Paper & Board: The Six Rs
Design & Technology: AQA GCSE, topic 2.3.2
The Six Rs
Reduce, refuse, re-use, repair, recycle and rethink. The six Rs have been introduced to allow designers, engineers, and consumers to protect the environment and people.
Reduce
- In terms of paper, reducing is the idea of keeping things paperless or reducing the amount of paper we use to print.
Refuse
- We can refuse products that use excessive material.
- We can choose local products that have fewer (reduced) air miles or have used sustainable resourcing for their material selection and production.
Repair
- We can choose to fix boxes and packaging to allow its reusability and prevent it from being thrown away, this will also have an effect on its shelf life.
Recycle
- In terms of recycling paper companies and packaging companies aim to use these recycling symbols:
Reuse
- A key point to remember is that recycling paper turns the paper into a pulp which is then remade into paper.
- Reusing paper is different. This is when the paper is used again as it is.
Rethink
- Rethinking is perhaps the most important as the right thought process and the right ideas can help to end issues surrounding the environment.
- For example, some local councils use rewards through a points-based system to promote the correct methods of recycling for paper and other materials.
- This positive method enables more paper to be used, recycled and remade.