Reduce, Reuse, And Recycle - Part 3

Tip #119 - Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle – Part 3. Today is the last part of this series, and we are going to discuss recycling. Recycling has almost become a buzzword lately. I hear many people around me talking about recycling. Basically, it is putting back into production items that no longer have useful life. If you finish with a plastic bag and can’t use it anymore you can recycle it at the supermarket to later be turned into other plastic products. Your newspaper that has no use to you anymore can be recycled on recycling day at your home to be turned into other forms of paper one day. While recycling is great – much better than going directly in the trash – steps 1 and 2 of this triad are much better for the environment and for saving you money than recycling.

Let’s look at the example of the plastic bag that you took from the supermarket. Had you reduced your consumption and used a mesh bag from home, you would have saved 5 cents at many markets. Even if the market does not pay you to bring your own bag, you still contributed to lower overhead costs for the market by not taking a plastic bag. Lower overhead costs lead to lower grocery costs. In addition, by bringing your own bag you prevented chemicals, raw materials, and energy being burned to make a plastic bag. So reducing really is the best.

But let’s say you forgot to bring your own bag to the market and you take one. You forgive yourself and say you will put it in the recycling bin next time you are there. But what about step 2 of the triad – reusing which is still better than recycling. How about reusing the bag until you used the useful life out of it? Reuse it next time you go to the market or reuse it to clean up after your pet or use it for a trash liner. Before you recycle it, it can be used again. This leads to savings from not having to buy another bag, as well as environmental savings of producing another one.

After it has been reused, then it is time to recycle it. Hopefully, it will go to a place where it will be used to produce other plastic products. While this will not usually save you money directly, it can lead to lower production costs for the plastic company because they are not using materials already in existence rather than raw materials. It is certainly better for the environment.

There are a few things with which you can make money directly when recycling. Did you know that you can recycle aluminum and take it to an aluminum dealer for cash? It would take a lot of cans, but other things have aluminum in it – aluminum siding, old gutters, and parts from cars are just some examples. Aluminum has become expensive and someone may pay you good money for it.

There are places to “recycle” cell phones, printers, computers and other electronics. To me, this is actually reusing them since most places will only take the latest models. Either way, it may be a simple way to earn a few bucks and keep the item out of the landfill. Do a Google search on selling cell phones or other electronics and you will find a bunch of mail order places that will accept them. If not, a local school will often take electronics, and while they won’t directly pay you for them, it may help keep your school taxes down.

Lastly, I have read several places recently about a new program being test marketed in certain areas that pays you for recycling everyday stuff such as our bottles, cans, and jars. This program is called RecycleBank and it works by putting your recycling in your bin like usual, except the bin has a computer chip that records how much you recycle. You get rewards points for each pound you recycle, and then you can use those points at the supermarket or other stores. This program is supposed to encourage people to recycle rather than throw away. It would encourage me!

While no one is going to get rich off recycling, it is the preferable thing to do for our environment. Keeping landfills smaller will make this world a richer place even if it doesn’t put much money directly in your pocket.

In Real Life – I already mentioned in my first post in this series that I was the co-worker making sure everyone was using their recycling bins. I worked in Washington, DC starting in 1989 and soon after a recycling program was instituted for DC businesses. I was the unofficial enforcer for my office. It didn’t earn me any money but it made me feel better to see the tons of paper that our company was generating going back into the system.

As a household, we recycle everything we can, although we don’t usually get any money for it. We recycle papers (after reusing them), glass bottles, cans, and plastics. They go out on recycling day in a bin rather than on trash day in a can. And we always sell or donate used electronic parts that we don’t need any more.

Last year, we did make some money recycling, though. Our old house was in desperate need of new gutters. My husband took the old aluminum gutters as well as some aluminum part we had stored in the garage and took them to an aluminum recycler near his office. He got $23 for his trouble. Not bad for something we didn’t need anymore anyway.

Regardless of whether or not we make money, recycling is something that doesn’t take much effort and it is worth it to all of us in the end in the form of less pollution, cleaner air, and less landfill space. And to me, that is much more important than money.

Reduce, Reuse, And Recycle - Part 2

Tip #118 - Reduce, Reuse, And Recycle – Part 2. Today we will talk about part 2 of this triad. After we have done all that we can to reduce the amount of stuff we consume, out next step is to reuse the stuff we already have. Reducing and reusing go hand in hand. We can reuse something already in existence rather than buy something new, thereby reducing our consumption of new materials and packaging. For example, your son may need a baseball glove for little league this year. Rather than go to a store and buy a new glove with new packaging, you can find an old glove worn by someone previously and reuse that one.

But let’s suppose you are starting with a clean slate. You have nothing and cannot find a pre-owned item that you need. Suppose, for example, that your daughter needs a pair of size 6 shoes and you can’t find a used pair that works. So you buy your child a new pair of shoes. After a year, she outgrows these shoes. Then the next step is to reuse this item. This item still has useful life left in it. So you can save them for your younger daughter to wear when she grows into size 6 shoes. Or if you don’t have another daughter, you give them or sell them to someone who does.

Apply that concept to other things around your home. You receive a gift from your boss in a nice box. Rather than throwing that box away, you can reuse that box to put a different gift in. The more things you reuse or buy used, the less effect you have on the environment. And more importantly for the focus of this blog, you save money. Using an article of clothing from your first child for your second child does not cost you anything, whereas buying a new article of clothing does. Reusing books from a friend or the library does not cost you anything either. You can be creative in your reuse beyond the typical clothes and books, and you do not have to use the item for its original purpose. A food container can become a craft project. A string from a balloon can become a ribbon for wrapping a present. An old mug can become a pencil container.

Before you go to the store to buy something, think about what you have around the house that you can reuse for the purpose that you need. And remember that reusing does not have to be just from items you, yourself own. Buying used is reusing items. Places such as Craigslist and Freecycle are excellent sources for used items. Pre-owned items almost always cost less than their new counterparts. By buying something pre-owned or reusing something you already have you are cutting down on wasting raw materials and packaging, while saving money as well.

In Real Life (IRL) – I am constantly reusing what I have. In fact, other than a supermarket, I hardly ever set foot in a retail store. I mostly already have what I need and when a need arises for something “new” I usually look for it on Craigslist or a yard sale for a used version. So I guess you could say I am a big reuser.

In context of reusing something I have, I try hard to look at something before I throw it away to see if I can do something else with it before adding it to the landfill. One recent example I can think of is egg cartons. We buy eggs at the local grocery store or at Costco. And I hate to throw away the egg containers because surely they can be reused somewhere. Well, last summer I found out where. At a pick-your-own farm we went to I saw that they sell fresh eggs and people bring them empty egg cartons to use. So now I have a pile of egg cartons in my garage to bring to them this spring. In the meantime I was able to use one for starting our indoor garden.

Things that I cannot use anymore I give away hoping to keep the items out of a landfill since there is still useful life left in the article. By giving things away, I often get things in return too. A friend with a son 9 months older than mine often gives me clothes. I, in turn, pass on clothes to a different friend with a son 9 months younger than mine. If I don't give it away, I sell it. Giving things away or selling them helps the environment and makes or saves me money, too.

Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle - Part 1

Saving Money Tip #117 - Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle – Part 1. I am a big fan of the environment. Anything that has to do with keeping the Earth clean is important to me. And fortunately, keeping the Earth clean often works very well with saving money. We all know the saying, “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.” Well, let’s focus on the first part of that saying today. Reduce means to cut down - as in cut down on our consumption of materials, cut down on our driving, cut down on our eating, and cut down on the size of our homes, among other things. The more we reduce, the better it is for the environment and the better it is for our pocketbook. Of course, all of this is within reason.

First and most important in my mind is cutting down on our consumption of materials – buying things with less packaging, buying fewer convenience items, buying fewer toys, buying less clothing, and buying fewer gadgets. Buying things without bulky packaging costs less. Buying items that are not pre-packaged conveniently cost less. And of course buying fewer toys, less clothing and fewer gadgets cost less. If all of us cut down on these types of items, we would not only save money, we would help our planet.

Secondly, reducing our driving. How many times do we just get in the car because we feel like it? We just want to take a ride somewhere. How about all of the extra driving we do because we fail to pre-plan? We drive to the bank and pass the grocery store we need to shop at but don’t stop in, instead taking a second trip to the grocery store later that day? Or the times where we drive our daughter to camp and our neighbor down the road does the same thing instead of sharing a drive? I know it’s impossible for our society to live without cars. But we are often wasteful in our use of them. By reducing the amount of driving we do, we will save money in gas and car upkeep.

Third, cutting down on our eating. Now I know not everyone has this problem, but a large segment of society overeats. Our waistlines have gone up dramatically over the years, and not for the better. Our portion size has gone up, our amount of snacking has gone up, and the overall amount we eat has gone up. If each of us cut out one snack per day or reduced the amount of food on our dinner plate we would not only save a lot of money on our food bill, but on health costs down the road as well as effects of the environment. More food equals more raw materials used, more packaging used, and more energy to purchase and consume them.

Fourth, reducing our home size. The average home size in the US has more than doubled since the 1950’s and our family size has gotten smaller. Larger homes mean more furniture, more items to fill it up, and more resources such as oil or gas to heat and cool it. Why do people need to live in such large homes? To impress the Jones family? Well the Jones family got smart years ago, and are living in a small home they can afford, while others of us are working two jobs to make the payment for the home we have less time to spend in. And when we are there, half of the rooms sit unused. When buying a home, buy one that is appropriate in size for your family. Every person does not need his own bathroom. Rooms can serve multi-functions. You will enjoy the lower house payments and the lower energy costs as well the less money it takes to furnish it, clean it, and decorate it. And the environment will be grateful, too.

There are lots of other things we can reduce in our daily lives to keep costs down and help the environment, but those are the big ones. Think about what you can reduce in your life to save some money and help out the Earth as well.

In Real Life (IRL) – I was always that annoying co-worker who went around the cubicles to make sure everyone put their paper was in the recycling bin, and then I pulled paper out of the recycling bin to write on the other side. I collected paper clips scattered about the copy machine to make up a box in the supply closet to reduce the use of new ones. I’ve been bringing my own bags to grocery stores for well over 15 years to reduce my use of disposable bags. My husband and I bought a 1750 square-foot house for a family of two to grow into. And we turned it into a 1900 square foot house by adding a wall and enclosing a porch when we became a family of five. By buying a relatively small house we have been able to reduce the use of energy to run it and reduce the amount of things we need to decorate it.

I try hard not to buy new toys and things – especially those with unnecessary packaging. I try to carpool when I can and combine trips when I can. I even walk or ride my bike to reduce my car use whenever I can. I do not buy many convenience items, and have been cooking from scratch more lately, which reduces food packaging tremendously. I am working on eating less. Ahem. Moving on.

I mostly do all of these things because I care about the size of our landfills and the air that my children and future grandchildren will breathe. I get the added benefit of saving money when I do these things. In what ways can you reduce your consumption of materials to help save you money and help keep our planet clean?