What’s Your Reduce-Reuse-Recycle Plan?

Recycle! That’s been the goal for decades – and just as we’ve made some progress, we find that much of our recyclable material is no longer being recycled. When China stopped taking U.S. recycling Minnesota wasn’t hit as hard as other states, but that doesn’t mean we have endless capacity to landfill and burn. We need to be smarter about reducing waste. Let’s look back on the 3 R’s that we learned as children – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – and see how they’ve been updated for today.

• The first step now is Rethink. Before you bring one more thing into your house – or gift someone else with one more thing – ask yourself: Is this really needed? Do you have time to care for it? Do you have room to store it? Do you have money to repair it? If any of those answers are no, then …
• Refuse the plastic beads at the parade, the free calendar at the bank, the swag at the conference. Tell friends and family in advance that you are trying to pare down and ask them to give you consumables or experiences instead. Plan ahead and practice refusing so you’re ready when tempted.
• Reuse is more than saving paper clips and jars. It also means repairing things so they stay out of the landfill. It collecting rainwater and wasted tap water so it does double duty when it’s needed in the garden.
• Reuse extends to food. Chickens and worms are interested in those food scraps. Composting is another one of the R’s – Rot. Your waste will turn into beautiful soil. Look for classes on composting and vermiculture (worms) through your local community ed program, or businesses like Eggplant Urban Farm Supply in St. Paul and the Tiny Diner in Minneapolis.
• Replace: Just because you bought it in the past, that doesn’t mean there aren’t better options with less packaging or more long-lasting quality. A good Minnesota example is winter boots: cheap boots last one or two years and worse yet, they aren’t warm! High quality boots do the job better, can last a decade or more, and may be repairable. You might also consider buying locally made boots! Check out Will Steger Mukluks from Ely, MN or Red Wing boots in Red Wing. These are more expensive initially, but the longer the product lasts, the cheaper it is in the long run.
• Give yourself bonus points if you buy quality boots at a reuse store so you are helping to keep something out of the landfill. (Repair Lair focuses on quality used outdoor gear, but you may find quality boots at other reuse stores).

For more ideas on reducing waste, and saving and reusing water, see the Transition US workbooks Transition Streets, Transition Streets on a Budget, and Transition Streets Water Edition. Contact Transition Twin Cities to learn more. We can also provide a leader for a Preparing to Go Zero Waste class.

Minimalism: It’s a Movement

Keeping up with the Jones’ can look very different today, as a growing number of people step off the consumerism treadmill and join the the minimalist movement with its capsule wardrobe, tiny house dreams and  zero-waste lifestyle. Buy less, live more, reduce waste.

An excellent book to help you think outside the Big Box to what really matters to you is Your Money or Your Life, by Transition Whidbey member Vicki Robin. Check it out at your local library.

Start to incorporate some zero-waste practices into your daily life. Take a look at “The Zero Waste Home,” by Bea Johnson. See how one family took on the challenge of living life differently. Want to start with just one challenge at a time? Getting rid of single-use plastics is a worthy goal. Beth Terry tackled it in her book, “Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too.”

Think of it as an adventure.