GARDENING
WEEK 5
RECYCLE, REDUCE, REUSE
ORGANIC GARDENERS!
What we would like you to learn:
1. Learn about the 3 R’s: recycle, reduce, reuse.
2. Learn about our Earth’s natural resources and why it is important to
recycle and reuse materials.
3. Learn some techniques for reduce, reuse, recycle in the garden.
4. Discuss ways to reduce, reuse, recycle at home.
EDUCATOR
Conserving our Earth’s Natural Resources
There are many types of conservation. One of the most important is the
conservation of our natural resources on Earth – our air, water and land.
The 3 R’s help keep the resources we have already mined in production,
allowing less land to be mined or cut and putting less waste in the ground.
Reducing and reusing are important. They reduce the need for more
energy in the production of materials.
Let’s consider the life cycle of a plastic bottle:
WEEK 5 EDUCATOR: RECYCLE, REUSE, REDUCE
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Before we drink water from a plastic bottle, consider the journey that the
bottle has been on.
Plastic starts out as petroleum (or crude oil), one of Earth’s natural
resources. Petroleum has to be extracted from the ground and transported
in long pipelines to chemical plants where it can be refined. Plastic bottles
are made using refined crude oil and other chemicals.
Why is it important to think about how many plastic bottles we use?
 Recycling saves natural resources.
Plastic bottles use energy and other natural resources to be produced.
Fact: To produce one plastic bottle requires three to seven times its
volume in water and approximately a quarter of its volume in oil.
 Recycling saves energy.
Transportation of plastic bottles uses more fuel.
Fact: Many plastic bottles are shipped to the United States on big boats
from places as far away as Latin America, Europe, and the Pacific
Islands. Once these bottles arrive in the United States, they are
transported by trucks or trains to grocery stores. These boats, trucks
and trains use fuel – gas and oil – just like our cars. This causes us to
dig for more oil and adds to pollution in our atmosphere.
 Recycling saves our environment.
Throwing away bottles into the garbage after each use adds more trash to
our landfills.
Fact: Plastic takes many years – more than a lifetime! – to degrade
or break down. Recycling plastics is a difficult process. A big problem
is that it is difficult to sort plastic waste and requires a lot of people to
do this, making it labor intensive.
WEEK 5 EDUCATOR: RECYCLE, REUSE, REDUCE
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Let’s define the following terms:
Recycle: To collect, separate, and process an item that would have been
thrown away, and reuse it or re-manufacture it into a new item.
Reuse: To use again. To use an item a second, third, etc. time after its
original use.
Reduce: To use less. To cut down the use of an item.
Instead of throwing away a plastic water bottle after each use, here
are some other ideas:
 Reuse the bottle:
• Refill your bottle with water from the tap at your home. Tap
water is clean, safe and free! It will save money each time you
refill your water bottle because you won’t spend money on
buying a new one.
• Find another use for your plastic bottle in the garden!
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Exercise: How to make a deep watering can out of a two liter empty
bottle.
Teacher
Demonstrate
o Remove the cap.
o Cut off the bottom of the bottle with scissors.
(If teaching children, advise that they please ask an adult to
supervise. If teaching adults, advise that they supervise children.)
o Turn the bottle upside down.
o Set the spout into the ground or pot.
(About 6 inches deep)
o Fill with water.
This method will allow deep vegetable roots to get watered.
WEEK 5 EDUCATOR: RECYCLE, REUSE, REDUCE
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Teacher
Demonstrate if time
permits
Here are some other examples of things at home that you can
“reinvent” for use in your garden:
1. Use empty citrus rinds for the simplest seed-starting container of all.
Just fill the rind with potting soil, place one or two seeds in each,
support it upright, and water to moisten the mix. Thin to one seedling
per rind. Transplant the whole unit into the garden. The rind will decay
into the soil, and the roots will benefit by the fertilizer close at hand.
2. Slip half-gallon milk cartons with the tops and bottoms cut off over
celery plants to blanch them as they grow.
3. Save your mom’s used pantyhose to hang individual fruits and
vegetables from trellises and to protect them from birds, earwigs,
snails, and other munchers. This works well for corn, cucumbers,
grapes, melons, peaches, small pumpkins, and squash.
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How can I practice the 3 R’s at home?
For each of the following ways to recycle, reuse, reduce, think of an
example of how you can do this at your home with your family.
Buy items with less packaging: __________________________________
Buy less stuff:________________________________________________
Share:______________________________________________________
Look for things that are made from recycled products: _________________
____________________________________________________________
Recycle at home using your blue bin: ______________________________
Buy second-hand items: ________________________________________
FUN Fact(s) of the week:
• The first synthetic plastic was invented in 1856.
• It’s estimated that an average family of 4 in the United States
takes home 1,000 plastic bags each year from the store.
• Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for
three hours.
• If all our newspaper was recycled, we could save about
250,000,000 trees each year!
WEEK 5 EDUCATOR: RECYCLE, REUSE, REDUCE
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Test yourself:
• Which of the following are some examples of the Earth’s natural
resources? (circle all that apply)
a) Water
b) Petroleum/Crude Oil
c) Automobiles
d) Forests
• Match the following item at your home that you might otherwise throw
away into the trash with a corresponding second use.
Item
Popsicle stick
Plastic bag
Old shirt that doesn’t fit anymore
Cardboard box
Second Use
Storage for my extra toys
Label for my seedling
Pick up my dog’s poop
A rag for cleaning
On your own:
Activities for children
• Take a look at what your family throws away into the trash at your
home tonight. How many things can you count that could be
recycled or reused?
• Write about the things you counted in your journal and tell us
about it next week in class.
Activities for parents
With my children:
• Take a look at what your family throws away into the trash at your
home tonight. How many things can you count that could be
recycled or reused?
• Ask your child to find one thing that could be recycled or reused.
Discuss together two other uses for this item.
WEEK 5 EDUCATOR: RECYCLE, REUSE, REDUCE
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