People in a town near here are so enthusiastic about recycling that they have actually opted for increasing their utility bills to ensure having their recycling bins picked up more often. They surely see themselves as contributing to a sustainable environment, and of course to some extent they are. I’d like to remind them, though, that recycling is only the third “R,” a sort of backup plan when the first two “R’s” don’t do the job.
- The first “R,” reducing, is the most effective alternative. For instance, if we buy the largest containers of foods and beverages that we are sure to use (without having anything spoiled or thrown away), that cuts down the amount of material we bring home. Fewer resources are being used, less pollution is created. Conversely, purchasing a home, auto, or RV that is only as large as we need decreases our use of building or manufacturing materials. Most important, having no more than two children per couple enormously lowers wear and tear on the planet (to say nothing of the parents).
- The second “R,” reusing, helps make use of whatever has already been acquired. Many of the emptied yogurt cartons, pill vials, and egg cartons that too often are discarded after one use can find second homes in nursery schools or daycare centers, where the children need dishes for modeling clay, beads, watercolors, and other arts and crafts supplies. Reused containers serve the purpose just as well as new ones, and are free. When we buy eggs from the local natural-foods store, we return the carefully-kept-clean, empty cartons (which are a costly item for the farmers). Many jars and bottles can be reused many times in the home, also, as free receptacles for leftovers, vases for plant cuttings, and so on. In our RV, we used 8 x 8” cardboard boxes (in which my favorite MarketSpice tea had been shipped) to divide the storage compartments where we keep underwear. When a piece of underwear itself wears out, it becomes a cleaning rag! We sometimes eat in fast-food emporia on the road; if we can’t avoid using plastic forks or spoons, we take with them us, wash them, and add them to our tableware. Antique furniture is often of better quality than new, and no more expensive. Crafters have become very creative in reusing materials that would ordinarily be discarded. In ecofriendly, trendy shops, I have seen beautiful glass objects that had been made with melted and remolded glass, purses constructed of cut-up pieces of metal or plastic, even jewelry made of aluminum can tabs. Perhaps the easiest and most effective way to reuse anything is to put vegetable scraps in a compost bin instead of into a garbage disposal. They are quickly converted to compost that nourishes the garden.
- The third “R,” recycling, is more of a necessary evil than the first two. If reduction and reuse fail, then recycling is at least better than filling landfills. More and more municipalities are collecting materials that can be recycled. The steps and decks on our home are made not of wood, but of recycled sawdust and other mill waste that would have polluted land or water. This wood and binder composite is actually more durable than wood alone. Recycled glass is being used for making attractive kitchen and bathroom countertops that resemble granite or marble and perform better than they do. The insulation in some buildings is made of recycled blue jeans. According to a recent NPR report, the tomato skins that are waste products of catsup processing may soon be recycled into a lightweight plastic material.At best, recycling can keep materials out of trash bins, and make the substances useful again. At its worst, recycling may even encourage wastefulness and pollution. Too often, we buy more things than we need, patting ourselves on the back because we wheel a filled recyclables bin to the curb every week. We don’t bother to reuse containers—we just rinse them out and toss them into the bin. We subscribe to a variety of magazines, then neglect to give them away. Instead, we put them in the bin with the other recyclables.We have a long way to go.
