|| Practice the 3 R's: Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle

The 3R's (Reduce - Reuse - Recycle) are at the heart of the "simple things you can do for the earth" movement. The concepts stretch into all areas of our lives.  We know it can be tough to change habits, especially when we are bombarded with messages to buy more and try to the latest, greatest convenience fad.  But intuitively we know that using something once and tossing it into the trash is wasteful.  It just doesn't feel right.

It All Starts Somewhere - The Story of Stuff
Precycle - The First Step
Reduce It!
Reuse It!
Recycle It!

At the High Country Conservation Center, we believe that there are many practical, effective solutions to waste reduction. It doesn't stop with the 3 R's. Respect, rethink, rejoice, renew, refuse, rebuy (buy recycled)... are other R's you may add along the way. We also know from experience that changing habits takes time – but it can be done!  And once you get started, you’ll find new ways to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle are all around us.  Following are a few steps to get started.

Photo: Plastic bags pollute the aspen trees in the surrounding forests at the Summit County landfill. Please BYOB (bring your own bag) when you shop!

|| It All Starts Somewhere - The Story of Stuff

Do you ever think about the journey that products take before they get to the store? How about what happens to them once you throw them in the garbage can (or recycling bin)? From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

From the Story of Stuff: The average U.S. person now consumes twice as much as they did 50 years ago. Ask your grandma. In her day, stewardship and resourcefulness and thrift were valued. So, how did this happen? Well, it didn’t just happen. It was designed.

Shortly after the World War 2, these guys were figuring out how to ramp up the [U.S.] economy. Retailing analyst Victor Lebow articulated the solution that has become the norm for the whole system. He said: “Our enormously productive economy . . . demands that we make consumption our way of  life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption . . . we need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate.”

How did they get us to jump on board this program so enthusiastically? Well, two of their most effective strategies are planned obsolescence and perceived obsolescence. Planned obsolescence is another word for “designed for the dump.” It means they actually make stuff that is designed to be useless as quickly as possible so we will chuck it and go buy a new one. It’s obvious with stuff like plastic bags and coffee cups, but now it’s even big stuff: mops, DVDs, cameras, barbeques even, everything!

…there’s also “perceived obsolescence.” Now perceived obsolescence convinces us to throw away stuff that is still perfectly useful. How do they do that? Well, they change the way the stuff looks… I’ve have had the same fat white computer monitor on my desk for 5 years. My co-worker just got a new computer. She has a flat shiny sleek flat screen monitor. It matches her computer, it matches her phone, even her pen stand. [It looks cool.] Fashion is another prime example of this… Advertisements, and media in general, plays a big role in this… Read more about planned and perceived obsolescence here in Annie Leonard’s script for the Story of Stuff.

Check out Annie Leonard’s interview in Natural Home Magazine:

What’s the biggest environmental myth you’d like to quash?

That the challenges facing the planet today can be overcome through changes at the individual lifestyles level. Even if we could convince every single person to always do the most environmentally responsible option—it isn’t enough. We simply must get involved with organizations engaging for broader systemic change. For example, instead of spending hours perfecting my personal shopping list to avoid neurotoxins in my consumer products, why not ban them? What are neurotoxins doing in my lipstick, shampoo, and kids’ pajamas anyway? Let’s change the rules so that doing the environmentally preferable option is the default option. As Paul Hawken says, we have to make choosing the environmentally right option as easy as falling off a log. (Read more here.)

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|| Precycling - The FIRST step in waste reduction.

Recycling feels good for a reason. It makes a difference by saving landfill space, conserving energy, reducing pollution, and saving resources like trees, water, and minerals. We all know the basics of reduce, reuse, recycle – but what about smart shopping, or precycling? Precycling should always be your first step! Precycling involves making buying choices that support responsible products and packaging. It is another way to reduce your garbage by not purchasing it in the first place! Precycling also allows you, the consumer, to use your dollar as your vote! There are less toxic, more recyclable, biodegradable, or locally made option for many of our goods. One of the best ways to tell manufacturers to stop making disposable and toxic products is to use your voice as a consumer!

Three ways to precycle:

1). Buy items that will last
2). Avoid excess packaging
3). Reuse as much as possible

Next time you are at the store, start asking questions! Consider the following every time you shop:

You see, precycling is easier than you think and before you know it, it will be a good habit that will benefit the environment, your family, and your community! Other precycling, eco-habits you can adopt are remembering your reusable water bottle, bag, mug, and to-go ware to replace those pesky one-time use items like plastic water bottles, shopping bags, and Styrofoam cups and to-go boxes. Take a look below in the Reduce It! section for more ideas. Together, we can kick the single use habit and reduce unneeded and unwanted waste!

Check out the trailer for the documentary Garbage! The Revolution Starts at Home. Director Andrew Nisker takes an average urban family, the McDonalds, and asks them to keep every scrap of garbage that they create for three months. He then takes them on a journey to find out where it all goes and what it’s doing to the world. From organic waste to the stuff they flush, the plastic bags they use to the water bottles they drink out of, the air pollution they create when transporting the kids around, to using lights at Christmas, the McDonalds discover that for every action there is a reaction that affects them and the entire planet.

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|| Reduce It!

Forget the little Plastic Water Bottle:  Even recyclable #1 PET plastic bottles that soda and water come in are not a good option for reuse. Those disposable bottles are not intended for multiple use and can leach the chemicals found in plastic into your drink. To avoid plastic altogether we suggest investing in a stainless steel water bottle available from Eartha's Green Shop. Single-use plastic water bottles are a waste anyways! Find out more about wasteful water bottles here and join the Break the Bottled Water Habit campaign today.

Bring Your Own Bag:  At High Country Conservation Center we know plastic bags blow - we have all seen them flapping from tree branches all over the County. Click here to learn more about plastic bag problems. We recommend investing in large, flat-bottomed canvas bags for your groceries - they are available EVERYWHERE these days! Safeway, City Market, WalMart, Vitamin Cottage, Alpine Natural Foods, and Amazing Grace all have an assortment of reusable bags - some of them are only 99 cents! You can also get your reusable bags at Eartha's Green Shop.

Stop the Junk Mail: Junk Mail is extremely wasteful - it wastes our time, energy, resources and money. Colorado residents receive 342,000,000 pounds of junk mail a year and in response, Colorado spends over $4.3 million a year beyond recycling costs to dispose of junk mail.Stop your junk mail waste today. For $20, Tonic Mailstopper will get you off mailing lists and other pesky databases while planting 5 trees on your behalf. You can buy Tonic Mailstopper gift cards for a junk-free mailbox from the Conservation Center with 50% of the proceeds going to support our waste reduction programs. Call 668-5703 to get started or stop by Eartha's Green Shop at 518 E. Main Street in Frisco.