We should all take care of our planet. The Earth is the only planet we have. There isn’t a planet B. That is why it is important to live in an eco‑friendly way. Do you know how?

The 3 Rs stand for the key elements of taking care of the planet: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Let’s discover how to be more eco‑friendly! 

To save the planet, we should reduce the amount of waste we produce. How to do that? Don’t buy things you don’t need. Choose products with eco‑friendly packaging (for example, made from recycled materials). Instead of throwing things away, reuse them! 

We can also “reduce” by saving energy. Firstly, look around you and let more natural light into your home if possible. Then, replace light bulbs with LEDs and turn off the lights when you leave the room. You can also unplug appliances that you don’t use and replace old models with newer, energy‑saving ones. This way, you save energy and help the planet.  

Reuse doesn’t mean you have to use everything by yourself. You can give things a second life by giving them to someone else! Do this with clothes you don’t wear and reuse them as a cleaning rag. 

Make your own shopping bag from old clothes! Or Christmas decorations from toilet paper rolls! The internet is full of DIY ways to make different household items from things such as toilet paper rolls and containers. It's also a great exercise in creativity!

What can be recycled? Any plastic bottles or containers you can find in your house, cardboard boxes, newspapers, cans, tins, food containers, bottles… and the list goes on! Remember to always check which bin to put your waste in when you’re not sure.

We can find plastic everywhere - it is present in our everyday lives. We can also find it at the top of Mount Everest and in the oceans. We don’t really know how long it takes for  plastic to decompose because it must be over one hundred years. Good news is that we can recycle it. We put plastic into yellow bins. Also, we can  reuse plastic things like bottles, boxes or bags. 

We need trees to produce paper. That is why it is important to recycle it. When we recycle paper we don’t need to cut more and more trees. What can we recycle? Books, magazines, newspapers, school books, workbooks and notebooks. We can also recycle cardboard boxes. Paper recycling bins are blue. 

We use glass every day. We buy many products in glass containers. We can recycle glass and put the glass items into green bins. However, we can also reuse it and give many things a second life. Jars are a good example. We can use them not only for food, but also as containers for sweets and biscuits, decorations and as piggy banks!