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THE 3 R's
 EDUCE:
This means making the amount of rubbish you produce as small as
you can. You do this when you choose what you are going to buy in
the shops. Almost everything these days comes in some type of packaging
and it is packaging that makes up most of our rubbish. Try to choose
things that have as little packaging as possible. For example, if
you are buying apples, buy loose apples rather than apples that
are packed in a polystyrene tray and covered with cling film.
Tell your Mum, Dad or whoever does the shopping about reducing
rubbish by reducing the amount of packaging on what they buy.
E-USE:
Re-use means to use something over again. We don’t
mean using something like a pencil or a schoolbag over again, as
nobody would use a pencil or schoolbag once and then throw it away,
we mean using something that we are finished with over again.
Many of us reuse waste every day without even knowing we are doing
it. If you take your lunch or P.E. kit or swimming stuff to school
in a supermarket plastic bag, you are reusing the plastic bag. If
you use old newspapers to cover the table when you are painting,
you are reusing the newspapers. If you refill an empty plastic bottle
with water or juice to take to school or to the park, you are reusing
the plastic bottle.
Another good way of reusing is to give clothes, toys and books
you no longer want to other people or to a charity shop. They will
reuse these things instead of them being wasted and going to the
landfill site.
If we use our imagination, there are many ways we can all reuse
things that other people think of as rubbish.
ECYCLE:
This is the last of the three R’s. It is much better
to recycle than to throw everything in the bin, but it is better
if you can do one of the others first, as recycling is carried out
in factories and causes a small amount of pollution. If you reduce
the amount of rubbish you have in the first place or reuse your
waste you cause no pollution at all.
The difference between reusing and recycling is that you can reuse
the things yourself. To recycle things they have to go to a factory,
where they are melted down or mashed up and made into something
new. For example, you can reuse a plastic bottle yourself, but you
cannot recycle that bottle into a new bottle at home.
The most common materials recycled are paper, glass and food and
drink cans. In some places plastic bottles, clothes and other waste
materials are also recycled. You need to contact your local council
to find out what you can recycle where you live.
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