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DCL
I was about 9 years old when I first learned about recycling. I noticed that much of our family waste, which was easily recyclable, was ending up at the local landfill so I made my father gather our cans and newspapers to be recycled. At the time there was no recycling pick up and we lived too far out of town anyway, so it meant we had to drop it off at the facility in town. I learned from my elementary school teachers the importance of discarding used paper into the proper bin and never throwing plastic bottles into the "regular" trash.
Since then recycling has become the norm. Around our neighborhood most people have just a few trash bags to place on the curb each week while their recycling bins are often overflowing. It shows that our society has the ability to make a change. It shows that once we learn there is a better way we're ready and willing to try it. And nearly 25 years later, we again know there's a better choice.
It's become clear that in some ways recycling is a crutch that allows us to avoid the real issue, overall waste. Because just as Lloyd put it last year in his piece: Use the 3 Rs—and Then Some—To Eliminate Trash "[i]t is a big issue, bigger than just the waste, it is the energy made producing things that don't last, replacing bottles that get recycled instead of refilled, picking up shopping bags that get tossed instead of reused."
The Purchasing Question
We have to build a society around reducing and reusing rather than using recycling as an excuse to avoid the other two r's and it all starts with our initial consumption. When you purchase an item think long and hard about if you actually need it. Is it something that you absolutely can't live without? In ten years are you still going to be excited about the purchase or will you have forgotten it entirely? Or is this an ideal time to take Lloyd's advice and instead of making a purchase consider repairing, repurposing, or refilling something you already have. Need a new wingback chair? Maybe you could just repair your old chair or change it up by recovering it with a new fabric. Instead of dumping that bridesmaid dress you wore once, consider shortening the skirt, adding a belt, and wearing it all over again.
How Much Packaging are You Consuming?
The other aspect of consumption that we tend to overlook is the wasteful packaging associated with buying brand new goods. If you really want to reduce your consumption avoid goods that are over packaged, don't order online, and choose compostable packaging that can later become a part of your garden. Finally, find other uses for the packaging that you just can't avoid.
Eat a Zero Waste Diet
Packaging carries over into everything we do including what we eat. Hit the farmers' market instead of the grocery store and avoid all the waste associated with your food. At the grocery store you're often paying top dollar for packaging. At the farmers' market your local producer would never waste cash on packaging because they are much more concerned with producing high quality foods. If you avoid processed foods and instead make your own granola, breads, condiments, and pasta and then fill in the blanks with fruits, vegetables, and locally produced dairy, you're drastically reducing your overall waste. Most whole foods are compostable, a natural process, which unlike recycling, doesn't take any additional energy.
Returnable Technology
For those items that you already have but need to get rid of, see if you can return them to the manufacturer or pass them down to the next lucky user. As Lloyd wrote this is especially true of technology companies that are constantly modernizing, like computer manufacturers.
So there you have it. The entire "cycle" starts out at the cash register when you're making your purchasing decisions. Think long and hard about whether you need it, how long it will last, and how you will dispose of both the product and its packaging when it's all said and done. And finally, rather than using recycling as a crutch, use it as the option of last resort.
