REUSE is the second of the 3 R's. I talked a little about Reduce and now about Reuse. It is all first about Reducing what we use, then reusing what you can to eliminate more waste and last will be recycle.
You can "reuse" materials in their original form instead of throwing them away, or pass those materials on to others who could use them too! Remember, one man's trash is another man's treasure! Here are some examples of reuse ...
1. Take along washable cups or travel mugs instead of disposables; a lot of restaurants and convenient stores will be glad to fill or refill your own mug. When you hit Starbucks everyday try to not use a new cup that ends up in the garbage, bring your own mug each day. That little step if everyone did it would save an enormous amount of trash.
2. When you do use disposables like plastic cups, plates, utensils, and plastic food storage bags, don't throw them away! Wash and reuse them -- most of them will last for a long time with many uses. They may not cost much to replace, but it doesn't make any more sense to throw away those things than it does to throw away your bicycle after one use.
3. When you do decide to replace something large and "reusable", be sure to donate the old one to charitable outlets like Goodwill, Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, Vietnam Veterans, and the many others that are probably in your area. Most of the time the item can be repaired by those groups, and then redistributed into other homes rather than landfills.
4. Hold a yard sale or give-away. And ask your neighbors to join in too -- this shares the work and increases the number of unused things that can find new homes and new uses. And your local recycling/solid waste office may run a "swap shop" at a recycling centers --
5. When you go to the grocery store bring your own bags. There is no sense in using the plastic or paper bags they supply there. Bring your own cloth bags that you can use over and over again.
These are just a couple simple and easy ways you can make a big difference. When you really think about it these things would not take much effort or energy out of your day, but can save a lot of waste to our environment.
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