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Before You Read:
Know the Three Rs

Pollution is a big problem all over the world. As people live their lives and do their jobs, they often do things that harm the air, the water, and the land either directly or indirectly.

The most visible type of pollution is probably solid waste-- what we usually call garbage. Did you know that the amount of solid waste created in one year by everyone in the United States is enough to cover the entire country in a layer of trash? Dealing with this kind of problem requires creative solutions.

Many of these solutions fall into one of three categories known as the three Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle. To reduce means to use fewer things that create garbage (for example, if you're buying only a few things at the grocery store, don't ask for a bag to carry them in). To reuse means to use an item over and over again so that it does not become garbage (for example, using the same plastic bag every day to carry your lunch). To recycle means to take things that otherwise become garbage, break them down into basic materials, and then use those materials to make new things (for example, turning used white paper into paper pulp, and using the pulp to make brown paper).

Think of some other examples of the three Rs in action. What are they? With a friend, make a list of different ways in which people reduce, reuse, or recycle things that would otherwise wind up as garbage. You may want to compare your ideas to those of your classmates. Then click here to read about some creative pollution solutions.

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Did You Know?

• New Mexican architect Michael Reynolds has found an effective way to reduce garbage. He designs and builds "earthships" -- homes with walls made of aluminum cans and dirt-packed tires. The cans and tires make great insulation, and the homes use energy very efficiently.
• Researchers in Oregon and Louisiana are working on a way to reduce the amount of garbage created by food packaging. These researchers are using soybeans, corn, flour, and other edible materials to make containers you can eat. So someday you may eat both the hamburger and the wrapper it came in!
• Steve Asianidis of California has invented a way to encourage others to recycle. His invention, the Recycling Eagle, is a kind of ATM (automatic teller machine) for recycling. The machine looks at cans, bottles, and plastic containers, and decides whether they can be returned for cash. Then it calculates the value of your recyclables, and even talks to you!

Now read about another kind of garbage -- old tires -- and the creative solutions people have figured out for keeping these tires from adding to the pollution problem. Go to Let's Talk Tires.