March 18 is Global Recycling Day, a day to recognize and celebrate the importance of recycling in preserving our resources and securing the future of our planet. While recycling does have a positive impact, we need to look beyond the blue box and adopt the 5 Rs of waste reduction.
This post was originally published in March 2022 and republished in April 2025.
The impact of recycling
Recycling is an opportunity to give new life to old materials. There are some innovative companies out there coming up with creative ways to repurpose plastic waste. Among other things, I’ve seen shoes, handbags, wallets, shopping bags, garden furniture, and playground equipment made from recycled plastic.
The region where I live was an early adopter of the Blue Box program. In fact, our regional program has been in place for over 40 years. Our family has always been avid supporters of recycling. Every week, we carefully sort our blue box contents. It’s such a simple thing to do, that I often wonder why everyone doesn’t do it.
You may think that recycling doesn’t have an impact, but it does. In fact, here in Waterloo Region, the success of our recycling and green bin programs allowed the Region to move to bi-weekly garbage pickup a few years ago. In addition, the diversion of waste has extended the life of our landfill by five to ten years.
We have a long way to go
Unfortunately, much of the world’s waste is not recycled.
The Global Recycling Day website has some eye-opening statistics about plastic waste. Startlingly, 6.3 billion metric tonnes of the 8 billion tonnes of plastic ever produced has become plastic waste. Further, just 9% of the plastic produced has been recycled. The rest has been dumped in landfill, or tossed aside as litter, where it ultimately clogs up our streams, lakes and oceans.
It’s easy to get discouraged by numbers like these. Real change has to start with governments and the businesses that produce the waste. In the meantime, we can each do our part to reduce our personal waste.
Let’s keep in touch! Join my mailing list and I’ll email you when I add a new post.
Exploring the 5 Rs of waste reduction
Recycling alone isn’t enough to save the planet. Recycling programs use resources and energy and, in many areas, there is no market for the volume of recycled plastic that is available. Ultimately, it’s better to focus on eliminating waste at the source. That’s where the 5 Rs come in.
You’ve probably heard of the three Rs. For years, we’ve been hearing about Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. In recent years, another two Rs have been added to the conversation. The 5 Rs of waste reduction are Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot.
Let’s have a closer look at each one.
Refuse
The most eco-friendly product is the one you didn’t buy.
Joshua Becker
The first R—Refuse—is all about preventing waste from entering your home. It means saying no to items you don’t need.
Plastic straws, cutlery, shopping bags and takeout beverage containers are a great place to start. Look into BYOC (Bring Your Own Container) programs in your area—they have a huge impact on the amount of waste we produce.
Other items to refuse are promotional freebies, and printed items like statements, bills, newspapers and magazines.
Reduce
The second R—Reduce—involves rethinking our consumption habits. It means stopping and asking ourselves a few questions before buying anything. In their book Love People, Use Things Because the Opposite Never Works, Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus—better known as The Minimalists—propose six questions to ask before buying:
- Who am I buying this for? (For myself or for an image of myself I want others to see)
- Will this add value to my life?
- Can I afford it?
- Is this the best use of this money?
- What’s the actual cost? (Consider storage, maintenance and psychological costs)
- Would the best version of me buy this item?
My decluttering challenge taught me a lot about unnecessary consumption. It opened my eyes to the fact that we buy a lot of things we don’t really need.
Reuse
The third R—Reuse—is about rethinking our love affair with disposable, single-use items. In addition to straws, beverage containers, and takeout cutlery, look for ways to reuse other containers instead of just tossing them in the recycle bin.
In their post, 10 Great Ways to Reuse Takeout Containers, Krista and Alison from A Sustainably Simple Life offer some creative ways to put those takeout containers to work. It just takes a little thought.
And don’t stop at takeout containers. I wash and reuse Ziploc bags, yogurt containers, frozen fruit bags and other food packaging. This type of reuse is a terrific way to cut waste and save money!
Recycle
The fourth R—Recycle—is further down the list for a reason. Recycling is a good thing, but it should be a last resort. If you focus your efforts on Refuse, Reduce and Reuse, you’ll notice a big difference in the number of items in your recycle bin.
Maximize the impact of your recycling by learning what is and isn’t accepted in your local recycling programs, and how to sort your items for recycling. Locally, our Waterloo Region Waste Management site is an excellent resource.
Rot
Finally, the fifth R—Rot—is another new addition to the five Rs of waste reduction. This is about disposing of food waste by composting instead of sending it to landfill. We’re fortunate to have a green bin program in our region for food and other compostable waste. Look into similar programs in your area.
What’s next?
One of the challenges with recycling is the inconsistency between municipal programs. The Ontario government started rolling out a new program in 2023. The goal is to standardize recycling across the province and expand services to all residents. As part of the change, the costs of running blue box recycle programs will transfer to the manufacturers who produce the waste.
The proposed program sounds like an improvement but, as I shared in this post on the privatization of recycling, I’m skeptical. The program is scheduled for implementation in our region in 2026. Time will tell if it delivers the promised benefits.
It takes a little practice to build new habits, but adopting the 5 Rs does make a difference. By following the 5 Rs of waste reduction, our household has significantly reduced the amount of waste we send to landfill. These days, we put out only one bag of garbage every two weeks, and there have been garbage days when we haven’t sent any trash to the curb.
Do you recycle? What about the other Rs? Tell me your thoughts below.
Discover more from Boomer Eco Crusader
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
I just bought a compost machine, Michelle. It’s very small but something I felt I needed to start doing. It’s great that composting is one of the 5 R’s of reduction! Cher xoxoxo
I’ve never heard of a compost machine, Cher. How does it work?
This is a helpful guide on those important Rs. I hadn’t realized that Rot has been added to the list, and it’s great for reminding us that food “waste” can be valuable as compost rather than going in general trash. I’ve also heard of Repair among the Rs. The idea that we can try to repair a broken item before rushing to buy a new replacement for it. Thanks for your R guide, Michelle!
Right! Repair is an excellent addition to the list. Some European countries have enacted “right to repair” legislation to make it easier for products to be repaired. Definitely a good idea in our throwaway society.
Thank you for sharing important information we otherwise might not know. We watched Shark Tank last night. A woman had designed and manufactured gardening pots in various sizes,made from cow manure! Plant the new plant in the ground or wherever, the pot breaks down while adding the best kind of fertilizer. She has designed packing material for shipping items safely to their destination. Mr. Wonderful did a deal with the woman. That is a win win !
Oh that’s such a terrific idea. What a great way to reduce plastic waste.
Genius to turn poop into natural fertilizer!
This is really helpful to show us how the original three Rs have expanded. I hadn’t heard about Rot being included. That’s fantastic! Composting is such a valuable way to put food scraps to good use in the soil. Also, I’ve heard about Repair as another R. The idea of repairing something that’s broken instead of buying a new replacement item. All of these methods are important! 🌞
Oh, that’s an excellent point about repair, Dave. We were just discussing that earlier today—how we so rarely repair things these days. Some European countries have introduced “right to repair” legislation to make it easier to do. It would be good to see us follow suit.
I always thought it was three Rs. Interesting to learn about 2 additional Rs including Refuse!
Thanks, Ab. If we refuse, it reduces the need for the others. It makes such a big difference.
Michelle I am so proud that your region has been using the blue box system for such a long time! When I moved to Chicago I was shocked to find a lack of recycling. There are lots of recycling bins in the downtown area, but in the neighborhoods like mine? Nope! Sure my building has some large metal bins with the word “Recycling” on them, but no separating items, etc. The first time I saw someone throw a fabric softener bottle in the trash bin (while in the laundry room) I went over and fished it out. Sadly, I saw a bunch of plastic bottles in the trash. It’s shameful!
Thank you for a very informing post, Michelle!
Thanks Cher. Yes, we were pioneers of the blue box system here in our area. It has been really successful. I don’t understand why everyone doesn’t make the effort to recycle. It really isn’t difficult.
Your area is definitely a role model for it, Michelle. It isn’t, is it? And it becomes second nature so I don’t understand why it isn’t more readily adopted. The planet needs it.
Yes, the planet definitely does need it.
Loving the addition of “Rot” on here! Composting has slowly been increasing in my local area and I love that it has been taken up in urban areas as well. We compost every scrap we can, for use in both our garden and as chicken feed. 🙂
It is wonderful to see the increase in rot. Our green bin program has made a huge difference in our household, and in the broader community. It’s just a shame there aren’t more programs like it.
I love that there is an increase in focus on the other R’s. Like you say, recycling is important, but it isn’t a perfect system. I hadn’t put a ton of thought into how important extending the life of a landfill is. I love that you included that note. And I like the idea of manufacturers of waste paying for the cost of recycling. I hope that works!
Thank you for linking to our post! 💛
You’re welcome. 💚
It will be interesting to see what happens with the program the Ontario government is proposing. I like the idea of consistency and shifting responsibility to the manufacturers.