By Ali Barlow, age 10, Albury
The thing with recycling and vegetable planting, is you’re never too old for it. And when you do you feel good because you’re helping the earth, every little thing you do makes a change.
Normally when you finish with a plastic bottle you throw it away, but where do you put it? Usually you just throw it in a street rubbish can, but all of those nice plastic bottles and everything that usually goes in the recycling just goes to the your every day dump where non recyclables go. So what should you do? Take home your bottles and put it in your own recycling bin. Remember to Reduce Reuse & Recycle or the ‘Three Rs’.
But what about the non recyclables? Like food scraps. Make it into compost which you can use to grow your own vegetables. By planting your own vegetables you won’t have any of that non recyclable packaging, and that way you can help the earth by recycling the right way.
Time for a brief description on Compost. First, what is compost? It is old food scraps, or anything that breaks down, can be turned into compost. First, you need a compost bin. Probably by now everyone has a compost basket for your kitchen. The scraps that you put in your green bin goes to someone else, but you can have your own. Now how do you make compost? Put all your scraps into your compost bin, have a stabiliser made from soil and dolomite to add to it. You can find more information online.
Always using the three Rs, it’s about the best way to do it. Saving the earth takes concentration, time, strength, and a bit of know how. But once you get into it you will have a lot of fun saving the earth. It makes you feel so good, and it’s the right thing to do.
No more putting all of your rubbish into one bin – use the recycling bin. But I would avoid putting too much recycling into the bin. Remember to reuse first. As a kid I like to keep plastic bottles and make them into art projects or something else. Who knew your bottles, cans and recyclables could be so fun? So use all your old stuff. It’s fun, you help the earth and the earth will help you. Have fun!