Recycle

The 3R'S - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

On a person basis, Australia is one of the top producers of garbage in the world. " this has serious economic and environmental consequences which will get progressively worse unless strong action is taken.

Victoria, like the commonwealth, has a goal to reduce the amount of garbage we throw away by half by the year 2000. We will all we need to make changes to the way we deal with waste if this goal is to be reached. With a little more thought, we can all change our habits so that each one of us throws out less garbage. These small, but worth while changes may at first seem inconvenient, but soon they will become second nature.

The benefits of minimising waste:
Some of the key benefits of minimising waste are:

1. It conserves valuable resources including:

* minerals - used to make many useful materials ( eg, bauxite is used to make aluminium )

* energy - used in mining, harvesting, manufacturing and transporting.

* native forests - used to make some types of paper and other wood products.

* petroleum - used to make plastics.

* landfill sites - the life of existing sites is extended.

2. It saves money: cutting waste can save money in many different ways.

* if you waste less, you get more out of what you buy and waste disposal costs are reduced.

* businesses become more efficient.

* household incomes stretch further.

3. It reduces environment impact: for example:

* fewer areas need to affected by resource extraction ( eg mining ), harvesting or solid waste disposal.

* less fossil fuel needs to be burnt for energy, thus reducing the release of greenhouse gases and other pollutants.

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