Taking Charge of Waste

Given: A picture showing children and a teacher in a park.

Answer: The children and the teacher are cleaning the park. They are picking up litter and waste from the ground to make the park clean and beautiful.

Answer: They are cleaning the park because waste and litter make the surroundings dirty and unhealthy. A clean park is safe for everyone to play and relax in. Keeping our surroundings clean also prevents diseases and helps animals stay safe.

Answer: Yes, I have seen piles of waste lying near the roadside, outside shops, and sometimes near the school gate. People throw wrappers, plastic bottles, and leftover food carelessly, which creates these piles of waste.

Answer: Yes, waste is created when we use things and throw them away instead of reusing or recycling them. For example, when we eat packaged food, the wrappers become waste. When we buy things in plastic bags and throw them away, that becomes waste. Every activity we do — cooking, shopping, eating, celebrating — creates some amount of waste.

Given: We need to think about daily activities and the waste they produce.

Some examples of daily activities and the waste they create:

| Activity | Waste Created |
|---|---|
| Cooking food | Vegetable peels, eggshells, leftover food |
| Buying groceries | Plastic bags, wrappers, cardboard boxes |
| Eating packaged snacks | Plastic wrappers, foil packets |
| Reading newspapers | Old newspapers |
| Celebrating festivals | Decorations, plastic items, leftover food |
| Drinking water/juice | Plastic bottles, tetra packs |

What we do with the waste: We usually throw waste into dustbins. Some waste is collected by sanitation workers and taken away. Some people burn waste (which is harmful), and some people compost kitchen waste.

Conclusion: Almost every activity we do creates some waste. We should try to reduce, reuse, and recycle waste to keep our surroundings clean.

Answer: The surroundings of my school are mostly clean because our teachers and students work together to keep them tidy. However, sometimes near the school gate or canteen, we find wrappers and leftover food on the ground. We should make sure to always use dustbins and not litter.

Answer: Sometimes we find waste like paper scraps, pencil shavings, and food wrappers in the classroom or on the school grounds. This happens when students do not use the dustbin properly. We should all take responsibility to throw waste only in the dustbin and keep our school clean.

Instructions for the activity:

Step 1: Draw or paste a picture of your locality (your street, neighbourhood, or village).

Step 2: Look carefully at the picture and identify:
- Places where garbage is dumped (near shops, roadsides, open plots)
- Places where wastewater flows (drains, puddles on roads)
- Places where smoke is seen (burning of waste, factories)

Step 3: Circle all these places in red colour.

Step 4: Think about how the waste gets there — people throw wrappers carelessly, drains overflow, waste is burned in open areas.

Step 5: If your locality is clean, ask elders how they manage waste — they may separate wet and dry waste, use compost pits, or have regular cleaning drives.

Share your findings with the class and discuss ways to improve waste management in your area.

Given: The first rule of waste management is to REDUCE the amount of waste we create.

Here are ways I can help reduce waste:

1. Use a cloth bag instead of a plastic bag when going shopping.
2. Avoid buying food and drinks packed in plastic wrappers or bottles.
3. Carry water in a steel or copper bottle instead of buying plastic water bottles.
4. Take only as much food as I can eat so that food is not wasted.
5. Use both sides of a paper before throwing it away.
6. Avoid using disposable plates, cups, and spoons at parties — use washable ones instead.
7. Buy things that last longer instead of cheap items that break quickly and become waste.

Conclusion: By making small changes in our daily habits, each one of us can reduce the amount of waste we create.

Given: The second rule of waste management is to REUSE things.

Here are ways to reuse things:

1. Paper: Reuse paper that has been used on one side for rough work, drawing, or making notes.
2. Water bottles: Instead of buying new plastic bottles, refill a steel or copper bottle with water.
3. Old newspapers: Use them to make paper bags, toys, or decorative items.
4. Old calendars: Use the blank side for drawing or writing.
5. Cardboard boxes: Use them to store things or make toys and models.
6. Old cloth: Use old clothes to make bags, dusters, or donate them.
7. Glass jars and bottles: Clean and reuse them to store spices, stationery, or small items.

Conclusion: When we reuse things, we give them a second life and reduce the amount of waste that goes into dustbins. This helps keep our surroundings cleaner.

Instructions for the activity:

Idea: Make a pen stand using an old cardboard tube or a used plastic bottle.

Materials needed: Old newspaper, used cardboard roll (from tissue paper), old magazines, glue, scissors, colours.

Steps:
1. Take an old cardboard roll or cut a plastic bottle to make a cylinder shape.
2. Tear old newspaper or magazine pages into small pieces.
3. Paste the colourful pieces all over the outside of the cylinder to decorate it.
4. Let it dry completely.
5. Your pen stand is ready!

How to present it: Wrap it in a piece of old cloth or newspaper. Write a thank-you note saying: 'Thank you for keeping our home/locality clean! I made this gift from waste material so that we can reduce waste together.'

Give it to the person who cleans your home, school, or neighbourhood and say a big 'Thank You' to them.

Conclusion: By making gifts from waste material, we show creativity, reduce waste, and express gratitude to those who work hard to keep our surroundings clean.

Given: We need to separate the given waste items into two dustbins — one for wet/biodegradable waste (Green Dustbin) and one for dry/non-biodegradable waste (Blue Dustbin).

Concept:
- Green Dustbin (Wet/Biodegradable waste): Items that come from nature and can rot or decompose — like food waste, plant waste.
- Blue Dustbin (Dry/Non-biodegradable waste): Items that do not rot easily — like plastic, paper, glass, metal.

Sorting the given items:

Green Dustbin (Wet/Biodegradable waste):
1. Leaves
2. Onion peels
3. Rotten fruit
4. Eggshells

Blue Dustbin (Dry/Non-biodegradable waste):
1. Plastic bottles
2. Light bulbs
3. Paper
4. Used plastic milk packets
5. Cloth

Note: Sharp or harmful items like light bulbs should be wrapped in cloth or paper before putting them in the dustbin so that sanitation workers are not hurt while handling them.

Conclusion: Separating waste into wet and dry categories makes it easier to recycle and manage waste properly, keeping our surroundings clean and healthy.