Nature

NATURAL RESOURCES MATERIAL FOR READING



http://www.brysoneducation.org/age_8_11/sort_it_out_waste/index.asp

Sort it out waste

Rubbish and waste, the stuff we throw away when we no longer want it, is an increasing problem for our community today. Once the bins are emptied, few of us think about where the rubbish goes or what happens to it. As we all produce rubbish every single day ofour lives, we should be taking some responsibility for what happens to it once it has left our homes, schools and places of work.



Litter: Litter is a very big problem in Northern Ireland. People are either too lazy to put their litter in the bin or simply don’t care. There are plenty of litterbins provided by local councils, but not enough people use them. Litter looks untidy, costsmillion of pounds to clean up, attracts flies and rats and can be dangerous to people and animals. Broken glass can cause serious injuries, plastic bags can choke pets and farm animals, and small animals like mice and shrews get trapped in bottles and starve to death.



Rubbish: http://www.brysoneducation.org/age_8_11/sort_it_out_waste/rubbish.asp

What can we do?: The first thing to do istry not to produce the waste in the first place. However, it is impossible to stop producing waste altogether, so we must think of how we can reduce the amount we throw away. Then there is the option of trying to reuse some materials.

Some of the rubbish can be recycled into new products and whatever is left needs to be disposed of in the landfill site.

These options are known as the 'wastehierarchy' and are sometimes shown as a pyramid. At the top is reduce, followed by reuse, recycle and then landfill at the bottom.

At present, most of our rubbish is dealt with at the bottom and is sent to the landfill. It is our responsibility to change our own habits and attitudes so that we start at the top.



Find out about the 3 R's, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

Reduce, Reuse &Recycle: This means trying to produce as little rubbish as possible. It is the hardest of the 3Rs to understand, as it is to do with stuff that isn’t there!

Much of what ends up in the bin is packaging from food and other products. Trying to buy things that have as little packaging as possible is a good way of reducing our rubbish and remember, all that fancy packaging isn’t free!

Another wayof reducing rubbish is to buy less stuff in the first place. Often we are tempted into buying things we don’t want or need by sales and special offers. Often this extra stuff ends up being thrown away as we never really needed it in the first place.

Taking a shopping list and sticking to it, is a good way to avoid being tempted by special offers for products you don’t need.

Tell your Mum,Dad or whoever does the shopping about how we can all reduce our rubbish by reducing the amount of packaging on what we buy.

Re-use means to use something over again when you have finished with it.

Many of us reuse stuff every day without even knowing we are doing it. If you take your lunch, P.E. kit or swimming stuff to school in a supermarket plastic bag, you are reusing that 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.

Often when we reuse, we reduce at the same time. If you think about the example of the plastic bottle, every time you fill a bottle up again, you have not had to buy anew one. Reusing the same plastic bottle at school reduces your rubbish by 5 plastic bottles every week!

Other good ways of reusing are giving clothes, toys and books you no longer want to friends or family or to a charity shop, selling them on ebay or Freecycle them. Freecycle is a web group where people give away things they no longer want. All of these ensure useful things are used again...