Q1.
Discuss the following situations with your classmates and write down which of the 5Rs it belongs to:
| Example | 5Rs of Waste Management |
|---|---|
| A family brings their own cloth bags to the grocery store instead of using plastic ones. | Reuse |
| Maya does not use a plastic straw to drink coconut water. | |
| Rohan uses blank pages of his old notebooks to avoid wastage of paper. | |
| Sara gives her old books to younger students for their use. | |
| Kabir paints an old bottle to use as a flower vase. | |
| Priya cuts old clothes to make a fun bag for carrying her books. | |
| A shopkeeper turns old newspapers into paper envelopes. |
Answer
Here is the completed table, with the reason for each one:
| Example | 5Rs of Waste Management | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A family brings their own cloth bags to the grocery store instead of using plastic ones. | Reuse | The same cloth bags are used again and again. |
| Maya does not use a plastic straw to drink coconut water. | Refuse | She says ‘no’ to a thing that makes waste. |
| Rohan uses blank pages of his old notebooks to avoid wastage of paper. | Reduce | He uses paper carefully, so he makes less waste. |
| Sara gives her old books to younger students for their use. | Reuse | The same books are used many more times. |
| Kabir paints an old bottle to use as a flower vase. | Repurpose | The bottle is given a new and different use. |
| Priya cuts old clothes to make a fun bag for carrying her books. | Repurpose | Old cloth is turned into something new to use. |
| A shopkeeper turns old newspapers into paper envelopes. | Recycle | Steps are followed to turn old paper into a new thing. |
How to decide which R it is: ask yourself one question about the thing.
Did I say no to it? — Refuse.
Did I use less of it? — Reduce.
Did I use the same thing again in the same way? — Reuse.
Did I give it a new and different use? — Repurpose.
Did I follow steps to turn it into something new? — Recycle.
Did I say no to it? — Refuse.
Did I use less of it? — Reduce.
Did I use the same thing again in the same way? — Reuse.
Did I give it a new and different use? — Repurpose.
Did I follow steps to turn it into something new? — Recycle.
Note: the last two rows sit close together. Priya’s cloth bag and the
shopkeeper’s envelopes are both old things made into new ones, so a classmate who writes
Recycle for Priya, or Repurpose for the envelopes, is not really wrong. Say why you chose
your answer — that is what the activity is for.