Giving new life to things destined for the dump

By Christopher Forestieri

I still like the mantra, popular when I was growing up, of “reduce, reuse and recycle.” But for years I have felt that it can be a bit misleading.

Without a doubt, there is a need to reduce the amount of natural as well as non-biodegradable items we use. Equally important is the need to recycle what we do use. But, in the end, the focus should be on reusing what we have first and foremost. If something can be reused, the need to replace the item is reduced and the item it self is recycled.

And so I began to think about the things I bring home each week which can be reused; here are five.

1. As it is for many others, a trip to the grocery store, or even the occasional leftovers from a restaurant, leaves me with many, many containers. Most of them are re-sealable and perfectly good after their intended use-life has ended. And yet, a cottage industry has sprung up from Tupperware containers.

While these reusable containers are an environmentally friendly upgrade from one-use plastic bags, why waste your money? Next time you look in your fridge, check out all of the “free” plastic and glass containers you have, filled with salsa or cottage cheese, as well as the plastic container you brought home your leftover pasta primavera in. Most of these containers hold up in the dishwasher and can be used many times.

2. And what about Ziploc bags? They have made huge strides in the quality of Ziploc bags since I was a kid. These too can be washed and reused. But, again, why waste your money? Did you ever notice all of the re-sealable bags that come home with you from the grocery store? Tortilla bags (really any bag with a seal on top) work just as well as their expensive Ziploc counterparts. Plus, they are free and deserve a second trip around the circle.

3. While I am a big proponent of bringing one’s own bags to the grocery store, it’s not always going to happen. Inevitably, I end up needing to run to CVS without my canvas bags by my side. But I don’t feel so guilty that I carry everything home in my hands (though this is not a bad idea if I only buy a few items). That plastic bag they hand back my purchase in can find a new use. It works great as a trash liner or a lunch bag (to name only a few uses).

4. Jars are always easy enough to throw in the recycling bin. But don’t forget, assuming the lids can be reattached, jars are not that different from other containers; they can be reused too. I find that they are good for food products that come in non re-sealable containers. This way you can add to the shelf life of your food while making sure that a jar finds another use.

5. NOTE: This one is kind of far-out, but I thought it was worth mentioning if only as an example of how far reuse can be taken. Recently I played drums in a band which put out an album. We had no money for production costs and we wanted to keep the price of the CD as low as possible. Our bass player began a campaign of collecting all the cardboard cereal boxes and beer containers that he could get his hands on. After a few weeks, he showed up with a whole stack of CDs contained in cardboard sleeves he had fashioned by stapling together squares cut out of the aforementioned cardboard. It worked out great and made for a novel (and cheap) selling point.

The point is, while it’s easy enough to throw something with a recycling symbol into a box every week and hope for the best, who knows what happens to it. Whatever percentage of the material that can be reused, there is significant debate as to weather the energy expended by recycling materials is as degrading to the environment as adding waste to a landfill. The only way to know for sure that what you are doing is best for the environment is to reuse.

Perhaps, in 2008, that classic mantra should be restructured: “Reuse = reduce + recycle.”