• Print
  • Details
  • Hits: 239

The 3 "R's" of Waste Management

 Imagine your hometown buried beneath a fifty-foot high pile of used disposable diapers, plastic milk jugs, newspaper, pop cans and beer bottles. The materials used in making most of these products do not readily re-enter the earth's natural cycle. In a landfill, aluminum cans can last up to 500 years. Glass bottles will be there a million years and plastic bottles longer than that. If burned, plastics produce fumes that can harm or kill people and other creatures. Even though the basics began as natural petroleum, the process to create plastic permanently alters the molecular composition making it incompatible with the natural cycle of carbon-based existence.

    You can have a positive impact on reducing the potential of the image of the buried Village becoming a reality by practicing the 3 "R's" of waste management. It saves you money and it is good for our earth because you will produce less waste.

  • REDUCE

  • REUSE

  • RECYCLE

    • Reduce the amount and toxicity of trash you discard. We are a Nation of over-consumers. Reducing consumption by 1% will have a negligible effect on the economy but a positive impact on the environment. All of your waste goes to a landfill. Acres and acres of mountains of waste will take hundreds of years to degrade. The land beneath a landfill will never be able to grow healthy food again nor be a place where people could live in health. Consider a simpler lifestyle.

    • Reuse containers and products; repair what is broken or give it to someone who can repair it.

    • Recycle as much as possible, paper, most metals and plastic containers. Newsprint can be reprocessed into new paper, thus saving trees, thus adding oxygen to the atmosphere. Aluminum and steel are re-melted, turned into new raw material. Glass gets pulverized and used in construction applications such as roads and insulation. Plastic fences, playground equipment made from recycled plastics saves raw petroleum and therefore can extend our reserves longer and reduce our reliance on imported petroleum. Buy products made with recycled materials. Remember to use the recycle system in your hometown for glass bottles, plastics, newspaper and cardboard.

Here is what you can recycle in most communities:

  • PAPER  newspaper, phone books, office paper, advertising mail

  • CARDBOARD  corrugated boxes, shoe and cereal boxes

  • PLASTIC  look for the triangle symbols with #1 or #2 inside on the bottom of the container.

  • METAL  beverage, food and coffee cans, leave the labels on.

It is much easier in urban and suburban areas to implement recycling programs. Rural residents have to haul recyclable waste to centralized collection points. In Park Forest, Star Disposal Service issues as many blue curb collection boxes as you might want. These are available at no charge from Village Hall. Care for the planet begins at your address. Become involved in the future of your children and grandchildren. Reduce, reuse and recycle!