Even recycling can't cut it ...

[MaryEllen Etienne]

A succinct point from our partners at iFixit.com.

MaryEllen Etienne
Founder & Executive Director
Reuse Alliance
mary...@reusealliance.org

Register for ReuseConex, the 3rd Int'l Reuse Conference & Expo, 10/23-25/14 in Austin, Texas!

http://reuseconex.org

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: iFixit <ky...@ifixit.com>
Date: Thu, Jan 30, 2014 at 10:01 AM
Subject: Even recycling can't cut it…
To: MaryEllen Etienne <mary...@reusealliance.org>

Web Version  |  Update preferences  |  Unsubscribe "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" has been drilled into most of us since childhood. But recycling is the only principle that ever really stuck. Every day, we buy, use, recycle, and repeat. And every week, we drag our recyclables down to the curb, confident that we're doing our part for the environment.  Unfortunately, it's not that simple. There are limits to recycling, especially when it comes to our high-tech toys. No electronic device is 100% recyclable. Not the flatscreen TV on your wall. Not the laptop on your desk. Not even the iPhone in your pocket. Between 20% and 35% of the material content of a phone is lost when it's shredded and melted down for recycling. The critical rare earth metals essential to every modern gizmo aren't being recycled at all. Recycling is "the best worst solution." That's why you should reduce, reuse, and repair. Recycle only when there's no other option. Learn more about how repair helps the environment. Then, take the Repair Pledge and promise to fix your world this year. Edit your subscription | Unsubscribe 81 Higuera Street, Ste 200, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401

[MaryEllen Etienne]

I think the point iFixit is trying to make was that the public looks towards recycling as "the answer", rather it being the last part of a much more complex puzzle. Reuse is higher on the waste management hierarchy, yet that isn't the public's perception (and sometimes it's not the industry's perception either). The audience for iFixit's email was their huge international community of repairers (not the reuse or recycling industry), but I thought it was thought-provoking so I shared it here. I believe we can all agree that they are trying to break the door open and get the conversation rolling. I think they succeeded.

It seems this subject matter (i.e. how do we increase awareness about reuse and change public/industry perception) would make a fantastic topic for ReuseConex. If anyone thinks they would like to share some ideas and speak on this subject, let us know. Here's our link for the call for speakers: http://www.reuseconex.org/about/call-for-speakers

On Thu, Jan 30, 2014 at 3:28 PM, Rhodes, Julie <Julie....@austintexas.gov> wrote:

I would argue that “reuse” has always suffered from an identity crisis more than been ignored as a diversion strategy. It seems that everyone is comfortable using the term “recycling” whether they are reusing a box, bag, paper or ribbon;  donating items to charity; buying something that has been upcycled; or driving a used car.  I even hear the term “recycling” used when someone captures storm water in a rain barrel. Our society has become very comfortable with the term ‘recycling’ as a catch all for all things environmental. As always, to promote REUSE, we need to create an identity to get folks on board and understand why we want to reuse BEFORE recycling when possible. Our society definitely relies on an integrated waste management system that includes all aspects of the hierarchy.  Jack Johnson sure tried to educate about the differences in his song entitled “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”!

 

Kind regards, Julie

 

Julie L. Rhodes

Recycling Economic Development Liaison

Austin Resource Recovery and Economic Dedevelopment | City of Austin

Office 512-974-9235

Cell 317-371-2788

Email Julie....@austintexas.gov

austinrecycles.com

 

From: reusea...@googlegroups.com [mailto:reusea...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Dan Knapp
Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2014 2:13 PM
To: MaryEllen Etienne
Cc: ReuseAllianceDiscussion Forum; GreenYes Listserve; ZW Communities Yahoo group; ZW Biz Yahoo group; ZWIA Listserve; JTRProfessional...@yahoogroups.com; reuseall...@googlegroups.com; reuseall...@googlegroups.com; reusealliance-or@googlegroups com; reuseall...@googlegroups.com; reuseall...@googlegroups.com; reuseall...@googlegroups.com; reuseall...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [ReuseAlliance] Re: [GreenYes] Even recycling can't cut it ...

 

Thanks, MaryEllen, but I worry that we reusers might fall into the same error that the EPR advocates used starting about ten years ago:  trashing recycling as "enabling" wasting, being "so last-century," "so end of pipe," and so on through a number of dreary and untrue statements that were little more than sound bites.  It cost the EPR advocates dearly when people figured out who was the source of all the slurs.  The EPR enthusiasts also overreached on policy and implementation, and now their own rhetoric has come back to haunt them as British Columbia proves that some forms of EPR are just a mechanism for diverting more discards to wasting by incineration.  A couple of months ago, the leading advocate for EPR in the USA, the Product Policy Institute, rebranded itself, possibly in a bid to escape the notoriety.

 

We reusers already have superior position on the reduce, reuse, recycle disposal hierarchy to brag about.  What we can't reuse, we recycle.  We've got lots of strengths that belong to us that we can use.

 

Repair is essential to reuse.  It can be outsourced to the customer, or done in-house by staff.  Recycling is necessary at the back end, when the stuff we put out for reuse sale doesn't sell or becomes shopworn or redundant.

 

That's how Urban Ore keeps the unreusable and unrecyclable material it sends to landfill at less than 2% of what we receive.

 

Dan Knapp

Urban Ore, Inc., a reuse and recycling materials recovery enterprise in Berkeley, California since 1980.

 

 

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Regards,
MaryEllen

MaryEllen Etienne
Founder & Executive Director
Reuse Alliance

mary...@reusealliance.org

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