Rather than dropping things in the trash bin or the recycling bin you can reuse things. By reusing things at home you can save money, time, and help the environment. It is important to recycle, but before you do you should make sure that you can't reuse the item. Like instead of using plastic bottle you can use reusable bottles, which is cheaper and better for the environment. Also rather than using plastic bags you can use reusable bags which is a lot better than using a plastic bag and it is less likely to break with heavy items.

I totally agree with you! I think it is really important to make sure you can reuse things before recycling. Some things you can reuse at home are glass jars, containers, and cans. Glass jars can make great containers for pantry items, desk organizers or bathroom containers. You can also use glass jars as cups. At my house, we use glass jars to drink from and put honey in. There are many different ways glass jars can be reused. More examples of reusable products are magazines and paper bags. With magazines and paper bags, envelopes can be made. Whenever I write a card to someone, I usually like reusing paper bags to make cards and envelopes. If you have a vegetable box at home, you could let a couple of your vegetables and flowers go to seeds and then collect them for the next season. This way you do not have to buy more seeds. One final idea could be reusing toothpaste tubes by cutting off the end and using them as frosting tubes.

   Before throwing out anything, I think it is really important to remember about the three R's. The three R's are reuse, reduce and recycl e. I think reducing is the most effective of the three R's. It means reducing your consumption or buying less. Designing items like plastic bottles in ways that use less material is one way to reduce consumption. Using steel cutlery instead of plastic utensils, buying used goods and mending clothing are all examples of ways you can reduce. The second R which is reusing is also very important. Rather than throwing out items like clothing or food jars, consumers can find new uses for them and thereby reduce their consumption of new resources. The final R is recycling and this is also extremely important. Recycling extracts valuable materials from items that might otherwise be considered trash and turns them into new products. In my community, we have several different types of recycling programs, such as curbside pickup of recyclables, drop-off centers, and deposit-refund programs.

   Manufacturers extracting natural resources, such as bauxite or aluminum ore, and refining them to make products use energy in the process. Often, burning fossil fuels generates this energy. When people throw those items away, they send them to landfills where they may take centuries or longer to break down completely. Reducing, reusing and recycling help reduce humanity's environmental footprint, carbon dioxide emissions, and energy use and limits the amount of landfill space people create.

I also believe this is a great idea! I feel like our generation believes that when we recycle all the products will be re-used. But before we throw a glass bottle  or a piece of crumpled paper in the recycling, we should think of a way to use these products in our home. In my house, the jars that jam and preserves come in, are used as vases or glasses. I also have been starting to use pieces of discarded wood from my father's building project, to build my self a "vanity" in my bedroom. There are many ways that our generation can also reuse clothing. If something shrinks in the wash, the owner can give the product to a smaller acquaintance,