Re-use or recycle?
Re-use means passing on an item to be used again in its current form. This removes the need for raw materials and re-manufacture.
Recycling means an item is stripped to its parts and re-manufactured to make a new product. When we recycle the quality of raw materials is often reduced- producing low grade plastics or metals.
Each item we use in our daily life has gone through a process. In many cases this will include materials which have been extracted from the ground, mined, refined, processed, manufactured and shipped across the globe before reaching the end user. But why should one user be the end of the story? For example, half the carbon embedded in a smart phone is expended during the manufacturing process. By passing the phone onto a second user the lifetime footprint is dramatically reduced and the need for raw materials completely removed.
Re-use and the circular economy
Why throw away something which could be used by someone else?
We’re working to create a circular economy. Re-use can help communities become more self sufficient by creating social and economic capital.
The rising cost of raw materials, growing pressure on land mass and the increasing cost of living all mean that disposing of re-usable items makes less and less sense for society, the economy and the environment.
Re-use, by extending the life of a product reduces the need for raw materials, minimises emissions of Co2 and other greenhouse gases and prevents natural resources being sent to landfill or for incineration.
The idea of a circular or ‘closed loop’ economy isn’t new. It’s long been recognised that the linear system of take, make, dispose is not sustainable.
Green Alliance‘s report ‘Resource resilient UK’ offers this definition; ‘At its best, a circular economy restores old products, parts and materials back to their original use in a way that uses the least resources to deliver the same function. Usually, this means direct reuse. Where a product needs repair or reconditioning before it can be used again, remanufacturing preserves the most value. These are the tightest closed loops within a circular economy.’
In 1982 Walter R. Stahel’s report to the UN noted that ‘service-life extension of goods – re-use, repair, remanufacture’ would be vital to the future use of resources.
While WRAP and the Ellen McCarthy Foundation have identified re-use as a key component of the circular economy.