper newsletter home if you have contact emails for parents?
Use both sides of paper and set up a scrap paper drawer.
Set up a book swap.
Use exercise books between years so they are full rather than unused and half full.