The Three Rs represents the ‘Waste Hierarchy’, which lists the best ways of managing waste from the most to the least desirable. It is a central theme of EU waste policy.

Reduce: not producing waste in the first place is the obvious solution and we can all play a part by thinking about how and why we produce waste.

Reuse: many of the things we currently throw away could be reused again and again with just a little thought and imagination

Recycle: waste products can be turned back into the raw materials they came from and then used to make new products. This helps to conserve natural resources and energy