Reduce, reuse, and recycle are three simple ways to help take care of Earth. Reduce means using less so we make less trash in the first place. Reuse means using something again instead of throwing it away.
Recycle means sorting certain materials so they can be made into new things.
Key Facts
- Reduce = use less and make less waste.
- Reuse = use again before throwing away.
- Recycle = turn old materials into new products.
- Waste saved = starting waste - ending waste.
- Total trash = food scraps + paper + plastic + metal + glass + other waste.
- Sorting rule: paper, plastic, metal, and glass often go in recycling bins, but food and dirty items usually do not.
Vocabulary
- Reduce
- Reduce means to use less of something so there is less waste.
- Reuse
- Reuse means to use an item again instead of throwing it away.
- Recycle
- Recycle means to collect and process old materials so they can become new things.
- Waste
- Waste is anything people throw away because they no longer need it.
- Sorting
- Sorting means putting items into the correct group or bin.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Putting food-covered items in the recycling bin is wrong because dirty items can spoil clean recyclables.
- Throwing away something that can be reused is wasteful because it uses up more materials than needed.
- Thinking all plastic can be recycled is wrong because only certain plastic items are accepted in many recycling programs.
- Mixing trash and recycling together is a problem because workers and machines need clean, sorted materials to recycle them well.
Practice Questions
- 1 Mia has 6 plastic bottles. She reuses 2 bottles for a craft and recycles the rest. How many bottles does she recycle?
- 2 A classroom throws away 10 paper scraps on Monday and only 4 paper scraps on Tuesday after using both sides of the paper. How many fewer scraps did the class throw away on Tuesday?
- 3 Sam has an empty glass jar, a banana peel, and a clean cardboard box. Which item could be reused, which could be recycled, and which should not go in the recycling bin? Explain your choices.