“If it can’t be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold, recycled, or composted, then it should be restricted, designed, or removed from production.”
– Pete Seeger, Folk Singer & Social Activist
Global Warming! Climate Change! These two phenomena are a natural occurrence of the Earth brought about by human activities. Strong winds, typhoons, floods caused by heavy rains, and landslides are natural disasters often experienced in some areas. Why did these calamities happen? These calamities are brought about or caused by human activities like Illegal logging and improper waste disposal. When a certain country becomes industrialized and too much populated, more products we need for daily consumption and survival. The more people consumed, the more waste is produced. That's why our government implemented some programs and projects about proper waste management. Each one of us plays a vital role in proper waste disposal so that someday we may not take a bath in seas, rivers, and lakes of garbage.
My dear hive friends let's save Mother Earth, let's save the planet by proper waste management and observing the 3Rs of management. As a teacher, I always inculcate the mind of our learners for proper waste disposal. Not only that but, if possible, to have zero waste. I remember a long time ago when I attended the zero waste in-school orientation seminar not only in school but also in the community. The Zero Waste in-school program is a joint program of DENR together with DepEd to ensure that waste in schools is properly managed and the 3Rs of waste management are properly executed.
Here are the 3Rs of waste management
Reduce
Reducing waste is simply lowering the production of certain products and lowering the use of products to minimize waste. In our municipality, we are no longer allowed to use plastic as containers for food items or products bought at any time of firm or establishment. Even in wet markets the use of plastic is a no-no. Instead of using plastic, we used paper bags, baskets, recycled sacks made into bags, or eco bags. As a result, our municipality was awarded as the best implementer of waste management.
Reuse
Reuse is the second hierarchy of waste management. This is a way of repeatedly using something which is still useful instead of throwing it away into a trash bin and then turn to waste. Department stores nowadays were no longer using plastics as their way of packaging items bought by their customers. They used eco bags and paper bags. Instead of throwing these bags, why not keep them and use these for future use or next purchases? Reusing products or things which are still useful not only minimize waste but minimizes production. And we all know that for every production of plastics, carbon is one element being used. If there is more carbon in our atmosphere the more heat we experienced.
There were cases when plastics were used. In this case, I will not throw it in bins instead I will fold the plastics and keep these in a container and reserve this for next use.
I also kept used egg trays for my next purchases. These were only a few of my practices in reusing products to minimize waste but for me, I share my part in the battle of saving our planet.
Recycle
Another hierarchy of waste management is Recycle. Recycle is a way of creating something new from this product or items so that it is still useful and no longer goes to waste. Sacks in our municipality are no longer turned to water instead villagers created this into bags. These bags were used by business owners, especially in dry goods and wet sections. Empty bottles were also used in our garden for decorative purposes or as fences. Other bottles like from. soft drinks were designed to create a school hashtag. Empty water containers were used into plant containers. Used tires were used in creating wonderful decorations and garden fences as well.
That is all for this topic and thank you to 