Go Beyond Recycling With Pre-Cycling!
Recycling is a great start to living a greener, more sustainable lifestyle. But it’s just that: a start. There are a lot more things you can do to reduce waste, such as “pre-cycling.”
Remember there are THREE “R’s”, as I learned when I was a kid: Reduce, reuse, and then recycle. Recycling is a good step, but it’s just one step in a process to creating a more sustainable lifestyle and reducing your impact on the planet.
This short article describes “pre-cycling,” which is a great part of the “reduce” step – it’s so simple to do, and probably will save you some money as well!
Check it out:
Reality Check For Excessive Product Packaging
Your new recipe calls for a bell pepper so you’re doing your grocery shopping for ingredients. And then you see it… a 2-pack of the most beautiful peppers you’ve ever seen in your life… But what’s THIS?? You notice that those beautiful peppers are sitting on a styrofoam plate and entombed in several layers of plastic.
Time for a reality check – step back & think for a moment….That bin of bulk bell peppers is right next to this bright 2-pack display – make the choice to pick up that single bell pepper being sold without any wrapping at all and you can really pat yourself on the back for your environmental savvy! Chose to shop from the bulk bins and leave that excessive packaging behind….
…Make It Yourself
Many years ago I was doing all I could to recycle yet I was dismayed to discover that my favorite yogurt was sold in the type of plastic that was not accepted by my city’s recycling program…. But what’s a girl to do? I love to enjoy my daily yogurt at breakfast. Then I got to wondering if I couldn’t make my own Homemade Yogurt in those same convenient single-serve sizes by making it in 1/2-pint glass canning jars. As it turns out, YES! (and it’s easier than you think) Now I’m still enjoying healthy yogurt for breakfast but those glass jars holding my yogurt are washed and reused again & again….
Think Outside The Box When PreCycling
So next time you’re in the grocery store considering a purchase, think about PREcycling. Do you really need a plastic (or paper) bag to hold that tiny purchase…? Can you chose the bulk bins for your produce…? Would it be just as easy to make that item yourself instead of buying it premade…? Choose PREcycling first, it’s easy and you can be confident that you’ve just made our world just a little bit cleaner.
Learn more at MotherEarthNews.com…
