Why Reuse?

Why should we Reuse our waste?

Since the earliest civilisations man has produced waste and disposal by landfill has been the main way of dealing with it. In modern times growing industrialisation and consumerism have transformed the types and quantity of waste we generate in our every day lives. As a result, the ways in which we manage this waste have had to change dramatically over a relatively short period of time.

Environmental Impact

The effect of society’s wastefulness is becoming more apparent on a local and global scale. The impact of mining, deforestation and the removal of natural resources that cannot be replaced has had a wide-scale detrimental effect on natural environments and wildlife habitats, causing environmental and health problems for local people, as well as contributing to global warming.

Disposing of our rubbish in landfill is not sustainable. It permanently buries potentially valuable resources that could be used to make new products and is a waste of the resources and energy, which have been used to make the product in the first place. By reducing, reusing and recycling instead of throwing away we are saving the use of natural resources such as the world's forests and minerals. As an example, the production of glass containers involves energy; in mining the raw minerals, transporting these to the furnace and heating them at high temperatures. Using recycled glass in this process can reduce the amount of raw minerals required by as much as 90% and requires far less energy to melt the mix. Glass can also be used in road construction as an alternative to mined aggregates.

The Cost of Landfill

Alongside these environmental concerns, the rising cost of landfill is a driving factor for the need to reduce waste. From as early as 2009, the EU Landfill Directive, which aims to reduce to amount of biodegradable waste going to landfill, could penalise local authorities that landfill more than their allowance by as much 4 times the current cost of disposal. This provides a huge challenge to Suffolk waste authorities and residents with major decisions to be made about the future of waste disposal in the county.

Waste Hierarchy

Although we are becoming more aware of the need to recycle it’s only the 3rd level of priority in the waste hierarchy. The waste hierarchy outlines the order in which we should manage our waste streams with reduce at the top of the list as the most environmentally desirable. The hierarchy encourages that:

• waste should be prevented or reduced in the first instance. where production is necessary, waste materials or the products themselves should be reused or refurbished for reuse.
• materials should be recycled or reprocessed into a form so that they can be used make a new product
• where materials can’t be recycled they should be treated to recover the energy content - to be used instead of non-renewable energy sources. Mechanical Biological Treatment and Energy from Waste incineration are examples of this stage
• disposal by landfill should be the last resort if all options of reduction and recovery are not possible.

How can you Reuse?

There are many easy ways to reuse a wide range of everyday household objects and prevent these from going into landfill. Before you throw anything away, or even before you put it in the recycling bin (if it’s recyclable!), think about how the item could be reused. Before you even buy a product consider whether or not there is a reusable alternative. For example by choosing reusable nappies you could potentially divert several thousand nappies from landfill for each baby that uses them.

Please visit the How to Reuse page for methods of reusing products and materials in our everyday lives and A - Z Materials page for suggestions on how to reduce, reuse or recycle a wide range of everyday bits and pieces.