You are likely familiar with the ideas of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, but www.52climateactions.com suggests adding Refuse and Repair to the list. "We need to be doing more refusing, whether it’s excess packaging, cheap goods that won’t last, or just simply something we don’t need. Take what you have already and make it last or give it a new lease of life. Almost everything we buy and use in our daily lives has a carbon footprint: from its manufacture to its transport. And almost everything we buy ends up being thrown away at some point. It goes to landfill, becomes litter, pollutes our oceans, contributes to the emission of greenhouse gases, or harms the planet in other ways. We need to cut our consumption to reduce our environmental impact. Single use items make no sense for our wallets or the environment."* Think before making purchases, consider good quality that won't need to be replaced quickly, and "use your spending power to tell companies what you want and don't want. For example, items that are built to last or those with less plastic packaging."* A practice to use to reduce the quantity of items that you purchase is to give yourself time to reflect before buying and "give yourself at least a day or two to think it over. You might not need it as much as you thought."*
Another way to reduce your consumption is to repair items that you have to give them a longer life. Alternatively, give them a new life with a different purpose. "Upcycling, i.e. giving a new lease of life to a neglected item, is an art movement in itself, with tutorials online and articles in magazines about everything from creative use of garden planters to large-scale artworks made from recycled objects. But you don’t have to be artistic to upcycle: simply take something and alter it for another practical use i.e. an old pallet into a shelving unit.
Your junk may well be someone else’s treasure, so before you throw it out check to see if anyone else could make use of it through online sites such as Freecycle, Preloved and Gumtree."
*https://www.52climateactions.com/refuse-reduce-reuse-repair-recycle/full
Another way to reduce your consumption is to repair items that you have to give them a longer life. Alternatively, give them a new life with a different purpose. "Upcycling, i.e. giving a new lease of life to a neglected item, is an art movement in itself, with tutorials online and articles in magazines about everything from creative use of garden planters to large-scale artworks made from recycled objects. But you don’t have to be artistic to upcycle: simply take something and alter it for another practical use i.e. an old pallet into a shelving unit.
Your junk may well be someone else’s treasure, so before you throw it out check to see if anyone else could make use of it through online sites such as Freecycle, Preloved and Gumtree."
*https://www.52climateactions.com/refuse-reduce-reuse-repair-recycle/full
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