BY JOHN J. DOHERTY
New York City Commissioner of Sanitation
As our children get ready to go back to school, it’s time to make some important choices. Although young children may insist on brand new items, this may turn into a wonderful teachable moment and a great opportunity to introduce them to the new three Rs. And I don’t mean the traditional and vital academic Rs – reading, [w]riting and [a]rithmetic – but the highly relevant environmental Rs: reducing, reusing and recycling. Children at a young age need to learn that we’re all together on this planet and share a collective responsibility toward our environment.
Even though the new three Rs are simple to understand, they are not always easy to implement, either at home or in the classroom, because they require that we change some long-standing wasteful habits.
Let’s look at a day in the lives of a couple of kids.
On her way home, Emily buys a brand new edition of The Great Gatsby, part of this year’s required reading and a bunch of disposable pens. Since next year she’ll be off to college, Emily prints another draft of the college entry essay she’s been working on and proceeds to edit it with a disposable pen. When the pen runs out of ink, she throws it out and gets a new disposable pen to finish correcting her draft. She then prints it again to show it to her best friend.
Finished with that task, she changes clothes only to discover that her favorite T-shirt, though still looking new, is no longer fashionable. She throws it in the trash and heads to the mall to buy a new one.
Meanwhile, her younger brother Justin is having fun making paper planes. After a while, bored with the game, he throws them out. He then drinks a soda, throws out the empty can and asks his older sister for a ride to the mall to replace his outdated cell phone. Before leaving the house, he throws out his old phone . . .
If Emily and Justin practiced their environmental Rs:
On her way home, Emily would buy a slightly used edition of The Great Gatsby. At home, she edits her college entry essay on her computer screen and emails the draft to her best friend for comments.
When she decides her T-shirt is no longer fashionable, she sets it aside to donate to charity. Once Justin’s done playing, he puts his paper planes away. He drinks a soda, rinses the empty can and sets it aside for recycling. And when he decides he needs a new cell phone, he brings his old one to the store where it will be recycled.
Here are the top 10 ways to help everyone to reduce, reuse and recycle:
10. Read publications online. If teachers, parents or students must subscribe to a publication, they should share it among themselves.
9. Make double-sided copies to reduce paper waste. When printing is a must, maximize the use of each sheet of paper
8. Communicate electronically. Faculty, parents and students can communicate by email or texting rather than through paper fliers or notes.
7. Use canvass or fabric bags for shopping – most plastic bags pollute the environment.
6. Return or recycle soda bottles and cans, as well other plastic, glass, metal and paper products.
5. Use internal electronic telephone directories instead of printed ones to list teachers, parents and student contacts.
4. Reuse large envelopes, file folders, and boxes. The backside of single-sided documents also can be used for drafts or fax paper.
3. Make sure to recycle used paper and, whenever possible, buy recycled paper.
2. Donate used clothes and other goods to charities. Your electronics should be either recycled or donated. Remember that what you no longer need or want can be put to good use by others. And you will also help the environment!
1. Proofread documents on screen before printing! For more information on how to reduce, reuse and recycle you may visit www.nyc.gov/sanitation and click on “NYC Recycling Program.”
