the 3R rule for a sustainable lifestyle

If there is one thing we all need to be clear about today, it is the importance of caring for the environment. And that means saving, reducing and consuming intelligently. In the 21st century we cannot afford to squander resources, so we propose you to make your own the 3 R’s rule. Do you know what that is?

If you’re worried about the future of the planet, you’ve heard about the 3R rule. It’s a standard, formulated by the Greenpeace organization, which is based on three magic words, from the point of view of sustainability: reuse, recycle and reduce. The goal is none other than to try minimise environmental residues to try to keep the world from getting full of garbage.

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And, although this ecological and sustainable standard has to be implemented in society from a collective point of view, there are many things you can do to try to to practice it at home. Find out how you can make it your own for a more sustainable lifestyle.

Reuse: one of the points of the 3R rule

It is the first key of the 3R rule and, as the word itself indicates, consists of give new life to used objects when we think they’ve lost the function for which they were made. If, instead of throwing them away, we think about how we can continue to use them, we will surely be able to to extend its useful life.

Don’t just throw your stuff away and think. how to reuse them. You can think of new applications for plastic jars or cardboard boxes. Make the most of the sheets of paper writing on both sides, and give new uses to those things you’re thinking of discarding from your life. Furniture, for example, has a long life ahead of it. If your bedside table no longer convinces you, you can still use it as a bedside table, what do you think?

Another idea to reuse arises when it comes time to change clothes in the closet. Don’t throw away the clothes you no longer wear; donate them to an NGO so they can continue serving someone.

As you can see, it’s always possible reuse things that are not deteriorated, even though sometimes it’s hard for us to see how we can do it. This task is an incentive to develop creativity.

Recycling: a sustainable transformation

It consists of treating waste that we generate in the right way to transform them (at least some of them) into new objects or materials, with much more useful life. In this way, what was originally just rubbish becomes new, ready-to-use objects. This is the case for packaging, used paper or glass bottles.

Recycling is one of those tasks in which the collaboration of all is necessary. It’s true that recycling plants are needed to turn waste into new things, but you can also do your part, separating domestic waste depending on whether it is organic or not, whether it is glass containers or bottles, etc.

A good idea is to organize the recycling area well. In this way, the daily task of separating garbage will cost you much less, and you’ll observe the 3R rule better. If space is scarce, choose small cubes and opt for a lidded model (to keep the area more tidy). You know you’ll need a bin for organic waste, a yellow container for containers, a green one for glass and a blue one for paper and cardboard.

Another idea for recycling is to convert organic waste into compost or compost for the garden and the plants on the terrace. To do this you need a composting machine, which is nothing more than a box in which organic waste decomposes into compost.

Reduce: the third key

This is the third leg on which the 3R rule rests, although it is not the least important. In fact, I would say it holds one of the secrets to ecosystem sustainability. And it is logical: although it is very good to reuse things and recycle waste, the best thing is to reduce consumption of everything we don’t really need.

Reducing is the goal of the 3R rule: that we all have the need to buy fewer things, fewer unnecessary products that really don’t give us anything important.

However, I will not deny that this is quite difficult, in the society in which we live, dominated by consumerism. But it’s always a good idea to try as hard as you can.

Other ways to reduce are to try to betting on proximity trade and buy products made close to your home to eliminate transport costs as much as possible. Forget about disposable products, reduce energy consumption at home and try to save water.

If we all come together and follow the 3R rule, we will be working for a better world.

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