The Power of Five

Children are always willing to learn something new. They learn even quicker if what they are learning is made fun and interesting. The Power of Five project is aimed at teaching children the five R’s as a guiding principal for reducing waste. Children also like teaching others what they have learned, they will assist with spreading the information.

The Five R’s are guiding principles and they follow a specific order. Here’s the hierarchy and more information on each of the R’s:

Refuse: This is the first and leading principle is to refuse anything we don’t really need. You’ll have to minimize waste production by refusing to use materials such as single-use plastics and non-recyclable products. This is the first step to cutting down on our waste.

Reduce: Reducing goes along with refusing, in terms of thinking about what is needed and cutting out what is not. This step is extremely beneficial to the end goal of the process. Reduce refers to the reduction of harmful, wasteful, and non-recyclable materials so you can save more money, which also benefits the environment. When you lessen the amount of these materials, especially non-recyclables, less of it goes in the garbage.

Reuse: It’s important to note that we should reuse comes before recycling, and this means that whenever possible, we should see if items can be reused. The “reuse” step refers to the productive reuse of any materials.

Repurpose: Utilizing this step is important, especially if you can refuse, reduce, or reuse certain items and materials that will be used in your business. The idea of repurposing involves taking items that were meant for one purpose but can be used for other ones. This is also known as upcycling in the green or environmental circle. It often requires thinking outside the box.

Recycle: The final step in the process is recycle, which means exactly what it sounds like. After you’ve made quality efforts to go through all the previous steps from the five R’s, recycling is a great final option. One of the main ways we continue to make efforts to be more environmentally friendly is to recycle anything that has that option. If we are unable to reuse items, and they are recyclable, we can recycle them, so the material is able to be converted into something new.