THE BATTLE TO SAVE EARTH Have you ever tossed your leftover salad in the trash Or been shocked by how many cans bottles and wrappers your family goes through You're not the only one Wasted food and tossed packaging are a big part of global pollution But you can do your part in the fight against waste It's easier than you think to become a waste warrior The Three Problems with Waste Heaps of Garbage Most of our household garbage is thrown into landfills But when waste breaks down in landfills it can harm our environment Plastic can leak harmful things into the soil and air Waste in landfills lets off methane gas as it breaks down On top of that the waste in landfills just sits there stored for a future generation to deal with That is why waste warriors avoid creating waste Our waste piles up in landfills
Wasted Resources Sometimes we put too much pasta on our plate and have to toss the extra We might leave fruit on the counter and it starts to get moldy Then we have to buy more food to replace the food we didn't even eat But growing food uses our planet's limited natural resources Polluted Planet We create pollution when we burn fossil fuels such as coal and oil Fossil fuels to power the factories that put beans in are burned to power this cans or make bags to hold our chips Then canning factory we burn more fossil fuels as we transport our food by truck or airplane around the world When fossil fuels are burned they release carbon dioxide and other gases that trap the sun's heat around Earth This causes temperatures to rise and these hotter temperatures affect the planet creating global climate change When we throw away pizza we are trashing tomatoes that used water to grow
The Six Rs Want to become a food waste warrior Here are six tools you can use in the battle against waste But you don't need to manage every one of them all the time Every effort no matter how small takes us in the right direction Refuse If you have a choice say No thank you to plastic bags and unneeded You can help in the packaging when you're buying food or drinks battle against food waste by refusing Reduce Try to put less food in the trash plastic straws by buying only what you need Reuse Before throwing out food scraps ask an adult if they could be used for something else such as a tasty soup Repair Ask an adult for help fixing old torn bags Then you can use them to carry food home from the store Recycle Try to recycle all the metal glass plastic and paper packaging you can so it can be made into something new Rot Compost unwanted plant based foods so they can rot away Always reuse or recycle plastic packaging
