Grades K-8
Handy’s Little Helpers
Welcome to the section for elementary and middle school students. Here you can learn about the three R’s (recycling, reduction and reuse) and how important they are to the environment. This section also provides information on two very important issues in the environment today: water conservation and how to dispose of your electronics.
What is Sustainability?
Sustainability is the idea that our daily choices affect today, tomorrow, next week and even next year. For example, when you get a new CD you need to be careful with it. Put it back in the case, make sure it doesn’t get scratched, and don’t let your dog chew on it. If you don’t take care of it, it won’t work anymore. The act of taking care of something so that you can use it for a long a time is the same as sustainability.
Because our planet has limited supplies of natural resources (water, clean air, trees) taking care of it should be a part of our daily lives. A great way to help keep the earth in working order is to follow the “Three Rs”: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.
What can you do to promote sustainability? It’s as simple as turning off the water while you brush your teeth or turning off lights when you leave a room. You may want to tell others about keeping the earth clean, such as putting a recycling bin in your classroom.
Reduce
One of the easiest ways to help keep the earth clean is to reduce, or cut back, a little everyday. The three most important things to reduce are use of energy, use of water and the creation of trash. Reduction can help lessen air pollution, global warming and drought.
Many of your daily actions can be slightly altered to help reduce your impact on the planet. From turning off a lamp when not in use (saving energy) to brushing your teeth without the tap running (saving water), or riding your bike (reducing air pollution), you are doing your part to help save the planet.
Reuse
Reuse is the easiest of the three. Reuse is simply the act of finding another use for something so it doesn’t just get thrown away. Reusing provides the opportunity to be creative with lots of different materials.
You already reuse so much every day, from making collages out of magazine clippings to eating meals off reusable plates. But reuse doesn’t have to stop there. You can make costumes out of old clothes or make a fort out of a leftover cardboard box. Reuse is an important step that is also fun!
Recycle
Recycling is the process of taking a product at the end of its useful life and using all or part of it to make something new. Just like using leftover Thanksgiving turkey to make turkey sandwiches, a leftover plastic bottle can be turned into part of a new plastic park bench.
The graphic at right is the symbol for recycling; the arrows go around in a circle because recycling is a process that doesn’t end, like a circle. Each arrow represents a different part of the recycling process, from gathering the trash together to making something new out of it. Recycling reduces the amount of trash we have to keep in landfills, and making new products out of recycled ones saves us from using energy to make products from all new materials. This is like using recycled paper to make more paper, rather than cutting down trees.
Recycling can take place at your home, your school or anywhere that you see a bin with the recycling symbol. Examples of some commonly recycled products include paper, aluminum cans and glass.
