A lot of people often find it a challenge to see the difference between recycling and reusing. I guess it makes sense, right? The act of Recycling is just reusing resources often in another form, right? Although that is true, it is extremely important to know what recycling really looks like and why reusing is such a better go-to. I’ve said it before, but recycling get’s way too much hype. When you ask the average person to describe an example of sustainability, or something they do to help the planet, you often hear, “I recycle”. Keep reading… there might be a more effective solution.
Let’s first describe both processes. In recycling, used resources such as glass, metal, or plastic are sent to a facility to be turned into raw materials which can be used again. This has a positive impact on the environment because it saves a lot of energy and prevents new resources from being extracted from the planet. This is vital for a sustainable future. However, that is only the case if we keep consuming disposables. On the other hand, if we use reusables, the resources do not need any extra transformation process. They don’t need to be shipped out of your house and eventually back to it. Reducing limits pollution and waste, thus making it a more sustainable process.
Waste is still produced from recycling- This needs to be said… even though I’ve mentioned it before. When we attempt to recycle, 91% of the plastic in our bins fail to work in the circular waste system. And as I mentioned earlier, when we recycle, we also waste gas and fuel: The item has to be shipped to get to your home in the first place, then it is shipped out of your home. If we kept things simple, you’d buy an item made of 100% recycled material and be getting shipped back more resources. However, recycling is never that simple. What is simple is reusing. When you purchase an item, the resources are shipped to use and you use them indefinitely. So although many talk about all the energy saved by recycling, the best way to save energy is by buying an item once and not needing anything extra.
Down cycling- The final point I want to bring up is the idea of downcycling. This is one of the things that makes recycling a much less sustainable process. Earlier I mentioned that you can consume items that are 100% recyclable and/or made of 100% recycled materials. Unfortunately, this is rare. Only a few items can be recycled without degrading. This includes glass and aluminum. Although they can be recycled indefinitely, they require more energy to recycle than items like paper or plastic. At the same time, paper and plastic are limited to the number of times they can be recycled before they are going to end up in the landfill. Reusing items on the other hand hardly degrades anything.
If it isn’t clear, you should always reuse it before recycling. Use the same plastic water bottle 100 times before recycling it. Hope this article was helpful and valuable for you. Come back next week to learn more. For now, peace.
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