This essay by third grader Brandy Swick was first place winner in the K-3 contest at Berta Weathersbee Elementary.

The Earth is important because it has things we need, like water, food, and air. We are throwing away too much trash. We are wasting our resources and we might even run out of some of our resources.

When you throw away stuff it can take forever to break down. For example: plastic and aluminum cans take up to 500 years to break down. But sometimes it doesn’t take that long. For example: cotton, rags, and paper take about 6 months to break down.

What happens when you throw away trash? You don’t know, well, I’ll tell you. When you throw away trash it goes to a place called a dump or a landfill. When it goes to the landfill or the dump we can’t use what we throw away again. In one year, one person throws away more than 1,000 pounds of trash.

When people litter it affects the habitats of plants and animals. On the ocean floor trash can suffocate plants and animals that don’t move. Many of the land animals are harmed in the same way by trash. The broken glass that we litter can cut animals’ paws.

When you recycle, it goes to a place where the people that work there make stuff that you put in the recycle bins brand new. Recycling reduces the need for landfills and dumps. It prevents pollution, saves energy, doesn’t use up our natural resources, and it helps our environment. Here are some things that you can recycle: glass bottles, steel cans, plastic soda bottles, glass jars, plastic milk jugs, newspapers, magazines, phone books, and white paper.