What are the 6 Rs?

I can still remember where I was standing when I was first told that Recycling was the worst possible way of dealing with a used material. Just ahead of landfill. 

As an avid recycler, you might as well have told me that a gallon of green smoothie every day wasn't actually going to make me look 10 years younger. I was completely stunned.

It turns out that there are at least 5 other better choices than recycling and there is even an order to them! When you hear them, it kind of makes sense. 

REFUSE - don't do it

Refuse - do  you really need it? Or do you just want it? Is it sustainable? Will that quick rush of blood in the 15 minutes of excitement in the purchase really be offset by the 100 years or more that the product takes to break down? 

The easiest example to think of here is a plastic shopping bag!!

REUSE - do it again

OK, so you are going to buy it. Once it is no longer useful, will you be able to use it again for something else? 

Maybe you are about to buy some liquid soap. If you can refill the container, that's a reuse! (A Refuse would be to not buy soap in a container in the first place, and that's why refuse is further up the chain of R goodness.)

REPURPOSE - redo it

Sometimes you have choices among the options you have when you buy something like a food product. A great example is a mayonnaise. Buy the one in the glass jar instead of the plastic jar. You can create a whole collection of matching glass jars to be repurposed for storage.

RETHINK - do it better

It's always worth asking yourself if there is an alternative to the product you are considering. Water is a good one. Do you really need to buy that pack of water bottles? How about a reusable metal water bottle that you fill from either the tap or filtered water?

REDUCE - do it for the planet, do it to declutter

If you reduced the amount of something you do, would it make a difference to your life or for the planet? You can reduce big things or small. Reduce the number of miles you drive in your car and catch a train instead or reduce the amount of food you waste. 

RECYCLE - redo it, with strings attached

Here we are at recycle. The problem with recycling is the amount of energy required to remake it. Or that the product (like plastics) becomes a poorer version of what was once there.

If you are absolutely going to buy something that can really only be recycled, at least make the best choice. Great examples are sodas and juices. Buy the one in the metal can instead of plastic. Metal soda cans can be back on a shelf in a month with minimal processing.

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