Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reduce, reuse, recycle. A mantra which was drummed into many of us at school, or through the media. These days there are also two more ‘Rs’ commonly being added to the list which are ‘Refuse’ and ‘Rot’.

The order of these words is key: first we should try to reduce our consumption, part of which could include refusing certain items, second we should reuse items already in existence, and thirdly, once something has ceased to be useful, we should convert it back to its basic components and use them again: recycle or in the case of organic materials, rot.

By considering these three key words, in this order, we can have a significant impact on many concerning issues.

I would like to add a disclaimer to start off with that feeling overwhelming guilt regarding the waste we produce can cause unhappiness for many people, so always just try your best and try not to feel that you have to be absolutely perfect at all times. We are all human and have limits!

By reducing our consumption we are not only contributing less waste when these products eventually become unwanted, we are also reducing things like transport of these products, packaging of these products, as well as high demand meaning competition in the market leading to low paid workers at the end of the production chain.

Reducing consumption can be challenging at first because it requires a change of mindset. Considering each item we purchase in terms of what we really need and what will truly bring us happiness. I’m sure we can all think of occasions where we have bought something on impulse only to think afterwards “do I really need this?”. As part of this mindset we can make use of Marie Kondo’s “Spark Joy” idea when shopping, to consider whether purchasing an item will truly enrich us, or whether it will soon end up as unwanted waste.

Another important consideration when thinking about consumption is longevity of items. If we make an effort to purchase well made items and take good care of their condition, they will last for much longer meaning less re-purchasing and less waste, and an initial investment into a good quality item will usually mean savings in the long term.

The newly added “refuse” is a really useful term to describe all the ways in which we consume passively without actually choosing to. We are given plastic straws in our drinks, sent junk mail, and given gifts we don’t really want.
It takes a little shift in habits to get used to saying ‘no thank you’ to a straw in your drink, or a plastic bag, but once it becomes normal to us it takes very little effort.
Next up is going through and unsubscribing from services sending us junk mail, or turning our bills paperless. I would recommend keeping a pile of everything you receive in a month and then sitting down one day and doing the whole pile at once.
A rather more tricky subject to approach is asking friends and family not to give you gifts. This can be a sensitive subject for many people and how to approach it will differ from person to person. A great alternative to a physical gift is suggesting that you instead spend a day together doing something fun or relaxing.
My personal approach this year has been to ask family members to, instead of buying me a gift, treat themselves to something and then tell me about. So far one family member has said she will go to see a ballet which is usually an indulgence she would deny herself. I look forward to hearing all about it!

Reuse can come in a few different packages. I have split it into 3 main categories: general reuse, upcycling, and giving.

General reuse

This refers to favouring reusable products over single use items and spills over into the previous category of reduce and refuse.
Examples include bringing your own re-useable water bottle rather than buying bottled water, packing your shopping into a backpack instead of plastic bags, using your own metal cutlery for picnics and parties rather than buying disposable.

Another example is bringing your own food and drink containers to shops. This is pretty widespread now in coffee shops, and is becoming more acceptable in food shops too, with Morrisons being praised this year for allowing customers to bring their own containers for products from the meat and deli counters. Although it might feel a little awkward at first to ask, it’s definitely worth having a conversation, particularly in independent shops, you might be surprised how many places are happy to use your containers!
Shopping at markets for fruit and veg is also a great way to avoid un-necessary plastic packaging.
Many dedicated “zero-waste” shops are opening up now too where the whole supply chain is considered. You may not have one nearby quite yet, but keep an eye out as they are becoming more popular.

Upcycling

This refers to taking something which is old, broken, or undesirable and making it better. It can be anything from mending a damaged item (for example putting patches onto the knees of jeans, or getting shoes re-soled by a cobbler) giving old items a makeover (for example sanding and re-upholstering a chair) or making a totally new use out of an old item (for example using old car tires as plant pots).
Upcycling is particularly great for those of us with a creative streak, and can make for a fun personal project or even small business. By giving your old items a new life or buying old an unwanted items and improving them, you are saving yourself money and reducing waste at the same time. See my Pinterest board on upcycling for some ideas!

Giving

A great way to give your unwanted items a new lifespan is by giving or swapping them with friends and family. As a younger sibling I was very happy to receive a number of ‘hand me downs’ as a teenager.
Organising a swap shop among friends can be a fun and social occasion where you might come away with something somebody else no longer wanted, as well as passing on your own unwanted items.

It is important to remember when giving unwanted items to friends and family to always give them the option to say no. It isn’t fair to burden others with our unwanted items, so make sure it is always an offer!

By passing on our unwanted items to others we are not only giving them an extended lifespan, we are often also contributing to good causes, for example by donating clothes to a charity shop we have delayed these clothes from contributing to landfill, allowed somebody to have new clothes without the manufacture of a new garment, and also created an income for that charity. Don’t forget to also buy/receive items second hand in favour of new!

Please only donate items which are clean and in good condition to charity shops, as unsellable items can become a burden to these charities. If you are ever in doubt about what a charity shop will accept just pop in and ask! Most places will be very happy to guide you, as it is in their interest to receive the correct kind of items. (I will be publishing a post in the near future regarding where to take specific items for re-use or recycling, so keep an eye out!)

Once an item is beyond being used again by the consumer it can go one of a few ways depending on (among other factors) the material and where you are in the world.

Composting

The rotting of organic material is the earth’s natural way of recycling, as nutrients are released back into soil and then absorbed by plants as they grow.
For those of us who are able to compost at home or who have food and garden council collection bins, organic material can be composted down and used for agriculture. The main difference between composting at home and industrially is that councils will use high temperatures during the process meaning that animal products can also sometimes be composted by certain councils, whereas at home it is only advised to compost plant matter so as not to attract rats and other animals to your compost bin.

Recycling

Recyclable materials can be widely categorised as paper, metal, glass, and plastic. There are a few other categories but I will focus on these main four for now.

The two most important things to remember with recycling is that materials need to be clean and separated into their components in order to be recycled. Contaminated materials can make whole collections unsuitable for recycling. Some common mistakes include the following:

Soiled food containers. Always rinse out tins and bottles before recycling, and do not put takeaway pizza boxes in the recycling bin as they are greasy and cant be cleaned (this also goes for used tissues and kitchen roll).
Separate different materials from each other. When this isn’t possible, for example takeaway coffee cups which have a thin layer of plastic coating the inside of the cup, this means that the item is not recyclable and should not be put into the recycling bin.

Metal is often the simplest to recycle because its material properties mean it is relatively easy to sort from other waste (using magnets and sensors of density). There is also little degradation in quality during the recycling process as it melts down at high temperatures and can be re-formed. The main types of metal we recycle are aluminium (drinks cans) and steel (machinery, construction). But other metals such as copper and zinc are also recyclable. There are some metal recycling plants in UK, but some is sent abroad.
Metals occur naturally in the earth and have to be mined and and then mixed and processed to make them useable. By recycling metal we are reducing the amount of new mining sites and therefore protecting the natural environment.

The use of glass has been replaced in many instances with plastic. This is mostly because glass is both heavy and breakable meaning that more energy is needed to transport products packaged in glass, and there is likely to be more wastage from breakages.
However it is excellent as food and drink packaging as it has no taste, and when treated with care is very durable due to the hard surface (it does not scratch or stain like plastic does).
Similar to metal, glass can be recycled repeatedly with little degradation.
Glass is processed both in the UK and in the Netherlands where it is then made into new glass products or used as aggregate for road construction. Different coloured glass should be recycled separately - it is the mixed coloured glass which is used in road aggregate.
Referring back to the previous category of re-use, glass milk bottles in the UK are generally re-used around 18 times. Although there is debate about whether this is more or less environmentally friendly – see this BBC article for more information on this.
Glass is made from sand which is heated to extreme temperatures to liquify it. So, similar to metal, by recycling glass we are reducing the amount of sand being taken from the natural environment.

Lastly is plastic. Oh plastic, you tricky creature.

The properties of plastic which make it so versatile and useful are also the things which makes it so fiddly when it comes to recycling. As you are probably aware there is not just one type of plastic. The plastic your office chair is made out of is not the same as the plastic your yogurt pot is made out of is not the same plastic your washing up sponge is made of... etc etc. There are generally considered to be seven types of plastic, details of which can be seen here.

Plastics are all made out of crude oil mixed with different materials and processed in different ways to produce the many varied forms of plastics we use so pervasively. It can be rigid, flexible, opaque, transparent, and many other things. It is also cheap. Sounds great right!

However. Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few years, you will know that it is also incredible detrimental to our environment.

Types 1, 2 & 5 (PET, HDPE & PP) are widely recyclable, however this depends on local authorities and also on the plastic being properly sorted and clean, which it often is not. For a really helpful guide to the different types of plastic in your home visit this page.

Much of our plastic waste is also shipped overseas as we do not have the capacity to deal with the quantities produced here in the UK, and recent findings have shown that much of our plastic which we think we are sending to be recycled ends up piled up in places such as Malaysia, causing awful conditions for communities there, and often also ending up in the ocean. There is a very informative podcast episode from BBC “Beyond Today” which outlines the complex issues of sending our rubbish and recycling abroad. Listen here.

It is also not always the case that plastic can be melted down to make the same product again and again indefinitely due to changes to the material properties during processing, meaning that although it will be used to make something else, in order to make more of that particular product, more virgin plastic will have to be produced. Type 1 plastic (PET) is the most valuable in this sense as it has a high re-cycling life.

As for the other four types of plastic their recyclability is either limited to specialist plants, difficult and energy intensive, or simply not possible. It is at this point that plastic ends up in...

Landfill

Landfill is (or should be) our last resort for waste. It is exactly as it sounds: waste is tipped into a hole in the ground (often disused quarries) until it is full to capacity and then covered over.

A huge problem with this is the methane gas released as any decomposable materials rot down (40% of Britain's methane emissions come from landfill sites).

I'm sure you can also see a big problem with this: eventually we will run out of space. Imagine everything you've ever thrown in the bin throughout your whole life just building up in a big pile. That's literally what is happening. Year after year. Its just not a sustainable option. This brings me to...

Burning

Now this is one which I have had a big change of opinion on in the previous year. I'm not saying its ideal, but listen up!

I've linked an article below which describes a Swedish “waste-to-energy” plant. The non-recyclable waste is burned to produce energy for hot water systems in the surrounding neighbourhood. Of course by burning the waste the plant does produce carbon dioxide, but the waste in landfill was producing methane anyway while not serving any purpose to the community. The problem with this is that not all plants will operate with such high standards of filtration of waste gasses, and this can have a devastating effect on the surrounding community as well as the environment at large. There’s a very informative podcast from Beyond Today which describes the communities in Malaysia where much of our rubbish is sent.

I am still undecided on how I feel about burning waste, but I would say that it doesn't feel any worse than landfill, as long as there are strict procedures for filtering the gasses released in the process of burning.

Either way, Landfill or burning really should be a last resort rather than accounting for over half (that's right) of our waste management in the UK currently.

Summary

Returning to our mantra of reduce, reuse, recycle: The problem I see with this is the disconnect between the consumer and the process.

As you can see above, recycling is a difficult and complex process requiring specialist plants, transport of materials, and vast amounts of energy. However from the point of view of the consumer, the amount of effort required to pop something in the recycling bin is minimal.

On the other hand it is really quite hard to change the habits of a lifetime and stop buying in the quantities which have come to be considered normal, but really this should be our starting point. Reduce, reuse, recycle: in that order.

For a really interesting overview of addressing the amount of waste we produce and limiting consumption check out this podcast from Confessions of an Ecoworrier where Becky and Mac discuss everything from minimalism, the zero waste movement, and responsible stewardship of materials.