Precycle before you recycle

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Precycle before you recycle

by Patricia Mayville-Cox (Subscribe to Patricia Mayville-Cox's posts)
Nov 12th 2007 @ 4:10PM

Filed under: Reference/Green 101

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Precycling is trying to reduce waste by "pre-thinking" our purchases. While recycling is, of course, a positive thing, it still requires energy to transport the materials, melt them down and then re-manufacture items. Precycling tries to avoid the amount of stuff that gets chucked into landfills AND the recycling bin to begin with. Here are some tips:

Buy in bulk, avoid individually wrapped items.
Buy items that come in recyclable packaging instead of non-recyclable.
Avoid junk mail.
Use a computer instead of reading "real" magazines and newspapers.
Bring your own utensils with you instead of using plastic ones.
Use cloth handkerchiefs and napkins.

And of course, reduce and reuse as much as you can, first!

Comments [2]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

3-24-2008 @ 2:31PM

Linda McCracken said...

I like the idea of buying items with a minimal amount of packaging or packaged in recyclable plastic, but what about these items that are unavoidable, such as printer cartridges (the small ones) that are packaged in these huge plastic containers that are not only made of non-recyclable plastic, but are difficult to fit in the trash can and thus will take up alot of space in the landfill. I get angry everytime I have to buy these from a retail office store. Is there a way to avoid buying all of this plastic? Has anybody found a way around this?

11-15-2007 @ 8:44AM

RecycleCindy said...

Love the idea of pre-cycle! Thinking in advance of purchases and other eco decisions is very important. Thanks for this valuable post.

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