REFUSE:

This option is just deciding that you are not going to support manufacturers who create certain things. Like refusing to buy products that are using lots of plastic packaging. If we stop buying certain things, people listen. 

Let’s think further down the line. Let’s think about when we buy that product where will the packaging end up? It can be from the grocery store or from something you receive in the mail. There are lots of people who understand this and are creating really great products. For instance, there’s a laundry detergent that’s packaged as capsules so you don’t have to keep buying plastic jugs. Think of alternatives! 

REDUCE:

If we were careful about the amount of trash we generate, especially plastic, we could make a real difference. We need to think carefully to make sure we really need something. This again means reducing your use of plastic and choosing something other than plastic. But it also means just being aware of what we use and throw away without thinking. 

REUSE:  

This is about taking an item and using it again. Like a plastic container for food that we use again and again. This helps, of course, but eventually it still gets thrown in the garbage and makes its way to the landfills. But an example of REUSE is to REFUSE to use plastic spoons and forks and REUSE a spoon that you bring from home. It seems like a small thing, but if you counted all the straws and plastic utensils that you use, it adds up.

RECYCLE:

There is an industry that recycles plastic, paper and glass and makes it into other things, but it only can use certain things. They can’t recycle all plastic, and they can’t recycle recycled plastic. Actually the plastic industry tells us that we can recycle their product, but a very large percent of the time IT NEVER GETS RECYCLED. So we put our plastic in a recycle bin and it makes us feel better like we are doing something good for our planet, but really it just doesn’t happen. Also, a recycling plant can only work with  “clean” paper. This really should be a last resort. Our first action should be to REFUSE to buy anything made of plastic, or at least REDUCE the amount of plastic we do buy. 

REPURPOSE:

This is taking something and turning it into something else completely different. Like turning a tennis racquet into a mirror, or a credit card into a guitar pick. 

HERE are a few more RE words: