Since you’re reading this blog, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of the three R’s:
- Reduce (the amount of stuff you buy)
- Reuse (the stuff you do buy as many times as possible)
- Recycle (the stuff you can’t use anymore)
The three R’s are a bit of a golden mantra for anyone interested in lessening humanity’s impact on the environment – and rightly so. They make good sense.
But I really think there should be two more R’s:
- Refuse (unnecessary junk you get offered – like plastic bags)
- Repurpose
The last item – Repurpose – doesn’t get a parenthesis, since I’m spending the rest of this post writing about it.
An item’s lifecycle
Being economically savvy and environmentally minded, you always buy quality once instead of junk twice (Reduce).
Since your quality item doesn’t break down easily, you can use it for a long time (Reuse).
When it finally breaks down, you might think it’s time to dispose of it in a responsible way (Recycle).
But wait! Don’t get rid of it just yet.
With a bit of creativity, maybe you can keep using the item for years to come – just not for its original purpose (Repurpose).
A new purpose in life for your stuff
Try to look at your broken or worn-out stuff in a new way before throwing it out.
Could it be used for something where it’s current status as broken wouldn’t matter?
Here’s an example of using something broken for an entirely different purpose:
A friend of mine was building a house, using cinderblocks for the basement walls.
Two of the cinderblocks were dropped on the concrete foundation and got a few sizable chunks knocked off.
They couldn’t be used in a load-bearing wall anymore, so I took them home to my balcony and used them for planters instead. The picture at the top of this post is of a miniature pot rose growing happily in one of the cinder blocks.
Parts can also be used
If you can’t find a new purpose for the entire broken object, maybe you can for parts of it?
A lift curtain I once had in my home office are now living on in parts:
- My girlfriend has sewn herself a very nice-looking skirt from the curtain cloth.
- Our common hop (plant) is cheerfully using the curtain’s metal rods for climbing.
- Part of the curtain’s string is used for keeping two slightly wobbly shelves steady.
For another repurposing example, I immodestly recommend my previous post about repurposing a flower pot for a bumblebee nest.
(This post is my take on this week’s Change The World Wednesday challenge at Reduce Footprints)
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This post was tagged with: alternative uses, creativity, product lifecycle, recycle, reduce, repurpose, repurposing, Reuse
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About reusing – i recently made a pillowcase from the legs of old jeans. It livens up the couch
@Daria: That sounds great
I’ve really enjoyed reading your posts after discovering your site regarding my bee issue. We live most of the year in our float cabin and have a saying, “save that nail.” It relates to reuse and repurpose. It also has to do with the availability of things in a remote environment. Another jeans idea is to knot the legs, fill them with firewood for easier carrying from pile to house. I just repurposed a sheet and some pillow stuffing to make a safety net for barn swallow babies on our roof and took an old BBQ and made it into a potting table/planter.
@Marge: I’m glad you like my posts, and thanks for providing good examples of repurposing