Recycling ~ The Important "R" Words - Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling
The Important "R" Words - Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling
There are three important "R" words which everyone
in the United States should refer to on a daily basis. These words
are: reducing, reusing, and recycling. By reducing our consumption,
reusing everything we possibly can, and recycling anything that
is able to be recycled, we can help to protect our environment
and save money as well. At the heart of the simplicity and frugality
movements are these three words. Let's take a moment and look
at each word individually and determine what they mean to us,
to our communities, and to our earth.
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Reducing - Reducing simply means to use less. Use what less?
How about starting with gasoline and other petroleum based products?
By reducing you're driving, and reducing your speed when you do
need to drive, you can greatly reduce the amount of gasoline you
and your family consumes. This helps your community by keeping
the air cleaner. It also helps the earth's environment and it
helps our country to lessen its dependence on foreign oil as well.
Plastic products are all petroleum based. By using less plastic
we also help to decrease our dependence on foreign oil. We can
reduce the plastic products we use by reusing the containers which
our food comes in, and by purchasing items which have less plastic
packaging. Look into your kitchen trash and see how much material
you can reduce by doing things just a little different when you
purchase things and then when you are done with them.
Reusing - Reusing is all
about taking items which would end up in the landfill and
using them for another purpose.
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 For instance,
rather than tossing your used plastic containers and packaging
into your kitchen garbage, look at ways to reuse them in another
way. Use that empty bread bag again for your lunch, rather than
throwing it away only to use a Ziplock bag in its place. Reuse
your yogurt containers to hold leftovers or start plants in your
windowsill from seeds.
Another way you can easily reuse items is to offer them to other
people for their use. Moving supplies are a perfect example. When
you are done moving, offer your empty moving boxes to someone
else in your community who is moving. You get rid of the clutter
and they get to reuse the boxes. You help the environment by keeping
the boxes from ending up in the landfill or being burned.
Recycling - Recycling is all about taking something at the end
of its life-cycle and turning it into something new and useable.
One good example of this is your used aluminum and plastics. When
they are no longer able to be reused, take them to your local
recycling center and have them melted down to create new products.
This saves from having to use raw materials.
Another good example of recycling is to compost your kitchen
scraps. It will keep them out of your kitchen trash and into your
soil where you can use their nutrients to grow new fruits and
vegetables.
Take a moment today to consider the benefits of reducing, reusing
and recycling in your personal life and your community. Can you
think of ways where you can use your skills and knowledge to incorporate
these important three "R" words into your life?
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