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> For decades the message was to recycle for the environment. The message is and has been "reduce, reuse, recycle." Recycling has been sold from the very begin

> For decades the message was to recycle for the environment. The message is and has been "reduce, reuse, recycle." Recycling has been sold from the very beginning as being the option of last resort.

KeepFlying 6y ago
That may have been the intent, but that wasn't the result. Even though recycling is supposed to be the last resort, it was treated as an effective solution on its own instead. Less attention was paid to "reduce" and "reuse" and most of the attention was focused on "recycle"
- mason55 6y ago
  Because “recycling” is easy if you just ship it to China and then they dump it in the ocean. Reducing and reusing take real effort and change in behavior. If people had to recycle for real it would be more challenging and then reduce and reuse would be considered more often.
  - kbutler 6y ago
    Post-consumer recycling also takes real effort, most of it from individuals. It just turns out to be largely wasted effort.
koolba 6y ago
Nobody wants to reduce their own consumption and the disposable, single use, “it’s not clean if it doesn’t come shrink wrapped in a plastic wrapper” mindset has all but destroyed “reuse”. All that’s left is lying to the public that recycling will make up the difference.
0xdde 6y ago
> Recycling has been sold from the very beginning as being the option of last resort. Maybe in the most literal reading of that slogan, but a claim like this could really use some substantiation.
- liability 6y ago
  That ordering is a key part of the waste hierarchy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_hierarchy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_hierarchy
liability 6y ago
The mantra should have included "... in that order!"
- Alex3917 6y ago
  The logo on every recycling bin is literally arrows that explain the order.
nilram 6y ago
“Reduce, reuse” is part of the old saying but it was never heard, because it was never advertised. The entities that could afford advertising, or afford lobbying for it, have more riding on the recycle piece of that—-because reduce and reuse doesn’t pay their bills. Or their salaries and bonuses.
toast0 6y ago
I recall the message in the catchy jingle as "recycle, reduce, reuse" Realistically, it probably makes sense to reuse plastic waste as fuel, if it's not economical to recycle it. But burning plastic is frowned upon.
- ShroudedNight 6y ago
  > I recall the message in the catchy jingle as "recycle, reduce, reuse" If it's the one I remember, resolving the words of the next line was surprisingly ambiguous, with the two popular options being "...and close the loop" or "...and don't pollute"
  - bladegash 6y ago
    This used to be a TV commercial during the 90s/early 00s (I think?). The jingle was definitely "Recycle, Reduce, Reuse...and close the loooooop", the loop being the little recycle triangle logo thing.

> For decades the message was to recycle for the environment. The message is and has been "reduce, reuse, recycle." Recycling has been sold from the very beginning as being the option of last resort.

KeepFlying 6y ago

That may have been the intent, but that wasn't the result. Even though recycling is supposed to be the last resort, it was treated as an effective solution on its own instead. Less attention was paid to "reduce" and "reuse" and most of the attention was focused on "recycle"

mason55 6y ago
Because “recycling” is easy if you just ship it to China and then they dump it in the ocean. Reducing and reusing take real effort and change in behavior. If people had to recycle for real it would be more challenging and then reduce and reuse would be considered more often.
- kbutler 6y ago
  Post-consumer recycling also takes real effort, most of it from individuals. It just turns out to be largely wasted effort.

koolba 6y ago

Nobody wants to reduce their own consumption and the disposable, single use, “it’s not clean if it doesn’t come shrink wrapped in a plastic wrapper” mindset has all but destroyed “reuse”. All that’s left is lying to the public that recycling will make up the difference.

0xdde 6y ago

> Recycling has been sold from the very beginning as being the option of last resort. Maybe in the most literal reading of that slogan, but a claim like this could really use some substantiation.

liability 6y ago
That ordering is a key part of the waste hierarchy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_hierarchy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_hierarchy

liability 6y ago

The mantra should have included "... in that order!"

Alex3917 6y ago
The logo on every recycling bin is literally arrows that explain the order.

nilram 6y ago

“Reduce, reuse” is part of the old saying but it was never heard, because it was never advertised. The entities that could afford advertising, or afford lobbying for it, have more riding on the recycle piece of that—-because reduce and reuse doesn’t pay their bills. Or their salaries and bonuses.

toast0 6y ago

I recall the message in the catchy jingle as "recycle, reduce, reuse" Realistically, it probably makes sense to reuse plastic waste as fuel, if it's not economical to recycle it. But burning plastic is frowned upon.

ShroudedNight 6y ago
> I recall the message in the catchy jingle as "recycle, reduce, reuse" If it's the one I remember, resolving the words of the next line was surprisingly ambiguous, with the two popular options being "...and close the loop" or "...and don't pollute"
- bladegash 6y ago
  This used to be a TV commercial during the 90s/early 00s (I think?). The jingle was definitely "Recycle, Reduce, Reuse...and close the loooooop", the loop being the little recycle triangle logo thing.