3. Reuse

Everyone knows the slogan, “Reduce, Reuse & Recycle," but only recycling has community infrastructure.

Waste is abhorrent to the average American.  That’s why we have garages, basements, attics, and now even rented storage units to keep stuff we don’t want to throw away.

Follow up:

A Reuse economy must compete with a throw-away mentality.  However, we are paying:  Our taxes support our military so we can extract foreign oil.  The government subsidizes timber extraction and most of the extraction industries.  Reuse must compete with these subsidies.

Americans reduced and Reused in the 30’s during the depression and during World War II because it was a national emergency.  We just need leadership and people will do this.

We must think:  “cradle to grave” for everything we use.

Pre-consumer waste is 20 times post consumer waste.  94% of materials extracted for use in manufacturing durable goods become waste before the product is even manufactured.  Only 6% are embodied in durable goods.

If only half of the 25.5 million tons of durable goods (appliances furniture, clothing, and machinery) now discarded in the U.S. were Reused, more than 110,000 new jobs could be created. (source: The Institute for Local Self-Reliance)

Reuse saves money, energy, resources, and landfill space.

Reuse is better than recycling:  uses an item over without significant processing that alters its material structure.