Protecting the environment is not a laughing matter. Our planet Earth is our only home and unless you want to consider residing on Mars or Venus, it is imperative that we its inhabitants do everything we can to preserve it and protect it against harmful elements that can cause it to deteriorate.

One of the most effective methods of protecting the environment is through recycling. Recycling may seem as simple as putting a recycling bin in your home and throwing all sorts of things in it. The truth is there is more to recycling than we think. In fact, not everyone knows that recycling goes hand in hand with two equally important processes called reducing and reusing which some people confuse with each other.
   
To avoid confusion, let us clearly delineate these three R’s.

First, we have “reduce”. By reducing, we refer to cutting down on unnecessary usage and purchase of materials to minimize waste. This requires us to become smart consumers and to avoid buying products that we hardly need and those that have too many unnecessary packaging.

Now, there is what we call, “reuse”. As the name suggests, reusing implies repeated usage of a certain product or material for other purposes instead of throwing it out. For example, instead of dropping used plastic bottles into the garbage can, you should clean and rinse them properly and use them as containers for your other supplies.

Lastly, recycling involves reprocessing of old materials and products to create new ones. Here, we collect old things such as soda cans, use an aluminum can crusher to compress them and then we bring these to the local recycling station to have them recycled into new soda cans.

People sometimes confuse reuse and recycle but we should remember that the difference between the two is that in recycling, new products are created whereas with reusing, you simply reuse an old material.

So how does recycling help our environment?

For one, recycling considerably reduces greenhouse emissions. Methane and carbon dioxide, dangerous greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming, are emitted into the air from landfills. By recycling, we can reduce the waste that goes into the landfills and therefore cut down the emission of this potent greenhouse gas.

For example, for every 6 tons of recycled glass, 1 ton of carbon dioxide is prevented from being emitted into the air. This means that whenever we collect used glass bottles (or any other material for that matter), place them in our home or office recycling containers and bring them to the local recycling center, we are doing a great service to our environment.

Moreover, manufacturing of new products out of recycled materials consume significantly less energy than when these are created from raw materials, thus less greenhouse gases are emitted into the air.

Aside from greenhouse gases, recycling also lessens the pollutants that seep into our air and water. Industrial processes done to create new products have activities such as material extraction and refining that make use of toxic chemicals that leech into and pollute the air and water. When products are recycled, air and water pollutants are diminished.

Another way by which recycling helps the environment is through conservation of natural resources. By using recycled materials, consumption of natural resources such as timber, water and mineral ores to create new products is decreased notably.

For example, for every ton of newspaper recycled, we can spare 12 trees from being cut down and we can conserve as much as 7,000 gallons of water. Every ton of office paper recycled means saving 24 trees. When we are able to recycle one ton of steel, we can save 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal, and 120 pounds of limestone.

Simple Things We can do to Help
    Be a smart shopper. Do not buy things you and your family do not really need. Go for products in large quantities to avoid many unnecessary small packaging.
    Prefer reusable things over disposable ones to minimize waste. For instance, opt for cloth rags over disposable paper towels, or cloth bags over plastic grocery bags.
    Use rechargeable batteries instead of disposable ones. If you must use disposable batteries, be sure to recycle them and collect them into battery recycling containers.
    Compost your kitchen waste. You can simply buy a kitchen compost container and then place its contents in a hole dug in your yard. Keep in mind never to place any meat or animal waste product into your compost. This not only helps the environment but also creates a nice soil for your garden.
    Encourage a recycling program in the community by suggesting to the local government. Be sure that you and your family take active participation in it.
    Get kids involved with recycling by making fun recycling projects such as paper origami or paper mache sculptures. You can also get them excited by purchasing nice designer recycling containers that will not make recycling seem like a chore. Educate children in the family and in the community that value of recycling. Tell them that recycling can help save the environment and our planet.
    Do not throw old clothes out. Either give them to charity or hold a garage sale.
    Start a newspaper drive in your neighborhood. Add zest to it by turning it into a friendly competition that would not only help the environment but also foster camaraderie and friendship among neighbors.
    Stop junk mail. Contact the company sending you these mails and request for them to stop doing so.

Truly, there are many ways we can do to save the environment ranging from the simplest ones like keeping the surroundings clean to the most complicated ones such as urging the Congress to put out a certain environmental bill. Whatever method we choose to do, the important thing is that we do our part in helping the environment and making this world a better place for us and the future generation.

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