It Pays to Reuse

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For the past 2 years, we have opened our students' eyes by educating them in the other 3 Rs: Recycle, Reuse and Reduce. They are becoming more conscious of what they throw in the trash. Is it something that can be recycled? Is it something that can be reused? Or, is it something that we can reduce the use of or reduce our trash? Two years ago when we removed all of the bricks around our gazebo because the bricks were crumbling and deteriorating, we had a huge pile of bricks stacked in one area of our garden.  We did not want to throw them away! So we decided to reuse them around our campus to border our garden areas. The bricks created a border to remind students not to walk in the gardens and to remind our lawn maintenance men to keep their lawnmowers away from our plants and trees. This not only saved us the cost of buying border materials for our gardens, but also gave our gardens a decorative touch. The bricks were used in our front garden as well as in our back gardens.

Students are also becoming aware of how some items can be reused before recycling them. A good example is the mountain of boxes left after unpacking textbooks. Before we broke down the boxes, teachers were alerted that we had a great supply of boxes if they needed any. Many teachers answered the call and got as many boxes as they needed. The rest were then broken down and taken to recycling.

The Green Team members have also discovered that "One man's trash can be another man's treasure". During our weekly recycling, students notice items in the recycling containers like spirals, small boxes, magazines and many other items that they can find a use for. They love these little treasure finds. So they are allowed to keep the items instead of recycling them.

Students are definitely learning to be resourceful as we continue learning about the 3 Rs: Recycle, Reuse and Reduce!