The 5 Rs
Last week we looked at sustainability and today I want to focus in on a tool we can use in this area – the 5 Rs.
I think most of us will know the 3 Rs, however Zero Waste pioneer Bea Johnson (2013) describes 5 Rs in her book, ‘Zero Waste Home’, which provide a more complete picture. These are a great tool as they help us consider our consumption and how to make more sustainable choices.
The 5 Rs are:
Questions these help us consider include:
What are we bringing into our homes and lives? Do we need it? How do we use it? And how will we dispose of it?
I have found that applying the 5 Rs in order naturally results in very little waste. The first and second Rs address the prevention of waste, the third R thoughtful consumption, the fourth and fifth Rs the processing of discards.
Refuse
If you refuse the receipt and plastic bag at the checkout you don’t need to find a way to dispose of them later. Refusing unneeded waste is the first line of defence in becoming zero waste and is a great way to be more eco-friendly. This especially applies when you are out and about, getting something to takeaway or going shopping.
What items do you not need and so can refuse immediately when offered?
Refusing also applies to things in our homes. Are there items or products you do not need but end up buying or are pressured into owning anyway?
I remember a few years ago I was offered a second-hand tablet and I said: “Thank you very much, but I don’t need one”. I was taken aback by the kick back I got and how unconceivable it was to this other person that I was content with my phone and laptop. I didn’t see the need or use of a third screen. In the end I managed to find another person who did need, and would benefit from, the tablet, and persuaded the giver to gift it to them.
In our consumerist society it can be very counter cultural to say no. To admit that you are content or have enough challenges the sales driven value system, and this is why refusing what we do not need is such a powerful and effective way of reducing waste and increasing sustainability.
Reduce
I recently was thinking about my stationary as I was setting up my office at home. I was unpacking a bunch of stuff that has moved houses with me numerous times and trying to think when last I used it. For example, between me and my husband we now have two staplers. I can’t remember the last time I stapled anything let alone printed anything that needed stapling. We don’t even have a printer at the moment!
If I did ever have to attach pieces of paper to each other then I could use a paper clip (which are reusable) but even then - I can’t remember the last time I used one of those.
Most of us will have certain items or products that we have multiples of. Some of which when we think about it, we don’t even need one of. We can reduce our waste by reducing these items and products – some of these we may need but we definitely don’t need multiples of them.
When I first started out on this journey toward greater sustainability, I took a month to just evaluate what I had and how I used it. In that process I realised how many multiples I had of creams, shampoos, toothpastes, cleaning products etc. all because I was scared of running out. Which is a ridiculous notion since I live in a huge city with stores on every corner. If I really was that desperate for body lotion, I am sure I could find some in 15min or less.
Why not try reducing your waste today by using up all your half-finished toiletries or donating one of your duplicates (in my case a stapler) to a charity shop?
Reuse
Instead of disposing of something ask yourself if it can be repurposed. Instead of buying something new try to shop for it second hand (you could even get something brand new with labels on ‘second hand’).
Another way of approaching ‘Reuse’ it to choose reusables over disposables. So many things fall into this category, and here’s a tip to make your investment more sustainable, try to find reusable alternatives that are not made of plastic!
Here are a few examples of reusables to invest in:
Water Bottle
Coffee Cup
Straw (if you are a straw fan)
Bags / Totes
Rechargeable Batteries
One or two good quality pens with refill cartridges
What have you thrown away this week that was a disposable single-use item? What could you invest in as a reusable alternative?
Recycle
“Many people confuse the term reuse and recycle, but they differ greatly in terms of conservation. Recycling is best defined as reprocessing a product to give it a new form. Reusing, on the other hand, is utilizing the product in its original manufactured form several times to maximize its usage and increase its useful life, therefore saving the resources otherwise lost through the process of recycling.”
As Bea Johnson explains above the process of recycling uses valuable resources, such as fuel, electricity, water etc. in order to collect a material and reform it for another purpose. Therefore the Zero Waste approach, on which this 5 Rs tool is modelled, aims to focus the majority of attention and effort on the first 3 Rs with the last 2 (Recycle and Rot) only being necessary if all the other options have been exhausted.
Recycling overall is a complicated topic. So, I will be dedicating a whole blog later in this Basics series to Recycle alone. Often the complications around recycling as a discard option are due to misinformation or a total lack of information. The best thing you can do is educate yourself!
Start with your local council website. Find the list of items that they recycle and the items they do not. Label your recycling bin accordingly if necessary.
Most people are shocked at the items that they have been putting in their recycling bin for years that actually do not get recycled. In a lot of cases these items will be sorted out of the recycling and put into landfill. In worst case scenarios the non-recycled items contaminate the recyclable ones and the whole lot is sent to landfill.
Rot
I love this one because it is as nature intended. Rotting (or composting) champions and celebrates the circle of life by returning organic materials to the earth, providing nourishment for future life.
Now, I know compost can be smelly and gross! I also know that depending on the type of composting you have available to you, it may require a certain amount of commitment. Saving up your scraps inside your home and then transferring them to an external bin takes extra effort. But try to think of it as your contribution back to the earth. All the natural, organic resources it has given up for you and we can give a bunch of that substance back to promote future resources and life! Not just for ourselves but for plant and animal life.
Celebrate being able to give back to the planet and make use of the composting available to you!
Spoiler alert - but it’s worth mentioning now - sending organic material to landfill along with your general waste does not result in the same life-giving nourishment as composting. I am sorry to say landfill is another problematic area of our disposal practices that I will be covering separately, along with much more on composting, next week!
In the meantime….
Pick one of the 5 Rs to work into your home and life routines this week.
Arm yourself with knowledge and focus on what you can do - not on what you feel powerless to change. Start with one change at a time and you will begin to feel more motivated and powerful in your life choices.
Oh, and don’t forget to add them to your progress tracker!