Rethinking Recycling: Revisiting Reducing, Reusing, Recycling

By Chad Neumann

The traditional R3 symbol that we all know and love; today, this symbol is synonymous only with recycling.

If I tell you to think of the word “recycle”, what do you think of? What images come to mind? Maybe it is the bin you put your plastics and paper in for weekly or biweekly pickup. Or it is of the symbol that has become synonymous with the term, ♼. So much emphasis has been put on recycling our waste. However, recycling isn’t the only solution to our waste problem. We have to consider the other two Rs, reducing and reusing.

Reducing

So much of our waste is in the excess of things; buying too much, it goes bad, takes up too much space in the house, or is unwanted and ends up in the trash. Focusing on reducing our needs and wants helps to reduce our overall impact on the environment. Do we really need straws to drink from our glasses? Even at restaurants? A dire video of a sea turtle and a movement really helped to answer, no. Now, it is common to see newly designed lids to mimic straws. I am not trying to be heartless here. It is understood that straws are tools that need to be used by some people; health issues can limit people from being able to sip from a cup. However, a vast majority of us can go without straws.

Note found at a local coffee shop in Ann Arbor straws and newly designed sipping lids.

We should even go a step further. We bring our own cup and lid to fill up with our favorite beverages. This is becoming accessible and common-place at many coffee shops, and some even offer discounts. After all, disposable cups cut into the shop’s profit, so you are doing them a favor and doing right by us and the environment.

I have implemented reusable grocery bags within our household. We have 4 bags in regular rotation. Though, to be honest, after having them for over two years, my brain is still not trained on always remembering them. My trick to remembering is to put the bags right back in the car after the groceries are unloaded; I just don’t seem to remember them if I leave by the door. Coaching my son to remember the bags before shopping will help, too, since his memory is so much better than mine. Using these bags reduces the need for paper or plastic grocery bags. This allows me not to have to worry about recycling the paper or taking the bags back to specialized spots. Some grocery stores also offer a discount of 5-10¢ per bag when checking out. It’s not much, but it pays for the bags within a couple grocery trips. The reusable bags are stronger too, holding more stuff. My bags are unfortunately made from tarp-like material, which doesn’t have a good life cycle end. However, I see no need to replace them yet because they work. A bag made for woven cotton or some similar material would have a better environmental life cycle than the ones I currently own.

Other ways I am trying to reduce waste:

Use dish towels or washable cleaning towels instead of paper towels
Use air dryers when possible; if paper towel is the only option, I shake my hand vigorously in the sink to remove most of the water and only use one towel or dispensed amount
Use refillable water containers and take them wherever you go so you don’t have to buy plastic water bottles. I love my Klean Kateen (stainless steel); my wife favors glass containers.
Keep an item in your online shopping cart for many days before ordering. This allows you to think about if the item is really needed or just wanted. Also, accumulating more items in one shipment cuts down on boxes and emissions from delivery trucks. Check the options for these features when checking out online.

Reusing

Growing up, when we would go to my grandma’s house for parties, there would always be the typical plasticware out for eating delicious food or desserts. However, when we were done, she would always make us wash them and reuse them. We would always gripe, “But Grandma, these are disposable forks! They are made to be thrown away.”

But really, Grandma was on to something. She probably wasn’t thinking of the impact those forks and knives were having on the environment (no offense GMa), but she probably was considering cost. She was born in the heart of the Great Depression. It was ingrained in her to reuse what you have. No way she could trust us with her silverware, so we were relegated to washing plastic spoons.

That is something we all should take a step back and consider. What do we only use once and throw away? Is that necessary? Can we get more use out of that thing? Or could we switch a ‘disposable’ version with something we can reuse?

The first thing I want you to take away for this is rethinking what the word disposable truly means in the case of single-use objects. What impacts are disposables having on the environment?

The second take away would be about recycling. The recycling movement is important. But it is not the only solution. We need to put more emphasis on reducing our overall waste and reusing objects over and over again. These ideas may seem small and novel, but they add up fast and will have great environmental benefits.

We need to rethink about the priority of recycling; it should build on a foundation of reducing and reusing.

Rather than thinking of reducing, reusing, recycling as a cycle where nothing is wasted, we need to think of the three as building off each other. First, the foundation should be to reduce what we use. Then, reuse all that is possible for the life of the object. Lastly, if the object has reached the end of life, it needs to be able to be recycled rather than thrown out.

I challenge you to look at your waste patterns and find ways to reduce and reuse. Could you get rid of all plastic straw usage? Could you buy reusable grocery bags? Do you really need a new phone every year or two? Is “free” two-day delivery causing us to buy more wanted, and not necessarily needed, things?

What are other ways of reducing and reusing common household and everyday items? Comment below and let’s make this an active discussion, where people can come and get great ideas.