What Are the Ways We Reduce, Reuse, Recycle?
Today’s activity isn’t only for today. Even though Earth Day Week is coming to a close, we can all use more reduce, reuse, recycle in our lives.
When was the first time you learned about “reduce, reuse, recycle”? When was the last time you thought about it?
The questions below are designed to guide your discussion. You can answer them for your kids, or you can research the answers with them, or you can let them research the answers, or you can even go through your house to find some answers. It’s up to you!
Preschool and Elementary:
Reduce: What does it mean to reduce? Can you make a list of all the items and food you use in a day? What can you reduce your use of?
Reuse: What does it mean to reuse? Can you make a list of all the things you throw in the trash each day? Can any of these things be reused? Are there any clothing or packaging items you are planning to throw away? Can they be reused? Are there any art projects you can do with recycled objects?
Recycle: What does it mean to recycle? What recycling can you do in your own home? What recycling can you do, but not in your own home? What things can be recycled?
Middle and High School:
Reduce: What does it mean to reduce? What materials do you use, whether tangible or intangible (like electricity)? How can you reduce your use of these materials? What are the costs and benefits of reducing? How can a group “reduce” on a larger scale, like a family, school, city, or country?
Reuse: What does it mean to reuse? What were you planning to throw away in the next few days that you could reuse? What are the advantages and disadvantages of reusing materials? How can we reuse materials on a larger scale, like across a city?
Recycle: What does it mean to recycle? What recycling do you do in your own home? What recycling do you do, with the assistance of other systems in place (such as a regional recycling plant)? What are the costs and benefits of recycling? Why is recycling last on the list of words today, rather than first? What materials are efficient to recycle and which aren’t? How can we improve recycling procedures on a small or large scale?