NCERT Solutions for Class 3 EVS Chapter 12 Taking Charge of Waste

Chapter 12: Taking Charge of Waste

Question 1. Discuss.
• What are the children and the teacher doing in the picture?
• Why are they cleaning the park?
• Have you ever seen piles of waste lying around your home or school?
• Have you ever thought about how this waste is created?
Answer:
* The teacher and students are picking up litter to make the park clean and neat.
* They are cleaning it to make their neighborhood healthy, safe, and beautiful for everyone to enjoy.
* Yes, I sometimes see piles of garbage lying near my school or on the side of the road near my home.
* Yes, we create waste when we throw away old wrappers, plastic bottles, and things we do not use anymore. When people do not throw things in the right dustbins, big piles of trash form.
In simple words: The teacher and children are cleaning up a littered park. Litter accumulates when people do not throw their trash into garbage bins.

Exam Tip: Always describe the scene in simple words and explain that cleaning helps prevent diseases and keeps the air fresh.

Question 2. Activity 1.
• Recall different activities that you and your elders do during the day. How do these activities create waste? Finally, what do we do with the waste?
• Share your findings with your classmates.
Answer: Our daily work at home creates different kinds of waste:
* In the Kitchen: When we cook, we make waste like vegetable peels, eggshells, and empty food packets.
* Cleaning: Sweeping and cleaning throws away dirt, old papers, and broken plastic items.
* Studying: Writing on paper creates waste like pencil shavings and torn sheets of paper.
We should separate our trash into the right bins. Food scraps go into the green bin to make soil compost, while plastic and paper go into the blue bin to be recycled. We can also use cloth bags instead of plastic bags to make less trash.
In simple words: Cooking, cleaning, and writing create different types of waste. We can reduce waste by reusing things and sorting our trash.

Exam Tip: Mention the two main dustbin colors (green for wet waste and blue for dry waste) to show you know how to sort trash.

Question 3. How is waste Created? Do you think we can do something about it? How do you feel about it?
Answer:
* It makes me sad to see garbage lying on the ground [8]. It makes our neighborhood dirty and can hurt local animals and plants.
* Yes, we can definitely help! We can create less waste by using things carefully, reusing old boxes, and throwing our trash into the correct dustbins.
In simple words: Garbage on the streets is bad for nature and animals. We can help by throwing trash away correctly and using fewer plastic items.

Exam Tip: Express your feelings clearly and offer simple solutions like "using fewer plastic bottles" to show how we can make a difference.

Question 4. Observe your surroundings. At School, At Home, Outside.
Answer: here is what I observed in my surroundings:
* At School: I notice pencil shavings, tiny paper bits, and empty snack wrappers left on the desks or the playground.
* At Home: Most of our waste comes from the kitchen, like vegetable skins, food boxes, and old news sheets. We throw them into bins.
* Outside: I often see plastic bottles, carry bags, and empty cups thrown on the streets and inside parks.
In simple words: We can find bits of paper at school, vegetable peels in our kitchen, and plastic bottles lying on public streets.

Exam Tip: Divide your observations into three distinct headings: School, Home, and Outside to keep your answer neat.

Question 5. Draw or paste a picture of a locality. Identify the places where there is garbage or wastewater or smoke by circling them in red. Try to find out how the waste gets there.
Answer: This is a drawing and observation activity. People create garbage when they litter the ground instead of using trash cans. Wind and stray animals can spread this trash around. Blocked drains make dirty wastewater pool up, and burning trash releases harmful grey smoke into the air.
In simple words: Littering on roads, leaving drains open, and burning plastic create bad trash, dirty water, and toxic smoke in our town.

Exam Tip: When doing this activity, look for three main types of pollution: solid garbage on roads, dirty water in drains, and smoke in the air.

Question 6. Activity 3. How can you help in reducing waste?
Answer: We can reduce waste in these easy ways:
* Choose Reusable Items: Carry steel water bottles and cloth bags instead of single-use plastic ones.
* Recycle and Compost: Separate plastic and paper for recycling, and turn vegetable peels into rich garden compost.
* Save Paper: Write on both sides of every sheet of paper and use old notebooks for practice work.
* Avoid Plastic Packaging: Buy items with less plastic packaging around them.
In simple words: We can reduce waste by using cloth bags, writing on both sides of paper, and recycling plastic bottles.

Exam Tip: State at least three methods to reduce waste, such as using "cloth bags" instead of "plastic bags."

Question 7. Activity 4. How can you REUSE things to reduce waste?
Answer: We can reuse old things creatively:
* Old Clothes: Cut old cotton t-shirts into soft cleaning rags or shopping bags.
* Glass Jars: Clean empty jam jars to hold buttons, pencils, or kitchen spices.
* Paper: Draw on the blank back of old printed paper, and use old newspapers to cover school notebooks.
* Plastic Bottles: Use empty plastic bottles as small flower planters.
In simple words: Reusing means finding new ways to use old things, like turning plastic bottles into pots and old clothes into cleaning cloths.

Exam Tip: "Reuse" is the second of the Three Rs. Give easy examples of how to reuse kitchen items like jars and old clothes.

Question 8. Activity 5. Create an item using waste material that you can give as a gift to someone.
Answer: This is a creative craft activity. You can fold old newspapers into a beautiful, sturdy gift bag. Decorate it with dried leaves or colored pens to make a perfect eco-friendly gift!
In simple words: We can make a beautiful gift bag by folding and decorating old newspapers instead of buying plastic wrapping.

Exam Tip: Using old newspapers or cardboard boxes for school crafts is a great way to show how we can recycle waste.

Question 9. Find out.
• Ask your elders, if there is any village, town or city that they know about, which is known for its cleanliness. You can share the information you learn from your elders in your class.
• Find out from your parents or teachers about the Swachh Bharat Mission.
Answer:
* My parents told me that Indore, a city in Madhya Pradesh, is famous for being the cleanest city in India. The citizens and helpers work as a team to sweep the streets daily and separate their trash properly [8].
* The Swachh Bharat Mission is a national cleanliness drive started by the Indian Government in 2014. Its goal is to clean up streets, build toilets, manage trash properly, and teach everyone to keep India clean.
In simple words: Indore is the cleanest city in India. The Swachh Bharat Mission is a big project that teaches us to keep our country clean.

Exam Tip: Learn the name of the cleanest city (Indore) and the launch year of the Swachh Bharat Mission (2014) for quiz questions.

Question 10. Activity 6. Separate Your Waste. Two dustbins are drawn below. Write the names of the waste material which will go into each of them. Plastic bottles, leaves, onion peels, light bulbs, rotten fruit, paper, eggshells, used plastic milk packets, cloth.
Answer: Here is how we separate our daily waste:
* Green Dustbin (Wet Waste - things that rot to make compost):
* Onion skins
* Rotten fruits
* Dry leaves
* Eggshells
* Blue Dustbin (Dry Waste - things that can be recycled):
* Plastic bottles
* Old light bulbs
* Scrap paper
* Empty milk packets
* Old cloth pieces
In simple words: Wet food scraps and leaves go into the green bin, while dry items like paper and plastic bottles go into the blue bin.

Exam Tip: Remember that fruit skins, vegetables, and leaves are biodegradable, so they always go into the green compost bin.

Question 11. Write.
• List the things that you can do to keep your home and classroom clean?
• Make a list of tools you have seen being used in your school or neighbourhood for cleaning.
• Have you ever observed the tools that are used in your home for cleaning? Make a list of these tools.
Answer:
* Ways to keep my home and school clean:
* Always throw paper scraps and pencil shavings directly into the dustbin.
* Keep my desk, books, and toys tidy and organized.
* Help my family wipe the dining table after we eat.
* Help sweep up dry leaves or dust in the room.
* Cleaning tools used at school and outdoors:
* Large brooms
* Dustpans
* Rakes (to gather dry leaves)
* Large garbage bags
* Floor mops
* Cleaning tools used in my home:
* Broom and dustpan
* Wiping sponges and cloths
* Bucket and floor mop
* Scrubbing brushes
* Indoor dustbins
In simple words: We can keep our surroundings clean by throwing trash away immediately. We use tools like brooms, dustpans, and mops to clean.

Exam Tip: Differentiate clearly between home tools and school/community tools (like leaf rakes and big trash bags).

Question 12. Draw pictures of these tools in the box given below.
Answer: Here is a drawing of common household cleaning tools, which are a hand broom, a dustpan, and a bucket: In simple words: This picture shows three standard cleaning tools: a yellow broom, a blue dustpan, and a gray bucket.

Exam Tip: Draw the shapes clearly and label each tool with its correct name so the drawing is educational.

Question 13. Let us reflect. A. Discuss.
1. How is waste created?
2. How can we manage waste?
Answer:
* How waste is created: We make waste during our daily routines, like preparing meals, unboxing new toys, and cleaning the house. Empty packages, paper sheets, and leftover food scraps are things we throw away.
* How to manage waste: We can manage waste using the Three Rs:
1. Reduce: Use fewer plastic bags and buy fewer things with heavy packaging.
2. Reuse: Find new ways to play with or use old cardboard boxes and jars.
3. Recycle: Throw plastic, glass, and paper into separate bins so they can be made into new things.
In simple words: Waste comes from packing materials and leftover food. We can manage it by using the rules of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

Exam Tip: Always list the full names of the "Three Rs" (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) in order to get high marks.

Question 14. Let us reflect. B. Write.
1. To avoid use of plastic bags and bottles, look at your home and school closely. List all the items of plastic material and write how these could be replaced by other safe materials.
2. Name three things in your school and home that you would put in the green dustbin and three things that you would put in the blue dustbin.
Answer:
1. Plastic items and replacements:
* Plastic Bags: Replace with cloth bags or woven jute bags.
* Plastic Water Bottles: Replace with steel flasks or glass bottles.
* Plastic Tiffin Boxes: Replace with stainless steel tiffin boxes.
* Plastic Spoons: Replace with wooden spoons or metal forks.
* Plastic Wrappers: Replace with plain paper wrapping or leaf plates.
2. Sorting our waste:
* Green Dustbin (Wet Waste):
* Fruit skins and banana peels
* Fallen leaves from playground trees
* Vegetable scraps from cooking
* Blue Dustbin (Dry Waste):
* Old newspapers and notebooks
* Empty plastic juice bottles
* Broken glass jars
In simple words: We can swap plastic bottles and bags for steel and cloth. Green bins are for wet scraps, and blue bins are for dry recyclables.

Exam Tip: Give easy, real life alternatives like "steel bottles" instead of complex terms to make your answers clear.

Question 15. Let us reflect. C. Draw in your notebook. Make a poster to show a village or town that is managing its waste well. Give your poster a suitable title.
Answer: This is a drawing and poster activity. You can draw a beautiful, green village with paved roads, leafy trees, houses, and separate color-coded dustbins (green and blue) outside every door. Add a big title at the top: "My Clean and Green Village."
In simple words: We can draw a clean village poster showing tidy houses, green trees, and color-coded bins to show good waste management.

Exam Tip: Always write a bold, catchy title like "Keep Our Village Clean" at the top of your poster to earn full marks.

Question 16. Let us reflect. D. Enact in pairs. Clean Town. You can be a clean town and your partner a dirty town. Engage in a short conversation talking about how you feel about being the way you are.
Answer: here is a simple conversation to act out with your partner:
* Clean Town: "Hello! My streets are neat, my air is fresh, and my parks are full of green grass. Everyone helps by throwing trash in the proper bins. I feel very happy and healthy!"
* Dirty Town: "Oh dear, I feel very sad. My roads are covered in plastic bags, my water is muddy, and my trees look unhappy. I wish people would care for me and clean up the litter."
* Clean Town: "Do not worry! If people start using cloth bags and recycling their trash, you will become clean and beautiful again very soon!"
In simple words: Clean towns feel healthy and happy because people care for them. Dirty towns feel sad and need people's help to become clean.

Exam Tip: Speak with expression and use simple lines showing how litter hurts the town's health and beauty.

Question 17. Let us reflect. E. Think, Reflect and Share.
1. Imagine you are having a birthday party at your home. What are some of the ways in which you can try to have a zero-waste birthday party? For this, first think about what kind of waste may be created in the birthday party and how you can avoid or reduce it.
2. Have you seen waste in nature? What do you think happens to the waste of animals, dried leaves and so on in a forest?
Answer:
1. To have a zero-waste birthday party:
* Use real plates and steel spoons instead of plastic throw-away ones.
* Decorate the room with colorful paper banners and fresh flowers instead of plastic balloons.
* Pack gifts in old newspapers or cloth wraps instead of shiny plastic sheets.
* Put out a green bin so guests can throw cake crumbs and fruit skins in it.
2. Waste in Nature: In a forest, things like fallen leaves, dry branches, and animal droppings are never wasted. Tiny soil bugs and fungi feed on them. They turn this waste into rich black soil. This natural soil helps new trees grow tall and strong. Nature has its own perfect way of recycling everything!
In simple words: We can have a green party by using real plates and paper banners. In forests, bugs and soil turn fallen leaves and droppings into rich soil to feed trees.

Exam Tip: Explain that nature is the perfect recycler because it turns dry leaves and droppings into natural food (nutrients) for trees.