What is the 5R rule?
3/20/2024
by :
Lucile de Castelbajac
To start reducing your waste, discover the 5 R's rule to take care of the environment. These are the 5 principles of the zero-waste, or zero-waste lifestyle.
REJECT
REDUCE
REUSE + REPAIR
RECYCLE
RETURN TO EARTH
They should be considered in this order for maximum effectiveness and to begin a zero waste life. As you can see, it is not a rule of the 5 R's of recycling, this step only comes in the penultimate position.
The best waste is the waste we do not produce. Reject what you don't need. When you are given a bottle of water at a meeting, prefer to use your thermos. When you are offered a plastic or paper bag for the purchase of a T-shirt, politely say that you can put the item in your own bag.
Refuse everything that is given to you, especially when it takes the form of disposable items (bags, straws, cutlery, plastic cups, but also flyers).
Starting with rejection is essential. But then, does our individual act really count against the millions of others who don't want to change their habits?
If you refuse a straw in a restaurant and 5 other customers do the same during the evening, the manager may decide to stop giving out straws automatically.
Take some time to reflect on what you really need in your daily life. Give up clothes, dishes, old cell phones that have been sleeping in your closets for months. Give them or sell them, you will have less stuffs to dust, and you can spend more quality time with your loved ones.
Downsizing also means questioning ourselves when we go shopping to focus only on what we really need.
This step is also an opportunity to ask ourselves about our habits as consumers: let's not forget that buying is voting with your pocket, we prefer Mexican handicrafts to products made in China.
The next R? It is time to end the era of the disposable, the insignificant. Let restore the value of all our everyday objects.
Reuse, start replacing all single-use products like stainless steel thermos instead of plastic bottles, eco-friendly cloth bags instead of disposable bags, menstrual cups versus tampons. Don't hesitate to give a second life to your objects: reuse ketchup jars to buy spices, sew torn clothes, give an old phone or blender that you haven't used for months to a friend. Also try to buy second-hand clothes and furnitures.
In short, buy less, but buy better quality and take better care of your products, clothing and devices.
We sometimes hear that this 5R rule corresponds to "the 5Rs of recycling". Recycling is still considered by most of us as the environmental gesture par excellence. But as we can see, this must come as the penultimate step.
In fact, in Mexico, there is no system for the treatment of recyclable waste established by public policy. The waste pickers do all the work.
But even in countries where such a system is in place, the collected waste generally ends up in bins sent to Asia for treatment. Transporting and processing them requires an enormous amount of energy.
Finally, recycled plastic must be mixed with virgin plastic in order to have the same properties, so it is far from infinitely recyclable. In most cases, we are talking about down cycling: recycling into lower quality products. And in turn, these new products cannot be recycled and therefore end up in landfills or incinerated.
The real solution, therefore, is above all the reduction in the production of waste and especially of plastic. So, let's recycle only what cannot be rejected, reduced or reused. Check with Ecolana Mexico' s excellent site on what you can and cannot recycle thanks to its integrated dictionary.
The last rule of the 5 R's: all that is left, like the organic products, Compost them !
Today, when organics end up in the trash of non-recyclable materials, it means they end up in a landfill and their decomposition generates methane, a very powerful greenhouse gas. In some parts of Mexico, this organic waste may end up in incineration, which means burning waste that is… composed of 80% water (and therefore burn very badly…). See the nonsense in the system?
Look for collective composters in your neighborhood; if they don't exist, you can make your own compost (there are a billion tutorials on Youtube).