RP130 Reusing Versus Recycling

RP130 Reusing Versus Recycling

Reusing and recycling may sound similar, but they are actually quite different. Recycling has become more and more popular around the world in the last 20 or 30 years, while people have reused materials throughout history. Nowadays, people are talking more about reusing as a better alternative to recycling.

So how is reusing different from recycling? Well, reusing something means that the object is still used for its original purpose. The goal of reusing is to help objects and materials lengthen their lives. If you had an old oven, for example, you could reuse it by giving it to someone else. Maybe that person could repair it or upgrade it, but still use it as an oven. Recycling it, on the other hand, means the oven is taken apart. Its parts are used in different ways in new objects. When you give away clothes for other people to wear, that is reusing them. Cutting clothes up into rags is recycling them.

More people are now focusing on reusing in addition to recycling. They say reusing should be our first step, before we think about recycling. Reusing uses less energy than recycling. It also causes less environmental damage, because recycling often means that materials must be broken down or melted in polluting factories. People also say reusing helps create communities and helps people think about how they might be able to share more.

Clearly, reusing and recycling will both be important as we all try to be less wasteful. But perhaps recycling less should actually be our new goal—as long as it means we are all reusing more!