You may have come across the 3 Rs of sustainability – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – or even the 7 Rs (or even 9 Rs) of sustainability (see our previous blog on this).

We are examining these in a little more detail – here is the fourth in the pyramid – Reuse.

The order of the 3 Rs or 7Rs is important, there is a hierarchy, with Rethink being the first thing you should do working down to Recycle as the very last option we should choose. In this tip we will look at Reuse.

If we reused, and reused, and reused as many things as possible and for as long as possible then we wouldn’t need to replace them as often, and that would have a significant effect on reducing our environmental footprint. Unfortunately, many things are designed for single use, which takes us back to rethink (can I use it again and again?) and refuse (I’m not going to buy single use things).

Have a look at some of the things you use.

  • Are they single-use? Do you buy something, use it once, and then throw it away?
  • is it something you can reuse, again, and again, and again? Until it wears out?

Here are some single-use things that could easily be replaced with something that is re-usable:

  • single-use plastic water bottles. Why do we buy plastic bottles of water that has been shipped around the country (and even between countries!) when we often have perfectly good, clean, tap water which we could carry around in re-usable bottles?
  • plastic bottles of liquid soap. These plastic bottles could easily be refilled if you are able to buy liquid soap from a Refill Station such as the one in Chapel Allerton. Or better still, why not use a solid bar of soap?
  • use a re-usable shopping bag rather than getting new plastic bags every time you shop.

You can also re-use things by passing them on to other people so that they can get use out of them rather than throwing them away and other people having to buy new. I often see furniture (both home and office) that has been put out as waste when it is perfectly re-usable. As I type this item I am sitting in a very comfortable office chair that I rescued from a skip, at a desk made from the top of an old teacher’s desk that I rescued over 30 years ago!

Most of us want to live a long, healthy, useful life! Why don’t we apply that to the products we buy and use?

What are the things that you keep re-using rather than throwing away and buying new? Do add your thoughts to the comment section!