How Can I Reduce Waste? LESSON 3

How Can I Reduce Waste? LESSON 3

Reduce The most effective way of managing waste is to not produce it in the first place. Each of us can reduce our footprint by changing the way we think and act. There are numerous ways to reduce waste, including reducing the amount of packaging on materials, recycling, decreasing the amount of chemicals we put into our environment, reusing items, etc. We can also reduce our footprint by conserving water and electricity, as well as using cleaning items and other chemicals that are less harsh. So how can you make a difference? Start by taking a pledge to reduce your impact. Not only will you save money and time, you ll help the Earth at the same time! Pledge to: Reduce waste by purchasing reusable, refillable and recyclable packaging and avoiding over-packaged and disposable products. Reduce waste by recycling and composting materials. Reduce my impact by conserving power by turning off lights and other electronics when not in use. Reduce my impact by conserving water. Reduce waste by using the front and back of paper before getting a clean sheet and only printing items that are needed. Reduce waste by only packing or buying as much food as I will eat, and using reusable utensils and other lunch items instead of disposable ones. Reduce my impact by reading labels and choosing products that have less toxic materials/chemicals and that have been created using less raw materials. Make a difference by encouraging your friends and family to take the pledge. Did you Know? It takes more than 1½ cups of water to make one sheet of paper. More than 40 percent of wood pulp goes toward the production of paper. The United States alone, which has less than 5% of the world's population, consumes 30% of the world's paper. Approximately 48 million tons of food are thrown away in the United States each year.

Reduce Waste at School Take a look around your school and your classroom You ll discover all kinds of ways to reduce and a variety of ways to be part of the solution. Instead of purchasing book covers, cover your textbooks with cut-up grocery or shopping bags. This helps reduce waste and keeps your books in good condition. Make it an art project by decorating them. Use durable products. Sturdy backpacks and other tough products can be used for years. For instance, three-ring binders can be reused and filled with recycled paper, but pocket folders won t last. Don t forget to look for the recycle symbol when you purchase products. Choose environmentally friendly cleaning products, art supplies and other classroom materials to reduce the amount of pollution to the environment. Reduce your energy consumption turn off lights, computers, etc. when not in use. Reduce your school s overall footprint create usable greenspace, gardens and naturalized outdoor areas. Save fuel and reduce your carbon footprint by riding the bus, carpooling, riding your bike or walking to and from school. Use both sides of the paper instead of another sheet. Save old papers for scrap paper or drawing.

Be a Recycling Detective This checklist will give you some good ideas about all the little things you can do to help the environment. Some of these ideas can help you save money as well as resources. Recycle incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs. Fluorescent light bulbs use less energy and last 13 times longer. Turn off the light if no one is there. If possible, use sunlight to illuminate the room instead of lights. Buy recycled goods. Buying recycled goods creates a market for recycled products. Don t forget to check the label to see whether the product comes in recycled packaging. Create a compost pile. Don t throw away food; use it to start a compost pile. Remember, you can also compost yard waste! Plant a garden. Instead of buying your veggies at the store, plant a garden and learn about organic gardening. Use cloth rags instead of paper towels to clean up your mess. Why waste money on paper towels when a clean cloth rag is more absorbent and reusable? Adjust the thermostat Turn down the heat and wear several layers of light clothing in the winter, and turn up temperature in the summer. Also, close unused rooms to prevent wasted energy. Check the label on your laundry detergent. Make sure it is biodegradable and, if possible, dry your clothes on a clothes line. Take quick showers instead of long baths. One bath can waste gallons of water.

Use Water Wisely Although water is the Earth s most abundant source, only 1 percent is available for drinking water. Most of the water on Earth is either saltwater or freshwater that is frozen in the polar ice caps. Population growth, manufacturing and agriculture all demand increasing amounts of freshwater. The amount of water on Earth is constant and recycled through time; this means that some of the water you drink is more than 20 million years old! Protecting and conserving water is important for future generations. Fast Facts on Water The bathroom accounts for about 65 percent of water used in the home. Some shower heads use 5-7 gallons per minute (gpm). That adds up to 50-70 gallons when you are in the shower for 10 minutes! It takes about 25-50 gallons of water to fill a bath tub and 12.5 gallons of water for a 5 minute shower. Collect Rainwater Did you know the average roof collects about 600 gallons of water for every inch of rainfall? Don't let all that water go to waste! You can use rainwater for gardening and watering household plants, washing cars and bathing pets. You can create your own rainwater collecting system, using rain barrels, storage bins or buckets! Get a large plastic trash bin with a lid the larger the bin, the more water you can collect! Attach a spigot close to the bottom of the trash bin with a drill. This will help you access the water for filling up a bucket for gardening. For rainwater to get in, you can either filter the rainwater from the gutter on the side of your house, or cut a hole in the lid and place mesh over it to keep leaves and other debris out of the bin.

The Smart Shopper How much space does trash occupy? Materials: Large cardboard box Trash: clean plastic jugs, cartons, aluminum cans, paper, etc. Calculator Procedure: 1. Fill a large box with trash plastic jugs, aluminum cans, paper, etc. 2. Calculate the total amount of trash in the container (Hint: height x width x depth) 3. If every person in your class contributed this amount of waste to a landfill each week, how much space would be required each year? 4. Now, compact and reduce the trash by crushing, chopping, tearing, etc. and removing recyclable items. 5. How much was the waste reduced? Ask yourself Trash placed in landfills and sanitary dumps may last far longer than desired. Research and determine the life of a product in a landfill, and based on that research, what packaging materials seem to be the easiest/hardest to recycle; easiest/hardest to compact; easiest/hardest to decompose? Look at the products around you. How would you change the products you use every day to make them more environmentally friendly? Look at your classroom. How can you reduce the amount of trash you produce and the impact you have on the environment?

Using Water Wisely Although water is the Earth s most abundant source, only one percent is available for human consumption. Most of the water on Earth is either saltwater or fresh water that is frozen in the polar ice caps. Population growth, manufacturing, and agriculture all demand increasing amounts of freshwater. The amount of water on Earth is constant and recycled through time; this means that some of the water you drink is more than 20 million years old! Protecting and conserving water is important for future generations. Fast Facts on Water The bathroom accounts for about 65 percent of water used in the home. Some showerheads use 5-7 gallons per minute (gpm). That adds up to 50-70 gallons when you are in the shower for 10 minutes! It takes about 25-50 gallons of water to fill a bath tub and 12.5 gallons of water for a 5 minute shower. The U.S. uses about 346,000 million gallons of fresh water every day. Collect Rainwater Did you know the average roof collects about 600 gallons of water for every inch of rainfall? Don't let all that water go to waste! You can use rainwater for gardening and watering household plants, washing cars and bathing pets. You can create your own rainwater collecting system, using rain barrels, storage bins or buckets! Get a large plastic trash bin with a lid the larger the bin, the more water you can collect! Attach a spigot close to the bottom of the trash bin with a drill. This will help you access the water for filling up a bucket for gardening. For rainwater to get in, you can either filter the rainwater from the gutter on the side of your house, or cut a hole in the lid and place mesh over it to keep leaves and other debris out of the bin.

Reduce Classroom Waste What can you do to reduce your classroom waste? Take a look around your school and your classroom you ll discover all kinds of ways to reduce waste and a variety of ways to be part of the solution. Instead of purchasing book covers, cover your textbooks with cut-up grocery or shopping bags. This helps reduce waste and keeps your books in good condition. Make it an art project by decorating them. Use durable products. Sturdy backpacks and other tough products can be used for years. For instance, three-ring binders can be reused and filled with recycled paper, but pocket folders won t last. Don t forget to look for the recycle symbol when you purchase products. Choose environmentally friendly cleaning products, art supplies and other classroom materials to reduce the amount of pollution to the environment. Reduce your energy consumption turn off lights, computers, etc. when not in use. Reduce your school s overall footprint create usable greenspace, gardens and naturalized outdoor areas. Save fuel and reduce your carbon footprint by riding the bus, carpooling, riding your bike or walking to and from school. Use both sides of the paper instead of another sheet. Save old papers for scrap paper or drawing. Set all printers, copiers, etc. to print on both sides of the paper. Start a Recycling Program: 1. Create containers to store your recycling, and determine what and how you will recycle. 2. Challenge other classes to see who can recycle the most and reduce their waste by the end of the year. 3. Expand the program school-wide, and get the community involved.

Compost Why Compost? As much as 27 percent of the waste in the U.S. is made up of yard trimmings and food according to the EPA. You can reduce your waste and save money on store-bought soil and fertilizer by creating a compost pile for food and yard waste. Basic Guidelines for Starting a Compost Pile: 1. Select a dry, shady spot near a water source for your pile or container. 2. Add brown and green materials, chopping larger pieces. 3. Moisten dry materials. 4. Once established, add grass clippings and green waste. You can also bury fruit and vegetable waste under 10 inches of material. 5. Turn/mix the pile inward weekly. What You CAN and CAN NOT Compost: YES: Yard waste: twigs and wood chips, grass clippings, leaves, wood chips, sawdust, hay/straw Kitchen scraps: coffee grounds and filters, eggshells, fruits and vegetables, nut shells, tea bags Paper: cardboard rolls, clean paper, newspaper Household waste: cotton rags, dryer/vacuum lint, fireplace ashes, Wool rags, pet and human hair, etc. NO: Yard waste: Black Walnut tree leaves or twigs, yard trimmings treated With chemical pesticides Coal or charcoal ash Kitchen scraps: dairy products, eggs, fat/grease/lard/oils, meat, fish Pet waste

Word Match Test your knowledge. Pick the word from the word bank that fits the description. 1. Recyclable, ground-up glass 2. Changes organic materials into a soil-like mixture 3. Half of all landfill waste 4. A use for shredded newspapers 5. Resources saves 95 percent of energy to process 6. Made from petroleum and natural gas. Recycling is still in infancy 7. Some states recycle 90 to 95 percent of these 8. If we use less and make less waste, we are doing this 9. Our largest portion of household waste Word Bank Paper Aluminum Composting Plastics Natural resources Cullet Animal bedding Newspapers Landfills Beverage containers Motor oil Recycle Reduce Pollution Money 10. If materials aren t recycled, they 11. If materials aren t recycled, they use up 12. Some communities require gas stations to collect this for recycling 13. This means to take something old and turn it into something new 14. This is what smog in the area is litter is also a form of this 15. You can earn this when you collect cans and bottles and take them to a recycling center

Spread the Word Create awareness at the trashcans around school for recycling by making large and colorful labels for each bin. Label the main garbage cans as landfill so students can understand where that trash is going. For the recycling bin, draw pictures of water bottles and tin cans to help younger kids learn what goes where. Also create a paper bin for napkins and paper sacks. This awareness can help your school reduce their waste and keep our landfills from overflowing.