Reusing as a Cycle

Reusing is not only important; but it is natural. In nature, a resource is used and then left behind. What is left behind is a resource for something else to use. The same happens again and again in a never ending cycle. In places like the United States, resources are turned into products. Typically, the products are used and then discarded. There is no cycle here. One of the ideas presented in the Michael Pawlyn: Using nature's genius in architecture Ted Talk is that there needs to be a shift from this sort of resource use, what Pawlyn calls linear resource use, to a cycle of reuse similar to what happens in nature. Watch Pawlyn's Ted Talk to learn about the reuse cycle, what Pawlyn terms a closed-loop model of resource use, and his other opinions on what other changes are needed to be a sustainable society.

About Michael Pawlyn

Pawlyn is an architect concerned about sustainability.

Critique

Pawlyn's Ted Talk is presenting his own opinions and ideas as a professional. He seems to be well educated about the topics he presents. Material covered in the Ted Talk is informative and well supported with facts and examples.

Sweden imports trash from Norway for heat, electricity

Sweden imports trash from Norway for heat, electricity is an interesting news article by Charlie Wells of NY Daily News that I happened upon today. According to the article, "In a country [Sweden] where only 4 percent of waste goes to landfills, officials have had to start importing trash so they can keep making heat and electricity." That's amazing! This article is definitely something to check out. For those doubting the 4% statistic, the information in Wells's article is solid. Eurostat, "the statistical office of the European Union," verifies that less than 5% of Sweden's waste goes to landfills in Municipal waste statistics.

Plastic Bottle Projects

A huge amount of waste generated results from the use of disposable plastic bottles. According to makemagazine, " Americans throw away 2 million plastic bottles an hour." Why not put this astounding amount of waste to use instead of sending it to landfills? The YouTube videos Weekend Project: 2 Liter Bottle Recycling, Make a toy car out of a plastic bottle | recycle | re-use | Africa, and Freestyle Friday Episode 20. ...Plastic Bottle = Vase & Flower give some quick and easy reuse ideas for plastic 2 liter bottles. Some projects are suitable fun for kids. Just be sure to provide supervision and adult assistance when needed so no one gets hurt.

Pet Toy Projects: Trash Toys, Home Made Bird Toys, and Home Made Tunnel Toy for Ferrets

Pets provide ample opportunity for reusing household waste. Like small children, pets can be entertained for a long time with just product packaging. They are also more than happy to play with your trash; but, only allow them to do so if it is safe for your particular pet(s). My dog (a black lab mix), for instance, loved plastic bottles: unscrewing the lid, getting treats out of them, playing fetch with them, tearing the label off, etc. Cats seem to love playing with boxes, packing paper, plastic bags, and milk jug rings are toys. Any pet-safe trash your pet shows interest in is a potential toy. Check out these YouTube videos for more complex reuse ideas: Bird Care: How to Make Bird Toys and Ferret Toys: Homemade Toys for Pet Ferrets.

Shipping Container Homes

Porta-Bach. Photo courtesy of TreeHugger.

Steel cargo containers are used to ship products all over the world. Though they are made sturdy to withstand rigorous, repetitive use, they eventually wear out. Retired shipping containers have to be disposed of some how. Or do they? Old shipping containers can actually be reused as prefabricated building materials and be made into homes.

Trash Sticks Around

Photo courtesy of National Geographic.

Reusing is important because it helps keep waste out of landfills. In 250,000,000 Tons of Trash From 1 Country In 1 Year, you read about the astounding quantity of trash that ended up in United States' landfills in 2010. What happens to all of that trash? It biodegrades. Eventually. Some trash biodegrades fairly quickly. Most takes months or even years to decompose if it is an environment suitable for biodegradation. According to Measuring biodegradability, an article featured on The Science Learning Hub, "a study of waste conducted by a group at the University of Arizona, USA. [. . .] unearthed from landfill hot dogs, corn cobs and grapes that were 25 years old and still recognisable, as well as newspapers dating back to 1952 that were still easily readable!"

Project Submission: Shelf

Thank you Mark for submitting your project to Reduce, REUSE, Recycle! Mark's project uses wood reclaimed from a shipping pallet to make a shelf.

Reduce, REUSE, Recycle has passed 1000 views!

I know 1000 isn't much; but, it feels like a pretty big milestone for a start-up blog like this. I will be posting new content each day for the next week to celebrate and am taking the opportunity to reflect on Reduce, REUSE, Recycle thus far. I will be looking at how I have pursued my mission statement and assessing where I am at in terms of my goals.

Donate Your Old Things, Get New Things By Buying Used

Next time you go to throw something away, stop and think. Is it at/nearing the end of its life? If not, consider donating it. Thrift stores, places such as Goodwill, The Salvation Army, and Disabled American Veterans (DAV), accept donations and, in turn, sell them to fun humanitarian programs. This helps the environment by keeping usable items out of the landfill and contributes to a good cause. Goodwill alone "diverts more than two billion pounds of clothing and household goods every year from landfills."

Poll: Has Reduce, REUSE, Recycle inspired you to reuse?

There's a new poll up on the right near the top of the page. Please vote! Like before, voting is quick and easy. Comment on this post to discuss the poll or elaborate on your answer.

Don't Forget To:

Check out Stories of Inspiration or submit your own story here.

Share your Project Ideas or submit your own here.

Submit your project here.

Updates, Changes, and Fixes

Updates

New content is soon to come! I took some time off posting to work on publicizing my current content and blog as a whole. There will be new content posted later today or tomorrow at the very latest.

Changes

Before I had pages worth of content, jump breaks were pointless. Reduce, REUSE, Recycle has grown enough that I went through and added jump breaks to all of the longer posts. For those that noticed: Yes, some of the posts have been slightly altered. For those that didn't notice: You don't have to go back to read anything. No new content was added. I just changed some of the introductions so that they better summarize the post.

Fixes

Recent Comments is back and with a new look!

Shipping Pallet Projects

Used wooden shipping pallets can be reused with some simple modifications or be disassembled and reused in place of buying new wood. The YouTube video Pallet Garden shows how easy it is to create a planter from a shipping pallet, How To Dismantle A Wooden Pallet - Savvas Papasavva demonstrates how to take a pallet apart, Long Bench! shows how to make a bench from pallets and a little supplemental wood, and How to Build a Coffee Table out of Pallet Wood: Project 5 Paint/Distress/Antique Furniture shows how to build a beautiful coffee table from wood reclaimed from shipping pallets.

Poll: Do you reuse?

See that poll over there on the right near the top of the page? It needs your vote. Voting is just a couple quick and easy clicks then, if you care to share, comment on this post, submit a project, or submit your story!

Paper Projects: Shredded Paper, Newspaper Bags, and Magazine Coasters

Have a bunch of junk mail, office paper, newspaper, magazines, etc. lying around? Don't throw them away. Instead put it to use with these easy YouTube videos: Unique Ideas for Reusing Paper, Reuse Paper. Reduce Plastic (how to make recycle bag from newspaper), and Magazine Coasters Tutorial.

Deforestation: Problems and Solutions

Photo courtesy of National Geographic.

Deforestation. Merriam-Webster defines it as both "the action or process of clearing of forests" and "the state of having been cleared of forests. Forests are important; and, unfortunately, deforestation is a problem of the here and now. National Geographic has a lot of scary things to say about deforestation. First, how much forest do we have globally? It's common knowledge that about 30% of the Earth is land. An article by National Geographic says that 30% of that 30% is covered in forests. That means a mere 9% of the Earth is covered in forests. The article goes on to say that "swaths the size of Panama are lost each and every year" and that "the world's rain forests could completely vanish in a hundred years at the current rate of deforestation." Just how big is Panama? According to Britannica: Academic Edition, the area of Panama is 28,640 square miles or 74,177 square kilometers. That's a lot of forest being destroyed in a year.

250,000,000 Tons of Trash From 1 Country In 1 Year

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 250 million tons of municipal waste was generated in the United States in 2010. 250,000,000 tons of trash. 1 country. 1 year.

Check Out Reduce, Reuse, UPcycle!: 22 Upcycled Halloween Projects

Reduce, Reuse, UPcycle!: 22 Upcycled Halloween Projects has some great Halloween reuse projects. Show others what you make by submitting you creations. Share Your Project!

Share Your Project!

Have a project you'd like to see featured in a future post? Head over to the Share Your Project! page for a chance to be included in a Project Highlight post. Submitting your project is quick and easy.

Submission Guidelines

• Submission must be in English.

• Submission must be original work. Respect Copyright.

• Project must be appropriate for all audiences to view.

• Project must be legal in the United States.

• Project must reuse what would otherwise be sent to a landfill.

Notes

• Projects that are environmentally friendly will be given priority.

• Pictures are awesome! Please provide easy to access URL links. Imgur is great for this.

POLLI-Bricks: Turning Plastic Waste Into Stylish Living

Photo courtesy of MINIWIZ.

POLLI-Bricks are a "100% recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate Polymer"  building material manufactured by MINIWIZ. MINIWIZ hosts a pamphlet on their website that tells all about POLLI-Bricks. Key features of MINIWIZ's POLLI-Brick are that it is "made from recycled materials, reusable and recyclable, non-toxic, low-VOC (volatile organic compounds)," and it is made on site.

Bio-Bug: The Car Powered by Poop

Photo courtesy of GENeco.

The Bio-Bug is a Volkswagen Beetle modified by the Greenfuel Company to run off human waste. Simultaneously gross and fascinating, the car is powered by the methane gas GENeco produces from its waste management process. By making use of a waste treatment by-product, the Bio-Bug provides an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional travel methods. According to GENeco, "the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA) said the launch of the Bio-Bug proved that biomethane from sewage sludge could be used as an alternative fuel for vehicles." The fact that it is an alternative fuel source is no reason to worry. From GENeco General Manager Mohammed Saddiq: "If you were to drive the car you wouldn’t know it was powered by biogas as it performs just like any conventional car. It is probably the most sustainable car around." The Bio-Bug is environmentally friendly without sacrificing anything.

Welcome To Reduce, REUSE, Recycle!

Interested in scientific developments to reuse waste? Curious why reusing is important? Want to know how you can do your part in reusing? You are in the right place. I have created this blog to spread the word about why reusing is important. This blog will cover large scale reuses, scientific advancements in reusing waste, and projects you can do at home. Bottle walls, bio-fuels, projects for shipping pallets, and home-made pet toys are just some of the things I will highlight in this blog. So stick around. Tell me what you think about reusing and how you reuse. Comment with projects or discoveries you would like to see here. You never know; but, you just might be featured in an upcoming post!