Waste management is a major challenge that the world is currently dealing with. Understanding the concept of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle for kids is the first step toward successful waste management. To keep our planet from becoming a garbage dump, we must all do our part by raising awareness among children for a brighter tomorrow. Globally, around two billion tons of municipal solid trash is generated annually (1). The garbage produced is enough to fill 800,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools (2). Change is supposed to begin at home, and managing waste at home and letting your child know about waste management can be your first step toward making our earth a cleaner and greener planet. Therefore, proper waste management at home can aid in the reduction of global garbage. In this post, we present some effective steps to teach the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling to kids.
What Do The Terms ‘Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle’ Mean?
Reduce means to decrease the garbage we create by limiting your purchases and consumption. This is a simple and best way is to reduce waste and thereby eliminate the cause itself. Teaching your little ones the importance of avoiding wastage is the first step in making them understand the concept of “reduce”. Change at home can begin by following simple steps. Switch off the electric and electronic devices when not in use, take only the amount of water you want to drink, and close the taps while applying soap or brushing. Further, start encouraging your children to use non-polluting, durable, and recyclable materials. Reuse means using the same item more than once rather than discarding it. There are several ingenious ways to reuse and repurpose used items. For instance, you can reuse broken dishes, plastic containers, or empty glass bottles as flower pots or vases. You can reuse takeaway paper coffee cups as pen or pencil holders. Apart from saving the environment, reusing and repurposing used items in creative ways can be a fun activity for children. Recycle is a method of creating new items from used materials or old products. Sometimes products like opened soda cans, soft drink bottles, broken parts of bicycles, etc., cannot be reused. These materials can then be recycled and sold again. Inculcating the values of these 3Rs in your children is not a one-time activity. You need to consistently reinforce waste management values. Getting these in your daily regime and regularly celebrating international environment days like World Earth Day and World Environment Day are some ways of reaffirming the message.
Benefits Of 3Rs For Kids
Teaching Children How To Reduce
Some simple steps will help your little ones understand and incorporate the concept of reduce in their lives.
Teaching Children How To Reuse
Reusing can be a fun activity through simple and innovative ways to repurpose things.
Teaching Children How To Recycle
About 300 million tonnes of plastic is generated annually (3). However, the world has managed to recycle only 9% of all the plastic waste ever generated (3). While 12% is burned, 79% of the total plastic gets collected in landfills, dump yards, or the natural environment (3). In general, materials which can be recycled are: Materials which cannot be recycled are:
