What is rubbish?
Rubbish is anything we no longer want, this could be anything from a newspaper or banana skin, to a t-shirt or empty crisp packet. Years ago we threw these all in one bin and didn’t think about what happened to it. Nowadays we are concerned about the environment and know that some ways of dealing with our rubbish are better than others.
There are three words that can help us remember what is best to do with our rubbish, these are ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’ they are called the 3Rs. If we don’t think about these words, then all our waste would end up in a landfill site.
'Reduce' means to use less stuff in the first place. If we all make less rubbish, there will be less of a problem to deal with! This is the best way to deal with our waste. Reducing the amount of rubbish we throw away means thinking about what we buy in the first place. Do we ‘really’ need it? This can save us money as well.
'Reuse' means to use things again. We throw away lots of things which could still be useful and could be reused. There are many ways we can reuse items, both at home and at school.
'Recycling' means using something old to make something new. This is good because it helps to save the world's resources rather than wasting them by throwing them in the bin. Only when we cannot reduce or reuse our waste, should we recycle, however it still takes energy to turn something back into a useful product.
The waste hierarchy, (shown below) helps us to choose which option is best for the environment.
Waste Hierachy picture
There is another way to help keep rubbish out of a landfill site and that is ‘Compost’ all our food and garden waste. Compost is a rich brown soil made from old plants, fruit and vegetable peelings, by lots of tiny creatures and helps our gardens to grow and is nature’s way of recycling. We should all be composting our food and garden waste at home and at school.
Stop the press!
Congratulations to us in Devon!
In 2010/11, the people who live in Devon recycled and composted 55% of their waste – this made Devon the best county at recycling and composting in England and Wales. We must all spread the word to encourage other people to continue to work hard to make sure we are the best next year too.
