REDUCTION, RE-USE AND RECYCLING

(area of impact: waste)

We all know about the three prong attack at reducing waste - Reduce - Reuse - Recycle. The reduction of waste is most important and is achieved by adjusting purchasing habits to avoid purchasing non-reuseable and non-recyclable items, and through legislation. The re-use of items is also related to habits of consumers. Recent plastic bag bans in many cities are forcing re-use of cloth bags, rather than single use plastic bags. The effectiveness of recycling many kinds of plastic is now known to be very low. Therefore, cities and the State of California are pursuing legislation to reduce production, sale, and distribution of single use plastics. Plastic pollution in the air and the sea is now known to be a critical environmental issue. Recycling is one of the most important issues to be considered, and as awareness grows, we will see new technologies and products developed on the coming years.

More resources are available at Ban SUP Refill, founded by Cheryl Auger and Anita Ghazarian.

See also the KCET film “Life in Plastics: California’s Recycling Woes.”