Let’s revisit a topic that you’re probably familiar with: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Now let’s add rethink and refuse to that list, and there you have the basics of sustainability. The five R’s: reduce, reuse, recycle, rethink, and refuse are a great way to implement small changes into your daily life and live more environmentally friendly and conscious.
Reduce: Reduce means to minimize the amount of waste we create. Here are some easy ways to reduce your waste:
- Use reusable bottles and cups for beverages on the go! An aluminum can of soda can take 80 – 200 years to decompose.
- Use reusable grocery bags! Not just for groceries, but for anything you need to tote around. Those plastic bags stores offer will take 10 – 20 years to decompose in the landfill.
- Avoid single use food and drink containers and utensils. Whenever possible, try to avoid single use coffee cups, disposable utensils, straws, and napkins. These generate a ton of waste, and are generally an easy fix with things like reusable metal straws or bringing your own coffee cup.
- Opt out of using paper when possible. Most companies today offer digital options for mail, receipts, and most other records you need to store.
Reuse: Reuse refers to using items more once. Here are some things you might not have considered to reuse:
- Try out reusing to go containers. A lot of time plastic to go bowls with lids can be cleaned and reused like tupperware. This is something that I do frequently, and it works well for me! You can even bring your own containers out to dinner for your leftovers.
- If you do use plastic bags, save them and reuse them! They can be used for future shopping trips, as trash can liners for small trashcans, and they can be donated to local businesses like thrift stores.
- Upcycle old clothes. Old clothes can be cut to use as rags for cleaning or donated to various places like the Cookeville Rescue Mission or Tech’s Wings Upcycled.
- Try out thrift shopping! It requires a lot of materials and energy to produce new clothes. For example, fast fashions, companies like Shein and other affordable online clothing outlets, are responsible for over 92 million tons of waste per year! By investing in reused clothes instead of supporting the industry, you can help reduce that ridiculously high amount of waste.
Recycle: Recycling means putting a product to a new use instead of throwing it away.
- If you receive newspapers in the mail, they can be donated to local animal shelters or used for other things like storing breakable items.
- Put discarded products in the appropriate receptacle! There are designated bins all over campus for plastic, paper, and aluminum. If you are in the residence halls, you also have personal recycling bin! The plastic you can recycle extends further than just drinks. You can recycle milk jugs, soap containers, hair care bottles, non-hazardous cleaning bottles, and more!
- There are also receptacles on campus to recycle cardboard. So instead of throwing your pizza box in the trash, try recycling it.
Rethink: Rethink is a more general term that just means to rethink your consumption habits to minimize waste. Here some things to think about to help you live a lifestyle that supports a sustainable future.
- Is purchasing this product worth the amount of waste or environmental harm it accumulates?
- Do I love it or really need it? Will I be using it in six months?
- Am I going to take the time to properly dispose of these items instead of just tossing them when I am done?
- Where is my waste going and where does it end up? What else could this item be used for before I discard it?
Refuse: Refuse refers to the act of refusing items that don’t help you commit to a sustainable future.
- Say no to fast fashion brands. If you can’t find the things you are looking for second hand, then try searching out ecofriendly brands. When you are supporting an ecofriendly brand, you are voting for sustainability with your dollar.
- Kindly refuse an offer of single use items when out and about, unless you just really need them.
- Refuse to support practices that don’t contribute to a more sustainable living style.
There are numerous other things you can do to live more environmentally friendly, but these ideas will serve as food for thought as you try to be more eco-friendly!
