The 5 R's
Plastic and waste.
Plastic is a non-biodegradable material that is used frequently in our
everyday lives. In fact, almost 400 tons of plastic is produced every year.
This plastic is almost 40% single-use items and over 8 tons of it end up
being dumped in our waters annually. Plastic and waste are becoming an
issue, the large amounts of waste is overflowing from our landfills and
filling our oceans. Small pieces of plastic are slowly contaminating our
food-sources and the larger pieces are endangering our wildlife. This issue
is important because it affects our health and the health of our planet. The
5 R’s is a way to help the environment and have a smaller personal impact on
the planet.
Refuse: WE can refuse many single use items (such as straws) and buy items that are more sustainable.
Reduce: We can reduce the amount of plastic we use in our lives. Examples are using glass containers instead of plastic ones and buying water metal bottles to reduce the amount of plastic water bottles we use.
Reuse: Reuse items, especially plastic items, instead of throwing them away. Plastic to-go containers can often be washed and reused numerous times. We can repurpose waste and create new items as well as buy used items (such as clothing) and use them instead of buying new.
Recycle: We can recycle a
lot of our waste and use the materials to create new products. This way new
materials won’t have to be used and resources will be saved.
Rot: Some waste can be
broken down into useful food for the soil. Most food waste and many types of
clothing can be used in compost to create rich new soil.
Here are several websites on the 5 R's: