The 3 R’s of conservation

[Bhugo]

Hi All,

The 3 R’s of conservation came up in a thread I was looking at. Reduce, reuse and recycle as they say. It was mentioned that the first 2 R’s are way more efficient than recycling. I agree with this completely. So this thread is NOT about recycling or the idea of recycling itself. Please don’t make comments on recycling. It is just a thread where people can give some good tips on reducing or reusing everyday items that might be tossed or recycled.

Example:
One of my favorite things to do is to reuse my shave cream tubs to store small parts. I just use a sharpie and label them. They are especially good for storing things like batteries or parts in my truck or fishing boat as they are waterproof for the most part.

What do you do to reduce or reuse?

 

[Toothpick]

Conserve water. If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down.

 

[Toothpick]

I reuse jelly jars, and tea tins in the tool shed for miscellaneous parts, screws, nails, etc. etc.

 

[ewk]

Shaving related:

1. I rub bloom water on my face as a pre-shave.
2. I squeeze out leftover lather in the brush and scrape the bowl to use as a final face wash post-shave. Soothing, and it extends my enjoyment of the soap scent. (My post-shave is pretty plain due to sensitive skin, so no aftershave or other scented products).

 

[MrSpeedy]

We reuse glass peanut butter jars, salsa jars, etc. for leftovers. They work especially well for something that is liquid. We bring our own canvas bags to stores. I even keep an extra one in the car, in case I have to stop at a store.

 

[Merle]

use a smaller brush when shaving, you may notice you enjoy the difference in feel and performance. guaranteed you'll use less soap. Oh, and for a preshave wipe the protofoam lather off the puck and rub it on your face as a preshave. You can rinse or leave it on and build your shaving lather from there.

 

[Bhugo]

We reuse glass peanut butter jars, salsa jars, etc. for leftovers. They work especially well for something that is liquid. We bring our own canvas bags to stores. I even keep an extra one in the car, in case I have to stop at a store.

I am torn between getting canvas bags or asking them to use paper bags, which I save and use for produce and fruit from my garden...... My wife has a set of the fabric bags she reuses for groceries.

 

[Doc4]

What do you do to reduce or reuse?

I reuse my old bicycle ...

... but that might be "recycling".

 

[Jenks]

I buy soaps in refill pucks and then put them into other containers. I have a Body Shop Maca Root plastic tub that has held many different brands.
I also buy from local stores and use shoe leather as the delivery service ( the advantage of being urban and gives me exercise ).

 

[Atlantic59]

There's another "R" that's not been mentioned yet, which is Repair. Repair things instead of throwing them away. Things should be designed with a view to being repaired instead of thrown out.

 

[Merle]

There's another "R" that's not been mentioned yet, which is Repair. Repair things instead of throwing them away. Things should be designed with a view to being repaired instead of thrown out.

especially fine shoes
and other leather goods that are just hitting prime time

 

[Avi]

I am torn between getting canvas bags or asking them to use paper bags, which I save and use for produce and fruit from my garden...... My wife has a set of the fabric bags she reuses for groceries.

The extension of this idea that has always bothered me has been the super thin plastic vegetable/fruit bags that are pretty ubiquitous. By sheer coincidence a new local organic grocery store a few blocks away that opened up a few weeks ago has compostable single use "plastic" bags which I had not seen before (we went for the first time today). There is a university across the street so the grocery store feels a bit like a trader joes meets a coop rather than a real grocery store but I love this idea. (We do compost as well so this is easy for us).

 

[Ravenonrock]

I shop thrift stores for clothes. My daughter and I made a pact to exchange only recycled or reused gifts over the holidays. I have been buying sports gear from consignment stores, gently used items are abundant where I live. I’m still amazed at the quality brand name merchandise that ends up in some stores. I also donate sporting gear my kids have outgrown back into the community.

 

[shavefan]

Amongst other ways we try to conserve, some already mentioned, I try to use food to the fullest extent. For instance, I generally only buy whole chickens and part them out myself. I save the necks, backbone and wingtips and use for making my own stock. The innards get fed to the cat. Another one is, all veggie scraps, tea bags, coffee grounds, etc. go into our compost pile. We generate very little garbage for the landfill and save money at the same time.

 

[Bhugo]

There's another "R" that's not been mentioned yet, which is Repair. Repair things instead of throwing them away. Things should be designed with a view to being repaired instead of thrown out.

I agree. I love buying vintage off eBay for this reason. Half the time, new items are impossible to repair on purpose. I assume to make the production cheaper.

 

[Bhugo]

Amongst other ways we try to conserve, some already mentioned, I try to use food to the fullest extent. For instance, I generally only buy whole chickens and part them out myself. I save the necks, backbone and wingtips and use for making my own stock. The innards get fed to the cat. Another one is, all veggie scraps, tea bags, coffee grounds, etc. go into our compost pile. We generate very little garbage for the landfill and save money at the same time.

I do the same with birds. I make and can my own stock and bone broth for the convenience of having it on hand. I always leave with the carcass after a holiday dinner!

 

[rbscebu]

Use both sides of a sheet of paper when writing or printing. I find that most don't.

Many years ago as my office became more computerised, I decided to go paperless. First I forced myself to do it. It wasn't easy as reading off paper (rather than a screen) was ingrained in me. Once I had achieved my goal, I then had to force my staff, kicking and screaming, into going paperless.

 

[Bhugo]

Use both sides of a sheet of paper when writing or printing. I find that most don't.

Many years ago as my office became more computerised, I decided to go paperless. First I forced myself to do it. It wasn't easy as reading off paper (rather than a screen) was ingrained in me. Once I had achieved my goal, I then had to force my staff, kicking and screaming, into going paperless.

It took me a long time to get used to reading off a iPad screen. I do love real books. Little did we know that paper books would be luxurious items back in high school!

 

[Rushman2112]

I purchased some reusable plastic lids in various sizes for storing leftovers, no need to use cling film which just gets binned, just wash these and reuse. You can use them in the microwave as well. IIRC the website was Earthsider.

 

[Ravenonrock]

Amongst other ways we try to conserve, some already mentioned, I try to use food to the fullest extent. For instance, I generally only buy whole chickens and part them out myself. I save the necks, backbone and wingtips and use for making my own stock. The innards get fed to the cat. Another one is, all veggie scraps, tea bags, coffee grounds, etc. go into our compost pile. We generate very little garbage for the landfill and save money at the same time.

+1 with the garbage
All organic material goes into a green bin and gets recycled in our community weekly. We are diligent in recycling paper, plastic and glass also picked up curb side. Our family of four generates very little garbage, a small white ”kitchen bag” that only gets pickup every two weeks. We have reduced our garbage footprint considerably.