Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: 3Rs of Waste Hierarchy

• Reduce is the process of reducing our unnecessary purchases and uses of materials that counts as waste.
• Using the probable waste for the same initial proposal or different objectives is considered Reusing.
• Recycling is converting waste into raw materials and further into usable products.
• The new addition to the 3R hierarchy is Recover, which means to recover energy, power, fuel, or compost from waste products.

---

You must be familiar with the 3 R’s of waste management concept: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Everyone comes across this system while in school and quite possibly even after.

The famous 3R system forms a waste hierarchy, i.e., the correct way to manage and dispose of waste. There may be more to a simple system that everyone has come across in day-to-day endeavors, but why not take a deeper look at it?

Well, read on to learn what the 3Rs: “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” Waste Hierarchy is.

What is Waste Management?

Waste is not an alien concept. Waste comes in all forms–solid, liquid, or gas; the methods to dispose of it can differ. Waste management aims to alleviate the adverse effects of waste on human health or the environment.

In simple terms, waste management means the method of disposing of products or substances you have used efficiently and safely. It also deals with how garbage can be used as a resource. Such an effective system is something that all households and business owners need.

There is no uniform or set waste management practice in the world. Depending on the countries, developed or developing, the approach towards this system differs. However, there are set principles to the system that remain unchanged.

Four principles of waste management remain even within the different approaches undertaken worldwide.

• Waste Hierarchy (3Rs)
• Life-cycle of a Product
• Resource Efficiency
• Polluter-pays Policy

Waste Hierarchy

We are all familiar with the waste hierarchy. In case you don’t know what it refers to, it means the order in which actions are to be taken to reduce waste and improve the waste management process.

The 3 R’s of the waste hierarchy are:

• Reduce
• Reuse
• Recycle

The “three Rs” guide is recommended to lead a sustainable life. Don’t worry! It isn’t as difficult as you might think it is. With a simple lifestyle change, you can implement these principles to reduce waste and your carbon footprint.

The 3Rs principle helps avoid and reduce the amount of waste we throw out. It is an effective practice to conserve natural resources and energy. It also helps in cost reduction for communities.

You can build a healthier planet and lifestyle by cutting down on buying and gathering things we don’t need, reusing items that can serve multiple purposes and recycling items that cannot be used anymore.

R1: Reduce

As the name suggests, ‘reduce’ means to reduce what is produced and consumed. The idea is that if there is less waste, there will be less to reuse or recycle. Reducing consumption includes buying and consuming less and throwing away less.

Among the three Rs, reducing is the most effective in producing less waste and saving resources. Please think twice before buying that has caught your eye–do you need it.

The more you purchase, the more incentive manufacturers have to produce in large numbers. It will create a cycle of consuming not just the products but resources and, ultimately, create more waste.

If you’re having trouble analyzing what and how you can reduce, here are a few steps to keep in mind:

1. Multi-use/Multi-purpose Items

Multi-use products are vital for reduction. Multi-use products can save you from spending money on something else that is almost the same or perhaps serves the same purpose.

For instance, you have a toaster oven that works as a toaster and an oven. Do you have to buy an extra microwave for the job your toaster oven can do? Buy cloth napkins instead of paper napkins. Use your refillable pens instead of buying too many. If something can be used multiple times, then use them!

2. Reduce trash

Does the item serve any meaning or purpose? Does the item you buy have a real purpose? If not, then that item is probably disposable.

If something doesn’t have a good purpose or actual use, then it adds to your waste. If you’re not using some item or have not used it for a long time, it is only taking up space and has become disposable. It’s time to put it away.

3. Use Durable Products

Purchase products and items that are durable and long-lasting. The product’s durability will decrease the need to buy a new thing or even replace them.

4. Be Creative

DIY is a creative practice and one that can help you cut down on the things you throw away. If you have some plastic bottles lying around, get creative and make some things out of them. Turn empty jars into lights, decorations, or containers.

There are a lot of creative choices you can make with the things you have no use for anymore. Be it old clothes, bottles, jars, pots, vases, or anything else. Put your creative touch on them, and you’ll have a unique item you didn’t have to purchase. Besides, it will save you money too!

5. Donate

Instead of throwing away things you don’t have use for, donate them. Old books, clothes, and stationery items can all be donated and put to use. Maybe make use of donated items yourself.

You can also assess things in your life. For instance, whether or not what you have serves what you want or need to do. It will probably not leave any significant impact if you can be okay with not having that item. There’s only so much you need to be prepared for!

R2: Reuse

The second ‘R’ in the “Reduce-Reuse-Recycle” hierarchy, reusing is better than recycling because you don’t have to reprocess products before using them again.

Reusing items you already have helps you avoid the costs of energy and other resources required for recycling. Similar to recycling, decreasing the need for new materials will benefit the environment and maintain materials in the productive economy.

However, not all items are reusable, and there may come a time when you have moved past the period in which something can be reused. Reusing items like old clothes for something else around the house or donating them to charity will put them back to use.

You can reuse and share old books, glass jars, bottles, furniture, newspapers, etc. Let’s look at some tips on Reusing:

• Repair damaged items. Repairing items can add to their usability, and you can use them again without buying replacements.
• Visit second-hand stores and purchase second-hand goods. Second-hand items can often be better than buying new ones. Garage sales or second-hand stores will give you usable items and save money.
• Find products with reusable packaging. Glass jars, plastic containers, and such are products that you can use multiple times and be creative in the process. Glass jars give you an excellent DIY value. At the same time, you can store different items in plastic containers.
• Find new uses for the items you are no longer using as much as before. Old clothes can become rags for cleaning, and you can find tutorials on the internet to make creative things with other clothing items, like turning your old jeans or t-shirts into bags or tote bags.
• Build a compost bin from tea bags, leaves, grains, fruit peels, etc. The waste will degrade and turn into compost that you can use for your garden or nursery.
• Things like old furniture, books, clothes, bottles, toys, or even stationery can be donated to charity. You can donate reusable products and contribute to the needy. If donations are not feasible for you, then hold garage sales. Holding a garage sale is a bright idea to earn extra money and help those who don’t have the means to buy newer goods. You will be helping them acquire these reusable goods at a much cheaper rate but will also add to your gains.

You can be creative with the way you choose to reuse items that no longer have the same value that they used to have. Reusing things saves the cost of resources or energy and helps you be inventive and creative.

Maintain, repair, or refurbish items to restore value, function, and usefulness. You can also stretch your creative muscles, add artistic touches to items, and use them as decorations or something of more value and use.

R3: Recycle

Recycling, in simple terms, gives used items or old items a new life. Recycling is a critical component in the hierarchy and is about making new things from old materials.

Many countries have already implemented recycling in their way of life. However, some nations are yet to implement a deep practice of this waste disposal principle. Recycling is not a concept alien to people around the world.

With the new products produced through recycling, we can reduce the harmful waste that pollutes the environment and save on raw materials. Recycling can contribute to the economy. Saving on raw materials and resources saves money and even creates jobs.

Following the waste, hierarchy is a means to create a clean and sustainable environment for the present and future generations. Therefore, through reducing, reusing, or recycling, every individual effort also plays a part in protecting the planet.

Unlike ‘reduce’ and ‘reuse,’ recycling involves reprocessing old items to create newer ones from the materials. The old materials are broken down into essential elements for raw materials to make new items.

For example, the paper is broken down into fiber and later used as the raw element for a fresh product. We can easily see paper egg crates in stores and at home made from recycled paper. Similarly, depending on the materials, the recycling process differs.

There are many pros and cons to recycling. Now let’s look at a few recycling tips, shall we?

1. Start Small

You don’t need to start big to make your mark. Even the slightest effort counts, so it doesn’t matter whether every effort is big or small.

Starting small means starting with yourself. Look at the things you control, which you own and use. As you start recycling and get comfortable with recycling your things, you can expand your efforts and influence others around you.

2. Reduce and Reuse First

Recycling is not the first in line in the Waste Hierarchy. You cannot make a difference to the environment by simply skipping the other two: ‘reduce’ and ‘reuse.’ Reducing consumption is the most effective step in the hierarchy, so you can’t overlook it.

Consumption is essential at times, and in those cases reusing as much as possible will make it easier. Reusing eliminates the cost of energy and the resources in reprocessing the items, making it easier than recycling. Saving on reprocessing alone is better than choosing to recycle.

If you have to purchase things, look for recycled products, and use them. The recycling symbols on the products tell you whether they are recycled products or recyclable.

3. Determine What to Recycle

There is never a shortage of recyclable things, but you need a basic idea of what to recycle. You can find recyclable items like paper, glass, aluminum, plastic, etc., in the house, office, or school.

While aluminum can be recycled multiple times, not all plastics are recyclable. Instance, as such, is when the recycling symbols make it easy to determine whether or not something is recyclable.

Before you start, you need to know what to recycle and where to send them for recycling. Similar to the tips for recycling, some factors are vital for success in recycling. These factors determine whether or not our recycling efforts make a difference.

4. Recyclables

Not all products are recyclable. A recycling symbol, usually on the bottom of products, tells you whether or not it is recyclable. For the process to be possible, products must be designed with recycling.

5. Collection

Recyclables need to be systematically collected and separated from the rest of the trash to ensure a constant supply for the recycling process. Separating them from trash prevents contamination while separating them by item types helps facilitate easier processing.

6. Processing

Recyclables separated by material type facilitate the processing. They are broken down into essential elements that serve as the raw materials to produce new products.

7. Demand for Recycled Products

The process will only be complete if recycled products are used. Using recycled products is just as important as recycling items. Recycling can become economically viable once the recycled products are given significance and used.

Benefits of the 3R Hierarchy

• The levels of greenhouse gas emissions and pollution will decrease. Since the amount of waste thrown into the environment will be significantly reduced, the chances of the toxicity spreading also decrease.

• The Waste Hierarchy also eliminates improper waste disposal, i.e., burning waste and trash uncontrolled and haphazardly. While reducing consumption lowers the level of waste from building, reusing and recycling limits the increase of unnecessary resources and energy consumption, leading to a greener path.

• It cuts costs and promotes resource efficiency. It promotes the resources that are already available, usable multiple times, reprocessed, or entirely reduced. The 3R principle primarily lessens the use of newer resources and energy, making more efficient use of resources.
• It contributes to more sustainable energy consumption. Using the resources on hand and cutting down on excessive consumption promotes the sustainability of energy and resources and the environment.

• Removing or decreasing the need to use new resources or energy enables us to manage waste in an eco-friendly manner, lessening the risk of environmental damage.

• It encourages green technology development. There are different ways that waste is disposed of. Depending on how it is done, it may impact the soil or groundwater and the air.

• It also promotes renewable energy sources like solar, wind, geothermal, etc.

• Implementing the waste hierarchy and a proper waste management system encourages the development of technology to create cleaner, safer means of disposing of waste and reducing the impact on the environment and all habitats.

• Landfilling and Incineration are the most common techniques in waste management today, but they need to be conducted in ways that do not leave a significant harmful impact. Thus, the waste hierarchy principle promotes greener technology and controlled waste disposal.

• Create jobs in resource management and boost the economy. Since the 3Rs conserve energy and resources, it creates opportunities for people to work in resource management and practice proper resource distribution, consumption, and waste.

The shift from 3Rs to 4Rs

A fourth ‘R’, RECOVER, has been added to the already well-known 3Rs waste hierarchy, making it 4Rs. The fourth ‘R’ is on the mend. Industry benchmarking or technology advancements in more inventive organizations frequently result in 4Rs solutions.

Following the 3Rs, it may be feasible to recover materials or energy from waste, such as power, heat, fuel, and compost, using thermal and biological methods that cannot be reduced, reused or recycled. This can be accomplished by:

• Sending treated garbage to a landfill, where it will biodegrade, allowing the land to regenerate.
• The incineration method converts solid wastes into residual and gaseous products by burning them at high temperatures.
• Through various methods, non-recyclable garbage is turned into usable heat, power, or fuel and becomes a renewable energy source. Waste to Energy (WtE) helps reduce fossil fuel use and carbon emissions.
• Composting is a natural biodegradable process that converts organic waste into nutrient-dense plant food. It’s a long process, but it’s one of the most effective ways to turn hazardous organic waste into safe compost.

Other Methods of Waste Management

Apart from the ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ hierarchy, there are other waste management methods. There are many methods available to dispose of waste. Let’s briefly look at the most commonly used methods.

Landfills

Landfills can commonly be found in developing countries. Today, throwing garbage in landfills is the most popular method of waste disposal. The waste or garbage is buried in the ground. However, using landfills for waste disposal increases the rate of air and water pollution.

Incineration

In the incineration method, solid wastes are burned at high temperatures and converted into residue and gaseous products. This method is preferred for countries with limited or no landfill space.

Waste to Energy

Through varying processes, non-recyclable waste is converted into usable heat, electricity, or fuel. This then becomes a renewable source of energy through such reusable non-recyclable waste. Waste to Energy (WtE) also helps lessen the need for fossil fuels and reduce carbon emissions.

Composting

Composting is a natural biodegradable process that turns organic wastes into nutrient-rich food for plants. Even though it is a slow process, it is one of the best ways to turn unsafe organic products into safe compost.

Frequently asked Questions (FAQs)

---

Although the 3R principle is a well-known system, many countries and communities have yet to implement it as full-scale practice. Even though a few elements within this system may seem complicated and time-consuming, it is a beneficial system that you can start with little effort.

It is beneficial for everyone to reduce the amount of waste generated in the world and create even the slightest opportunity for sustainability. Even though you already practice reducing, reusing, and recycling, there is a lot you can still learn about solid waste management to ensure safety for yourself and the ones around you.

(Last Updated on October 11, 2022 by Sadrish Dabadi)