5 R's

5 R's - Recognizing the Importance of Recycle, Reduce, Reuse, Recover and Repair in Waste Management

Science 5

​Materials around us undergo changes. Some might be noticeable while others are not. These materials change under certain circumstances. If found to be not useful, most of these are just disposed of. Disposal leads to negative effects on our environment.

​How should we minimize waste?

There are multiple ways to manage our waste materials. We are held responsible in choosing how to manage our waste sustainably. We can do the 5Rs of waste management or reduce, reuse, recycle, recover, and repair. 

Reduce

Reducing waste is the most important thing we can do. By reducing waste, we avoid the unnecessary use of resources such as materials, energy and water. It means there is less waste to manage. 

Humans produce more and worse waste each day. These waste materials as disposed of have a great impact on the environment. Pollution is gradually happening which in turn harms many living things. Our health is put in a risky situation and new forms of sickness evolve. Waste management is badly needed to cope with our individual health and the planet’s overall health.

Waste management or waste disposal refers to all the activities and actions required to manage waste from its beginning to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste together with monitoring and regulation. It also encompasses the legal and regulatory framework that relates to waste management encompassing guidance on recycling. 

How can we reduce waste?

•  Buy in bulk to reduce packaging

•  Take a reusable shopping bag

•  Say ‘no’ to a plastic shopping bag

•  Choose products that use less packaging

•  Buy reusable items rather than disposable ones

•  Buy reusable items rather than disposable ones

•  Take your lunch to school in a reusable container. 

Reuse

The next most important thing we can do is to reuse waste material. In this way, it doesn't go in the rubbish and end up in the landfill. It also means, you don't have to buy a new product. This saves money, energy and resources that would have been used to make the new product. 

How can we reuse waste?

•  Give unwanted toys and books to hospitals or schools

•  Donate old clothing to flood or fire victims

•  Use plastic containers for freezing or storing food items

•  Save wrapping paper and boxes to use again

•  Use old jars for storage

•  Use old jars for storage

•  Take household items to your council’s resource recovery center

•  Make memo pads out of waste paper

•  Use empty bottles of water for storing liquid ingredients in the kitchen.

Recycle

Recycling involves some form of reprocessing of waste materials to produce another product. For example, recycling plastic bottles to make buckets

What can be recycled?

•  Paper & Cardboard – can be used as artwork materials

•  Glass – can turn to pencil case or flower vase

•  Fruit and vegetable waste – can turn into organic fertilizer

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Recover

Segregating wastes in a Material Recovery Facility (MRF). In the MRF, collected garbage is segregated in order to recover recyclable and biodegradable materials that can be used as compost ingredients. Through MRFs, the amount of waste to be disposed in the landfills is reduced

Repair

To repair means to fix slightly broken things to make them useful again. Repairable materials include furniture, appliances, and clothes. Instead of discarding broken or busted materials, they can be checked for repairability. If still repairable, these should be repaired instead of dumping them or buying new materials for replacement. 

Open Ended

What is waste management?

Open Ended

Why do we need to manage waste?

Open Ended

What are the 5Rs of waste management?

Open Ended

Which among the 5Rs are you usually applying at home? Why have you decided to choose such method/s?

Multiple Choice

What is the best thing to do with your old notebooks?

• a. Throw it all away.

• b. Make ornaments out of a paper mâche.

• c. Keep it for future use.

• d. All of the above.

Multiple Choice

What are you going to do with them?

• a. Use them as water pitchers.

• b. Throw them away.

• c. Sell them to the junkshop.

• d. None of the above

Multiple Choice

What is the best thing to do with them?

• a. Give them to younger children as a toy.

• b. Sell them to the ink refilling stations.

• c. Throw them away

• d. Put them back to the printer.

Open Ended

“We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” This famous quote by Mahatma Gandhi must be our motivation to be proactive in doing what is right. What are some of the changes that you want to impose to yourself, your family, your community, and to the country so that we can have a better world to live in?

Multiple Choice

1. The following statements about waste management are true EXCEPT ONE. Which is it?

• A. Waste management is about disposal of garbage

• B. Waste management applies to making waste materials useful.

• C. The process of waste management involves treating solid and liquid waste.

• D. Waste management process works to raise the amount of disposable materials used.

Multiple Choice

2. Producing new products from waste material is

• A. Reusing

• B. Reducing

• C. Recycling

• D. Recovering

Multiple Choice

3. What might happen if waste materials are not properly managed?

• A. Pollution

• B. Calamity

• C. Destruction of natural ecosystem

• D. All of the above

Multiple Choice

4. Which of the following should be done in disposing rotten vegetables and fruit peelings?

• A. Burn them.

• B. Put them in a compost pit.

• C. Throw them away anywhere.

• D. Collect them and sell to the junk shop.

Multiple Choice

5. The following are the 5Rs of waste management EXCEPT ONE. Which is it?

• A. Repair

• B. Recover

• C. Review

• D. Recycle