Teacher Earth’s 3R’s: RECYCLE

the greenie patch

by Jeneen R. Garcia

published August 2006

 

 

Hello, kids! By now, your heads are probably full of all sorts of stuff taught to you by your teacher. Hmm...so do you still remember Teacher Earth and the 3R’s?

 

Right! The 3R’s are Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle--three easy ways we can help keep our planet clean and healthy. Last month we talked about how to Reduce and Reuse. So this time, let’s talk about how to Recycle.

 

If you check the dictionary, Recycle means transforming trash by using chemicals or machines so that it can be used again. When newspapers are torn up and mixed with chemicals, they can be made into newspapers again. When used plastic bags are fed into a machine, they can be turned into plastic chairs.

 

Amazing, isn’t it? When we recycle, we get something brand new out of old stuff. Not only that, we keep the old stuff from going into the landfill as garbage. But recycling usually needs big machines and chemicals. Since we don’t have those things at home, here’s how we can be part of the recycling chain:

 

1)      Sell your recyclable stuff to a junk dealer. Recyclables are plastic and glass bottles, aluminum cans, scrap metal, and newspapers. Ask your parents for help on where you can sell these things. You not only get rid of junk in the house, you also earn extra money from it!

2)      Buy things that are recyclable instead of those that are non-recyclable. The best products are those that the manufacturers themselves recycle. For example, when you buy softdrinks, you usually return the glass bottle so it can be used again by Coke or Pepsi. Now, cellphone companies are starting to “takeback” old phones for recycling. Tetrapak, the company that makes juice cartons and foil packs, is doing this now, too.

3)      Compost! Use Mother Nature’s own recycling machine at home to turn garbage into fertilizer.

 

Next time, let’s learn how easy it is to compost. See you then at the Greenie Patch!