What Does “Going Green” Really Mean? (Part 7)

Reduce, reuse, recycle. It’s the mantra you’ve likely read and heard many, many times — so many times that you may have forgotten the various responsibilities involved. If we take the individual parts of this green mantra and turn it into an equation, we’ll have something like reuse + recycle = reduce. But what interests me more, what inspires in me a deeper kind of questioning with regards to my relationship to the Earth, is this: Is recycle > or < reuse?

The term “recycling” is a bit tricky. It is commonly understood that to recycle is to alter the form of waste in order to reuse it. When we dump our recyclable waste into private or public “recycling” bins, we probably have thought (myself included) “I’m recycling”. We may have congratulated ourselves and returned to our daily lives with a certain sense of accomplishment (myself included). But according to the above definition, we’re not recycling — we’re simply (and hopefully) separating recyclable waste from unrecyclable waste and handing it over to those who (hopefully) will recycle the waste themselves.

But here is a more substantial fact: The actual transformation of waste into something reusable depends on the creation of waste. Recycling, ultimately, does not prevent waste; it perpetuates it. Yes, recycling is obviously better than not recycling at all. But what is better than recycling? I argue the answer can be found in reusing — as well as in reusing’s kissing cousin: precycling.

To reuse is essentially a very simple concept: Wash it, mend it, whatever — keep it in reusable condition and keep using it. That glass jar that previously contained the peanut butter for your milkshake? Wash it and reuse it to hold your spices, seeds or grains (had any quinoa lately)? That shirt of which you’ve grown bored? Put it away or loan it away, give it some distance; chances are you’ll learn to appreciate it again. Thrift stores and charity shops are still resources for high-quality and inexpensive clothing, furniture, and countless other things looking for new homes. Need a candle holder? Eat your quinoa and reuse the glass jar.

As I’m sure you’ve heard a million times: If it ain’t broken, don’t throw it away. I would add: If it’s broken and you can fix it, don’t throw it away. Which begs another question: How much stuff do you have? Do you need all of it? Can someone else reuse something of yours that you are not reusing and have no plans to reuse? Consider donating it to a charity, to a family, to an individual.

Reuse = waste prevention. The simplicity and truth of this equation can be transformational.

To precycle means to make some mindful decisions before you consume in order to prevent waste. Take the issue of packaging, for example. When you buy a pound of raisins that are pre-packaged, you are perpetuating waste rather than preventing it. But if you take your own bag or container to a store that sells raisins in bulk, and you reuse that same bag or container the next time you want to buy raisins (or something else), then you are lessening the demand for the waste that is the packaging in which most things are sold. You are rendering that packaging absolutely unnecessary. Some packaging is recyclable, and some is not. But don’t forget that packaging is still waste, whether its recyclable or not. To precycle, in other words, is to make decisions that enable you to avoid recycling and, in turn, waste in the first place. Perhaps you’ve seen public advertisements, social marketing, that encourages you to starve your garbage can or bin, the illustration of an empty, hungry, evil garbage can pleading for waste. I say starve your recycling bin, too.

If you need a soundtrack for your efforts, try Jack Johnson’s groovaliscious contribution. When you do listen to the song for the first time, or return to it, pay attention to the lyrics. It doesn’t surprise me that the process of “reusing” is given much more specific attention in the lyrics than “recycling”. Why? Probably because the process of reusing to reduce is a more accessible and independent one, with more immediately visible benefits.

So here is another, additional, mantra meant to encourage you: Precycle, Reuse, Reduce.