There’s been a lot of controversy concerning health and the environment. People talk about switching to ‘green’ energy and the dangers of RFK jr. and fossil fuels, but these are big things, expensive things that we, as individuals, can’t really do much about. In the grand scheme of things, it won’t be the huge decisions that will make the biggest impact. It’ll be the little things. The small, seemingly insignificant decisions that YOU (yes, YOU) could make easily to improve your health and the health of the world we live in.

Effort level: ★★☆

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. If this wasn’t hammered into you in third grade by your school counselor, then lucky you. But this rather annoying repeated slogan has truth in it. Actually, it’s completely right. It’s one of the most basic things that we can do to help fix the problem with landfills. While recycling has really taken off -most cities have a recycling program- it should be noted that recycling is the least useful of the three. That’s why it’s last. Reducing is easily the hardest, and requires a big change of lifestyle, so, to keep it simple, let’s talk about reusing. 

Consider the following. Our pal Phil (he’s back!) buys a jar of mayonnaise every week (he eats a lot of mayo). He has also started raising plants because he likes them and wants more natural oxygen in his home (and that’s a column for another day). Every time he buys a glass jar of mayonnaise, he recycles another. Good for him. But he could be doing better. It just so happens that the pots that he needs for his plants are the size of mayonnaise jars (What fortunate twist of fate). You hear that, Phil? Opportunity is at the door. Instead of recycling these perfectly good mayonnaise jars, Phil can wash them, rip off the label that says MAYO, fill them with dirt, and plant a seed in there. Not only does this save Phil money on a pot, but he also doesn’t need to recycle it, avoiding the negative environmental effects of recycling (Yes, recycling has negative effects, but in this case, the gains definitely outweigh the losses). 

There are so many benefits to reusing. For starters, you save money. You don’t have to go around buying new stuff when old stuff can be repurposed. It’s also one less thing that goes into the landfill, which may seem small when taken by itself, but is huge when applied to a city or county. For the imaginary city of Phil-adelphia, population one million, that’s a million jars not going to the trash. And better yet, they have a new purpose, so it’s not just cluttering up your home. 

This isn’t the only way one can reuse seemingly useless stuff. A ripped up shirt can be used as a towel, or a handkerchief. A used-up toothbrush, instead of ending up in the trash, can be used to clean those narrow tricky-to-reach spaces in your bathroom. In some cases, certain pieces of a broken item can still be used. A table with a broken leg can still use the same tabletop. Cushions from a broken couch can be converted into make-shift pillows. And sometimes, useless items to you (like an empty mayonnaise bottle) might be useful to others. That’s why places like Goodwill and Salvation Army exist. These are essentially re-using factories, especially with plates, silverware, and clothing, that can stay in good condition for years. 

With such a simple and fantastic tool at our disposal, it’s insane that it isn’t used as much. Sure, an empty Mayonnaise jar won’t seem as pretty or as lively as a custom made plant pot, but in that decision, in sacrificing aesthetic, you can change the life of our planet, and that’s beautiful.