Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Which One's Matter?
When you think of reduce, reuse, and recycle all three are important but reducing waste is by far the most important.
Reducing waste is the best way to manage it because it simply means you don't produce it. Reducing means you use fewer resources from the onset. You reduce your consumption and you purchase less. This is the most effective of all three of these, and the best place to start.
Reusing makes sense economically and environmentally. Reusing products rather than throwing them out doesn't just mean that you use things like refillable pens instead of one time use plastic fence. It can also mean that you find new uses for the items you have in your home like converting a used milk container into a seedling tray. By finding creative uses for your items you can reduce the consumption of new products.
Recycling removes the valuable material from items you might otherwise have thrown out and converts them into something new. Recycling is imperative but it does still take a great deal of energy to separate all of those materials which is why it's important to dedicate the majority of your efforts two steps one and two.
When you reduce your overall waste, you have a significant impact on the environment. This type of reduction comes in the form of simple measures like having a reusable coffee cup that allows you to reduce the amount of disposable coffee cup waste you contribute to landfills. Using a plastic, reusable container in which to pack your lunches when you go hiking or to the office each week reduces the money you spend and more importantly the amount of plastic waste in the garbage that comes from take out restaurants.
Conscientiously reducing is the first step and it naturally leads to reusing. For example, at home or in the workplace if you are focused on reducing the amount of plastic waste you use, you might invest in supplies that are reusable, paper clips instead of Staples or metal tape dispensers instead of plastic ones.
On average every worker in the United States uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper on an annual basis. That's a total of 4 million tons of copy paper used every year. Clearly there is a great deal of room to reduce the amount of paper used in the office.
Start by emailing important documents to clients and co-workers if at all possible rather than using paper. Use presentations during staff meetings instead of giving handouts. If employees need the information from that presentation it can be disseminated in the form of an email. Only print documents when you absolutely have to and wherever possible, particularly for internal documents use both sides of the paper.
Reducing energy footprint is easy too. Things like computers and all of the various devices we have in our homes and our offices take up a great deal of energy. It's important to turn these items off when you are not using them so that you don't contribute to vampire power.You can also do simple things like adjust the battery usage settings on your personal computer and your tablet to do things like hibernate after just a few minutes. When at home it's easiest to put all of your electronics on a single power strip and then switch that power strip off when you're not using it. This makes it simpler to go about reducing power usage without having to walk through your house and unplug multiple items at once.
On average employees and individuals consume a great deal of coffee and other beverages in one time use containers. these are not items that are meant to be reused. You can't, for example, get a take-out coffee from Starbucks in the disposable cup and then returned the next day asking them to refill that same disposable cup. These are also not easily recycled. The plastic Lids that go on top of most take out drinks that are hot beverages are made from a material that cannot be recycled. The majority of these materials take up a great deal of energy to separate the multiple materials and recycle those that can be recycled, and this is assuming they end up recycled in the first place which in most cases they don't.
Investing in the Lavit drink system is a wonderful way to capitalize upon that first and most important of steps, reduce. Since they can't be reused and most of the time they aren't recycled, you can reduce the amount of energy and material invested in one time use drink containers by installing a drink system that offers over 30 types of drinks, healthier varieties than you would find in a store or in a can of soda, with options suitable to every taste, and no need to use material that cannot be recycled. The drink caps on these containers are completely recyclable and made from a unique material.
Recycling of course is equally important. You shouldn't avoid recycling at the end of a product lifespan. For example, if you purchase a container of milk, and you consume it and then reuse that container for asSeedling tray, when the container has fallen apart, assuming you do not compost yourself, you can always recycle in other ways at the end of its life span. Recycling is most effective when combined with a strategy to reduce consumption overall. Recycling your paper in the office can save quite a bit. One ton of paper recycled saves enough energy to provide Power for the average house in the United States for 6 months. It also saves a total of 7000 gallons of water and the equivalent of 17 trees. This recycling of just one ton of paper can reduce the amount of greenhouse gases by a metric ton of carbon.
Works Cited
https://www.everythingconnects.org/reduce-waste.html
https://earth911.com/news/2009/10/27/vampire-power-sucks/
https://education.seattlepi.com/advantages-recycling-paper-3440.html
https://mashable.com/2014/04/22/earth-day-paper-infographic/#eyMo43KU9gqQ
https://www.naturalhomebrands.com/blogs/news/the-importance-of-the-three-r-s
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