Question 1. (a) Which kind of garbage is not converted into compost by the red worms?
(b) Have you seen any other organism besides red worms, in your pit? If yes, try to find out their names. Draw pictures of these.
Answer 1 (a) The garbage which contains polythene bag, synthetic clothes, broken glasses, aluminium foils, broken toys, nails, plastic items are not converted into compost by red worms.
(b) Besides red worms there are spiders, small bugs, flies, moulds and small insects etc. which can be seen in the pit.
Answer 2 a) It is the duty of every citizen in the country to help in proper disposal of garbage apart from the government and municipal.A clean environment is very important for good health and to avoid diseases.We must take necessary steps to reduce generation of garbage.We must use recyclable material in our daily use.
1) We should use those materials which are recyclable and avoid or reduce the use of non-biodegradable materials.
2) Save paper by using its both sides.
3) Garbage should be disposed only at appropriate places and not everywhere like parks, roads and streets.
4) Reusable garbage should be separated before final disposal of the garbage so as to reduce the volume of garbage.
Question 3. (a) What do you do with the left over food at home?
Answer 3 a) Left-over food at home can be dumped into a compost pit and converted into manure which can be used instead of fertiliser.We can also feed the street animals.
b) Banana leaf is a better choice. It is not harmful, bio-degradable and can be disposed easily. On the other hand, eating in plastic plate is not good as plastic is non-biodegradable, it will not dispose-off easily and causes threat to the environment.
Answer 4 a)Most of the papers available in market are recyclable i.e. newspapers, notebook, magazines, paper sheets, envelopes etc.
(b) The difference between new sheet and recycled paper is that the surface of new sheet is smooth whereas that of recycled paper is rough.
Question 5. (a)Collect different kinds of packaging material. What was the purpose for which each one was used? Discuss in groups.
1)Cardboard – used as shoe, soap, bulb and other boxes.
2)Plastic Bags – Toys covers, sarees bags, shopping bags, etc.
3)Wooden Boxes – Fruit baskets and boxes for hardware.
4)Jute Bags – School bags, shopping bags, vegetable bags, etc.
b) Unnecessary packaging of shoes, toys, chocolate and clothes can be avoided.
c) A large volume of packaging material after use goes waste and is thrown into dustbin. Since these packaging material are non-recyclable, they keep lying on the roads and cannot be properly disposed off.It unnecessarily increases the amount of garbage. It also increase the cost of the product due to unnecessary packaging.
Question 6. Do you think it is better to use compost instead of chemical fertilisers? Why?
1) Compost is eco-friendly and does not pollute the environment. Fertility and texture of the soil is maintained while using compost.
2) The natural composition of the soil is affected while using fertilizers and some of them are even toxic in nature at higher quantities.
3) Compost is easy to make and cheap whereas fertilizers are costly and also harmful.
4) Compost are easier to prepare.