Reduce, reuse, and recycle are the 3 key sustainable strategies in waste management. As the hierarchy graphic above illustrates, these 3 strategies are not equally important. First reduce your use where you can, then reuse what you still need to use, and finally recycle what is left.
Reduce
Put simply, just don’t consume what you don’t need. By reducing your consumption you will: conserve the energy and natural resources used in manufacturing, shipping, etc. of products; create less waste to be disposed of; and of course save money. Here are a few tips to get started, these will be expanded on in future posts, so I’ll be brief here:
- Conserve energy and water
- Don’t buy what you don’t need
- Simplify your life
- Eat less meat (the environmental footprint of meat production is large)
Also see the ULS (Use Less Stuff) Report: http://use-less-stuff.com/
Reuse
It’s well and good to reduce consumption, but some things you just need to use, right? For what you do need, reusing is often possible. In many cases you can reuse what you already have, and when that’s not possible, try buying/obtaining things used through thrift stores, freecycle,craigslist, want ads, and garage sales. You can help other people reuse, too - if you no longer need something, don’t throw it away, pass it on to someone who does. In the spirit of reusing, here’s a list of tips from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:
- Using durable coffee mugs.
- Using cloth napkins or towels.
- Refilling bottles.
- Donating old magazines or surplus equipment.
- Reusing boxes.
- Turning empty jars into containers for leftover food.
- Purchasing refillable pens and pencils.
- Participating in a paint collection and reuse program.
Recycle
It is getting more convenient to recycle. Twenty years ago, only one curbside recycling program existed in the United States, but by 2006, about 8,660 curbside such programs existed (via). Commonly recycled materials include:
- glass
- metals
- plastics
- textiles
- paper
It does cost energy and money to recycle, which is another reason it’s better to reduce or reuse first. While all recycling uses energy for transportation and processing although it’s not usually close to the same amount needed to process the raw materials in the first place.
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