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August 31, 2021

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Say No to littering!

By Victoria Tan | 00:05 UTC+8 August 31, 2021 | Print Edition

YOU brought a plastic bottle, but you couldn’t find a bin after you used it, so you just threw it on the ground. Then it’s gone, well, at least in your sight. However, seriously the plastic bottle you threw years ago is still on the Earth, somewhere deep yet bright, and somewhere full of beings.

It’s the ocean, shocking, right? Still, we’ve all got to admit that many people all around the world are doing the same thing you have done, not to mention that probably most people had done this action before in their lifetimes. Littering has been a problem when we had started making plastic for many of us, for we sometimes don’t have the discipline and awareness of this whole situation.

While many people wouldn’t really stop their appalling actions, it’s always better if we humans have a plan to change this all gradually. That is what I’m going to tell you today: my procedures and advice to reduce the level of litter.

You’re probably wondering: What in the world are the 4Rs anyway? Well, all the “no litter heroes” use it, and it is also a lifesaver to our whole community/ocean. The 4Rs mean: reduce, reuse, recycle and recover! Reduce is where you can decrease the use of plastic. Reuse is where you can use a plastic thing again and again. For example, you can use a plastic bag more than once to prevent the use of too many plastic bags. Recycle is where you convert waste materials into usable ones. For instance, if you have an unusable drinking plastic bottle, you could turn it into a waterer. Last but not least is recover, which is used when most of the material thrown as garbage is used and processed in ways other than being destroyed.

You’re probably thinking: even if I do these 4Rs, would it even help? After all, there is just one person doing it. Well, every little step counts, and even if your community is still quite littered, you would realize that your house surrounding is much more eco-friendly. Most importantly, it stops littering!

While I said that every little step counts and it is always better to teach others about this valuable info; if you don’t have the courage to speak and convince strangers, it is always alright to just tell your friends. After all your friends may try the 4Rs and I’m sure they would find it helpful and spread it to their friends. However, bravery is needed, and many people find it hard to get it, but we can’t let this personality trait step in the way of making our community, our Earth, a better place.

Another way is that you could put up “No littering” signs around the roads. Although I’ve got to admit it is not as effective, so I’ll tell you a different way to spread it. You could instead plant flowers and plants! You might think this is insane, but if you grow these pretty plants, who will dare/want to litter on them? Though it’s not precisely spreading the idea of not littering, it prevents us from doing it, which is the same success as any other way.

All this advice could help minimize the daily action of littering, which is a horrendous thing to do. If we humans work together, we could save the Earth, the ocean, the marine animals and ourselves.

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