Just take a moment to dwell on the word. What feelings or thoughts come to mind when you think of that it? In my mind, I associate the term ‘waste’ with misuse; if I've wasted something, I've not used it correctly or efficiently.
Waste is a byproduct of consuming goods. But the amount of waste produced can vary depending on the choices we make. And that’s where the Three R’s come in.
In my previous post, I explained that I’m going to spend the next few weeks focusing on the tenets of waste management: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. It’s a simple little phrase with a powerful message.
But it’s more than just an eco-friendly, environmental campaign. It’s a mindset and way of living. It’s a motto I find helpful as our family strives to be good stewards of what we are given. And if we apply this philosophy to our lives, we will reap a multitude of benefits, such as saving money, simplifying our lives and caring for our world.
The actions of the Three R’s are in a specific order and for good reason. Recycling is great, but before we do that, we should be finding ways to reuse our waste. And before we reuse our waste, we should be focusing on reducing it.
The purpose of ‘Reduce’ is to prevent and minimize the amount of waste produced. Think about the difference we could make if we prevented waste from ever being made or decreased the amount of waste we create.
So, let’s explore how we can apply the action ‘Reduce’ to our lives.
Prevention
This is where we need to start. And in order to prevent waste in our lives, we have to reduce what we buy and consume.
When people talk about financial responsibility, an important point they hit on is understanding the difference between needs and wants. The principle applies here as well.
We live in a very material based society. There are a lot of things we can do, eat, wear, fill our homes with, etc. And to be perfectly honest, a good portion of the things in my life are things I don’t NEED. Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing bad about those little luxuries and comforts, but it’s important to think about their place in our priorities.
Before you bring something into your life, ask yourself if it is helping you maintain or achieve your priorities. Is producing unnecessary waste in your life?
Minimize
After preventing waste from being made, look at minimizing the waste you create. This is a huge challenge in a society with a disposable mindset. So many things are designed to be used and thrown away. And this is where we have to change our perspective. If you take responsibility for everything you throw away, you start to realize just how much you throw away.
I’ve begun to do this, and it’s made me see my waste in a whole new light. As I take responsibility for what I throw away, it causes me to question the necessity of something in my home or if it needs to be thrown away at all. Disposable items like paper napkins, paper towels, plastic bags, plastic wrap, plastic cups, paper plates, etc. are being used less or eliminated from our home altogether. And you know, it hasn’t made our life any more difficult. In fact, I find it freeing to know I’m producing less waste.
Another thing to think about is the waste a product will produce by how it’s made or packaged. For example, avoid products packaged in serving-size portions. They cost more and produce more waste than their conventionally packaged counterparts. Instead, buy the regular product and portion out the item as you need it in non-disposable containers.
So Let's Get Started...
Reducing waste in our lives is a big task. There are countless ways we can address this issue. And that's why I'll be posting ideas for reducing waste in your life for the rest of the week. I don’t plan on covering all aspects of the issue. I mainly want to get you thinking and present some of the things we do in our household.
Don’t try to do it all at once. In our home, we’re taking things one step at a time. This helps prevent us from getting overwhelmed and ensures we master the change we are implementing.
So I’m curious, in what ways do you try to reduce waste in your home?
2 comments:
Love the Three Rs. I have a cloth grocery sack that one of my husbands aunts gave us when we got married. It's brightly colored and says, "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" on it. I like having the reminder hanging on my coat rack where I can see it from the kitchen, dining area, or living room (I say this, go to look at it, and see that it is missing. Where is my bag?!).
We've tried to live simply since we married (and I loved the concept prior to marriage, too), but it's really been over the last year or so that I've gotten really serious about making some of these changes. We're still working on switching from plastic to glass food storage containers, but we have eliminated plastic bags/wraps, etc., from our home almost entirely. This comes as a great surprise to people -- just the other day we had a big graduation party at the apartment for David and my mom and sister-in-law were helping me put away the TONS of leftover food we had at the end. They kept asking for ziploc bags and plastic wrap, of which I have none. I think they were surprised to see the methods I use to store things, since I don't (yet) have a good set of mason jars or something. But the interesting part? We got it ALL put away, without anybody running to the grocery store for plastics. We've also (nearly) eliminated disposable dishes from the house; my mom gave me paper plates/napkins/forks/cups for Christmas for those "just in case" moments, and I don't mind having a set of those around for those times (like if you get sick and don't feel well enough to do dishes? A paper plate feels like SUCH a blessing).
We also put all of our "green" waste (ends of carrots, citrus peels, etc) directly on our garden instead of into the trash. We produce a small enough amount of those types of "waste" that it doesn't burn the garden, but prevents us from having to empty the trash can quite so often, due to decomposing food smells. We're also about to quit buying trash can liners, since we're allowed to dump trash directly into our outside can.
I try to buy food items in glass instead of plastic jars whenever possible, too, so I can keep the jar and reuse it for other food items (leftovers, items I buy in bulk, etc). If you do use plastic jars and don't want to keep foods in them due to the leaching chemicals, a great use for them can be found in the garage for storing screws, nails, and other little bits that usually tend to be poorly organized, or if you do crafts, little beads and things!
My biggest, most favorite new way of reducing waste in our home though, is about to be the subject of my next blog post -- a bidet! I was nervous about it, but it really works great and I cannot fathom why more American's aren't using them (they're quite popular in many other countries)! We'll be able to almost completely eliminate (ha ha) the use of toilet paper because of this, which is fantastic on SO MANY LEVELS.
Wow, Megan! Great stuff. Looking forward to seeing the post about the bidet!
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