Reduce and Reuse before you recycle

Reduce, Reuse... Then Recycle. A friend of mine reminded me this week that there are two other R's other than Recycle. Often times, the majority of us can pat ourselves on the back on how much we recycle our containers and cans, but why not take it a step further? Reduce is something that few people think about. Whether it's those to go coffee cups or takeout lunches during the workweek or the pre-packaged everything that we buy at the store, we go through a lot of waste. I know that I try to reduce but with the garbage strike, it's become apparent what kind of work I still have to do.  The minuscule amount of planning it takes to bring your own containers or if going out to a restaurant, eating in rather than taking out... The little things count.

Finally, reuse. There's a lot of stuff we take for granted and end up throwing out, even though there are uses for them. Old containers as storage organizers, leftover food for garden compost, old waterbottles that just go to waste or get recycled when really there's nothing stopping you from bringing your own water (yes, I've realized how wasteful and bizarre the water bottling industry is in a first world country)...  There's many uses for old things and if you can't use it more than once, then doesn't it make sense to choose other options?

Reduce Reuse Recycle.... There's a reason these terms are presented in the order that they are...