We’ve heard of them all our lives: introduced in grade school, taught in high school, most probably implemented during college. Signs promote them, junk shops banner them, and environmental organizations remind us of them.
Virtually every individual is familiar with the waste management and environmental adage message, 3R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle). But what many are unfamiliar with is there are actually 5R’s that exist – together teaching of the proper means of waste management.
Step One: Reduce
The best way to minimize the production of waste is to lessen consumption. Cut down on your car use, opt for items that use less packaging (especially the ones with plastic packages), print on opposite sides of the paper to maximize use, and many others that follow.
Tips on How To Reduce:
- Plastics Ain’t Fantastic
Plastics do not easily decompose. And they are not much of a use for us eventually. Most importantly, expect them to make up most of the landfills piling up around the world. When heading to the grocery, bring an earth-friendly cloth bag. Many stores today offer either canvas bags for sale, or discounts to shoppers who bring their own bags. Take advantage of this, and you will get back more than you may know.
- Dispose The Disposable
Go for words like ‘washable’, ‘reusable’, ‘rechargeable’. When it comes to buying your usual batteries, instead of the classic alkaline materials, go for the nickel–cadmium made rechargeable ones.
For mothers, instead of buying commercialized nappies for your babies, go old school with the famous ‘lampin’, especially if you’re planning on staying home. They’re washable, and considerably cheaper.
And in case you’re holding events at home, have towels ready for your guests as an alternative for paper napkins.
- Go Hulk For Bulk
Bulk buying is not a wasteful act if you buy wisely. You can save time, money and energy through decreased transportation use, especially if you follow a regular comprehensive shopping schedule.
Of course the prerequisite for this tip is to make sure all the items you purchase will be useful, and will be disposed of properly afterwards. Avoid impulse buying.
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Practice Switching Off
Obtain the habit of turning off electrical appliances at home and elsewhere when not in use. Turning them off properly includes unplugging them. Setting any appliance on log-off or sleep mode (especially computers and televisions) still leads to energy consumption.
When using an air conditioner, it’s best to turn it off at least 20 minutes before the end of usage, since the cool air it brings is sure to stay in the room.
Click here to learn the benefits of reducing the electricity usage.
Step Two: Reuse
Detailed in itself, reusing items is a crucial phase in living green for it lessens the piling of wastes in dumpsites.
- For students and corporate employees, make sure to maximize the blank spaces of your notebooks, journals and ledgers before disposing them or proceeding to the next page. It’s best to go for pens with a lighter ink shade to avoid heavy markings that would leave imprints on the back page. The same thing goes for misprinted pages. You can use the other side as scratch.
- When dining out, go for restaurants that use chinaware instead of disposable styrofoam food containers. Metals and other reusable materials (glass) are also great alternatives.
- If you feel like your closet is packed with excess, organize a garage sale to at least come up with some extra money. It would always be a great idea to take on the Good Samaritan values and donate your old items to the less fortunate who would certainly have more use for your clothes.
- Promote second hand shops like the thrift stores and shops of used book. Remember, what you consider as trash could be treasure to somebody else. Always think twice before throwing things out.
- Maximize the items‘ use as much as possible. Food containers can also be used as containers for your knick-knacks. Shoeboxes can accommodate old cassette tapes. Unused mugs that you received last Christmas can be your newest penholders or paperweight. Here, creativity is the key.
Click here for easons why reusing is better.
Step Three: Recycle
Whatever the finished product may be, the process of recycling starts with the first step – proper waste segregation. As soon as the trash is already segregated it would be easier to know which ones may still be rendered handy and which ones may not.
Schools these days are very much active in implementing this waste segregation system, with their access to recycling centers where plastics, glasses and paper are delivered.
Recycling at home could also be done by means of composting. The idea of composting is to turn your leftover food and garden scraps into material for a healthy, fertile soil for planting.
For steps in composting, click here.
Step Four: Recover
The simplest explanation for recovery is to take something out of your trash bin and use it again without preprocessing. For example, oils that can no longer be refined for reuse are considered waste. But these oils can still be recovered and used for furnaces.
Another example: tetra packs can be sanitized and even used as the primary fabric for bags and notebook covers.
Click here for recycling crafts and projects
Step Five: Residual Management
This is the option when you find yourself with trash that is of absolutely no use.
- Know your waste. Be aware of the possible harm it can do not only to the environment, but also to other living organisms. Disposing batteries can lead to unhealthy exposure of harmful chemicals. In addition, draining random chemicals in a laboratory sink can increase the risk of toxicity in the vicinity.
- Follow your leaders. For sure, big companies and schools are beginning to take action to preserve environment, and have organized efforts to minimize pollution through effective and efficient means of waste management. These rules mean nothing if no one would follow.
- There are differences between solid and liquid waste disposal requirements. Solid biodegradable wastes go to the landfills or recycling plants; on the other hand, liquids are sent to septic tanks. Mixing solid and liquid wastes can cause health and environmental problems – some, even irreversible.
- If there is no waste management program in your local community, start one. Organize and encourage people to participate. You can begin with waste segregation. Separate plastic bottles, plastic cups, empty cans, papers, biodegradable and non-biodegradable ones.
- Encourage willing participants to go around the neighborhood and collect trash for segregation. Post your efforts via flyers and posters to be distributed around the area, making your movement known. Talk to your community leader and ask for support.
To know how biodegradable your trash is, click here.
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