Reuse

There's only one word that bothers me more than anything else in the world other than waste. Consumerism. What does that mean? It's enticing advertising, basically meaning the process of buying things we don't need because they're cheap/discounted, and then barely using them before they end up in a landfill. The reason is because in today's day and time, getting stuff is easy. A click of a button, and your product is there the next morning. 

Do you actually know what happens while you're minding your other business, let's break down what happens and the impact on the environment.

• Production. Your product had to be made. Since different items have a different resource footprint, we won't speak specifically about it. However, when you calculate your footprint on this earth, it's an important factor to consider.

• Getting It To The Warehouse. After it's made by a retailer, it has to be shipped to a warehouse, like Amazon. So what? A lot of things. To make it to the warehouse, the product would have to be transported by a ship or by flight. Fuel. That means fossil fuels, which come from our earth. We're going to run out of it one day. And by ordering online, you're helping us use it all faster than ever.

• Getting It To Your Home. Same as above. But in a car, driving through the streets setting off carbon emissions.

Okay, this is one way of the purchase. You use the product. You like it. End of story.

Now take in the fact that you also return packages well too many times. Are you going to go through all of the wasteful steps above from packaging to shipping to get your $2 back! Give it to someone who needs it, or donate it! Pretty much ANYTHING can be reused!

So, why do we emphasize reusing? Paper bags can definitely be reused when you go shopping again. Just make a place for them in your car. For plastic bags, my family uses them as trash bags for the mini food scraps bin on the kitchen counter. Whenever you try to throw something away, ask yourself, "Can this be reused for a different purpose?"

Recycle

Recycling isn't a privilege to be overused. The only reason you should be recyling is because all else in the world fails. Assume recycling is only slightly better than throwing things in the trash. 

I wouldn't be saying this if I knew for sure that all of what was put into the recycling bin would be recycled for sure. In fact, if that was true, I would recommend it first and foremost. The problem is that very little of what you put into the recycling bin actually gets recycled!

The number one reason, of course, is contamination. There's not a whole lot you can do by yourself on this cause, but if everyone understood this cause, almost everything could be truly recycled! For starters, don't put trash into the recycling bin. 

Never place the following 10 items, ever, in the recycling bin:

1. Napkins or Tissues: They will most likely be dirty and cannot be recycled.

2. Filters: Whether it's for your AC or your old dryer, filters cannot be recycled by any means.

3. Batteries: This is extremely dangerous because the acids inside the battery can leech and contaminate perfectly good, recyclable, intact materials.

4. Plastic Bags: More than enough times, these are too dirty to be reused. Plastic bags are bad even when they go to the landfill, so the best action you can take is to opt for reusable alternatives.

5. Food Waste: First of all, you should be trying to avoid this. Food waste is nothing else but a contaminant for reusable materials such as paper. It will do fine in a landfill, since it can break down into particles and be decomposed by fungi/worms.

6. Ceramics: These are breakable and are not part of the recyclable category. They may even pose a threat to recycling machinery.

7. Styrofoam: These are pretty much always contaminated, and cannot be recycled even if they were clean.

8. Diapers: Human defecation might as well be the worst contaminant in recycling foundations.

9. Food Wrappers: Of course, these are contaminated!

Rethink

We often buy more than what we need just because it's enticing. I've talked more about this in the "reusing" section, but we never exactly think rationally when buying things. The reason is simple: most brands will design their covers such that they are attractive, and make you an easy target. This is similar to the colors of social media apps which makes you want to click them. 

Just like in reduce, we have a specific question to ask ourselves: "Is this product trying to make me waste money on future landfill, or does this product look legit and actually provide me with something useful?" 

This question definitely works well with small purchases, like that set of origami paper on 50% off, but you are too busy to work on stuff like that, but bigger purchases are not only a bigger thump on your wallet, but a bigger thump to decide how eco-friendly it is, and if you're actually going to use it.

However, the good thing is that most of the time, we think clearly about making large purchases. On the other hand, to make sure we're not impacted by emotions or social pressure, it's good to wait at least one week before spending on anything which might be potentially wasteful.

Refuse

With all in mind, the most helpful thing about today's society is that everything costs money. That's why waste amounts are considerably low. However, there are places where you can take as much as you need, or all-inclusive places. Of course, there's nothing wrong with these, and you should definitely enjoy yourself. 

But whenever you take something you don't need, just because it seems nice, is a problem. We have to learn to refuse, because that's the key role in truly reducing waste. We can access things as much as we want, but it's important to learn to say "NO," no matter how old you are.