The Art of Reusing
There is a common misconception that going zero waste or living a low impact lifestyle is expensive. That statement can be true if you just throw everything out and start completely fresh however, that isn’t very sustainable.
There are 3 R’s that almost everyone knows when it comes to waste: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. I find that people always forget about the second R that is probably one of the most sustainable and important of them all.
Reuse.
I’ve been working on reducing my waste for a over a year now, and many of my friends and family have asked me advice on how to reduce their waste. The industry of eco-friendly and sustainable products is growing, however it is not the most affordable. As a post-secondary student, I don’t have the biggest budget to spend on new things that are often advertised as a “zero waste” alternative product. I then realized that I already have a lot of items that I could just repurpose.
Take for example a tub of yoghurt you can purchase at the grocery store. Once you are finished with the yoghurt, you can just clean out the container and reuse it however you please. You can go to your local bulk store and get some candy. Use it for meal prep, use it as a planter for your seedlings; the possibilities are endless!
An old yoghurt container is just one example of what you can repurpose and use for many different things, rather than buying a dozen mason jars that you see on Instagramer’s photos all the time. We need to just get back in touch with our creative side and think outside of the box of how we use everyday items!
Another way to begin reducing your waste is to finish what you already have. Society has a habit of buying too many of the same thing as back up “just in case” however if you do want to make these sustainable changes, you should consider finishing what you already have. It is the most sustainable method you can do to start lowering your carbon footprint and reduce your waste. There are those challenges all over social media to fit all your waste in a tiny mason jar but realistically, not everyone can do that, or has access to unpackaged goods and groceries. Finish what you have first, then you can buy the alternatives to it, rather than just throwing out something that is perfectly usable.
Zero waste doesn’t mean get rid of all your plastic containers and buy glass ones. It means use your plastic containers until they break beyond repair. Realistically, if you drop a plastic container, the chances of it breaking are pretty much nothing. If you dropped a glass container, it would most likely break. Aesthetically, glass does look better and cuter than plastic ones, but I’ve had plastic yoghurt containers from over a year ago that I still use as a Tupperware.
Being zero waste does not mean you are allergic to plastic. It means you are wary of your use of it and strategically use whenever you need to. Plastic has many great benefits to society. It allows goods to be transported without extra weight and it has allowed great advancements in medicine and sanitation.
The most sustainable thing we can do for the environment is to keep using what we have, until it can no longer be used for its purpose. If one of your socks has a hole in it, try and sew it back together rather than throwing out the pair and buying new ones. Try going to a tailor if there is a tear on your pants and see if you can get it mended. Don’t throw away useful items that can be repurposed. There are textile drop offs in many cities where if you do want to get rid of those jeans with a hole, which companies can reuse the materials that are not damaged.
There is much more to be done, but if we keep reusing what we have and repairing our items, rather than throwing stuff away that can easily be repaired, we will save a lot from landfills. Millions of clothing gets thrown out every year, either because it went out of style or it has a hole in it. If we just went out and spent a little money to get it repaired rather than buy something new, we would be reducing thousands of pounds of garbage that enter our landfills each year.
Keep reusing what you can and get creative of how you can use your items you already have!
