Chapter 12 — Taking Charge of Waste

Chapter 12, Taking Charge of Waste, teaches Class 3 children how daily activities create waste and how to manage it by reducing, reusing, and separating waste into the correct dustbins.

We create waste through activities like eating packaged food, using plastic bottles and bags, sharpening pencils, and buying new things. Items like fruit peels, paper, old clothes, and plastic wrappers all become waste.

Garbage piles attract mosquitoes whose bites can cause diseases. Burning plastic releases harmful gases, and wastewater flowing through roads can carry germs that make people fall ill. Animals like cows can also die from eating plastic mixed with food.

Reduce means creating less waste in the first place. For example, using a cloth bag instead of a plastic bag, avoiding food packed in wrappers, and buying only what you need so fewer things get thrown away.

Reuse means using something again instead of throwing it away. Children can reuse paper that has been written on one side for rough work, refill a steel or copper bottle instead of buying a new one, and make toys or decorations from old newspapers and boxes.

The green dustbin is for natural waste like fruit peels, vegetable scraps, dried leaves, and eggshells, which rot and turn into compost. The blue dustbin is for metal, glass, plastic, and paper items that can be recycled into new products.

Compost is made when green bin waste like vegetable peels and leaves rots and mixes with soil. It acts as food for plants and for tiny animals living in the soil, making it a natural fertiliser.

Silluk, a village in Arunachal Pradesh, is known as a zero waste village. Its roads are so clean and lined with trees that walking through it feels like walking in a garden, and it has received an award for its waste management.

Yes. Chhota Narena was one of the first villages in India to become waste-free. Cities like Indore and Mysuru are also noted as standout examples of clean urban areas.

National Cleanliness Day is celebrated on 30 January. On this day, children are encouraged to take a pledge to keep themselves and their surroundings clean by reducing waste and disposing of it properly.

The chapter encourages children to think about what waste a birthday party might create — such as plastic decorations and wrappers — and find ways to avoid or reduce it, aiming for a zero-waste party.

The chapter shows that children can make a paper bag out of old newspapers using no scissors and no glue. They can also create toys or decorative gifts using old calendars, bottles, and boxes, and even give these handmade items to the people who help keep their home or neighbourhood clean.