How donation and reuse can lead to a more sustainable way of life
By MAYA KORNYEYEVA — [email protected]
An estimated one in the United States alone 11.3 million tons of textile waste — 85% of all textiles — fills up landfills every year, along with 40% of all food produced. Every person on the planet accounts for about 1.2 tons of single-use plastic waste annually, and the situation is getting worse: an alarming trend shows an increase in global waste 70% in 2050 partly due to population growth and urbanization, but also to the apathy that the majority of us have towards our planet and our resources.
Over the past century, the US and many other nations have adopted an economic model that revolves around them linear product development, also known as “from the cradle to the grave”. In the cradle, natural resources such as precious metals, fossil fuels, and organic materials are harvested from the earth and transformed through numerous manufacturing processes to be made available for use. After the product is no longer needed – or its functionality has been exhausted – most people throw it in the trash and forget about it. This is when the product reaches its grave: a landfill site somewhere far away, where it can lie dormant for potentially thousands of years before being decomposed.
In recent years, a new economic concept has been tossed between lawmakers and activists; namely the idea of a circular economy.
In a circular economy, the product follows a path from “cradle to cradle” and never reaches a final “grave”. Instead, after it is no longer useful in its original form, it can be recycled and disassembled for reuse as a new product. While this method requires far more responsibility on the part of governments, businesses and the public, the benefits are worth it.
For one, a circular approach to product development would mean a reduction in money wasted on products that never reach consumers. According to the environmental news and data platform earth.org, $500 billion is lost every year because of under-worn and non-recycled clothing. If hundreds of billions of dollars go down the drain and just disappear on textiles, how much more money just disappears when we turn our attention to electronic or food waste? With this in mind, reusing used materials can essentially put money in the manufacturer’s pocket and prevent over-exploitation of limited natural resources.
Recycling can also save space. Instead of sending millions of laptops or flat-screen TVs to landfill, plastic, metals and glass can be removed and the remaining materials melted down, making the environment cleaner and less polluted.
Donations, like recycling, can encourage companies to limit the manufacture of new products, thereby minimizing the need for excess or wasteful material.
The beauty of donating is that a product can be immediately reused by someone who really needs it, especially when they’re already faced with few affordable options. A donation also ensures that nothing goes to waste and that an item unnecessary for one person can make a huge difference for another.
UC Davis has many organizations that ensure our college campus is sustainable. An example is the Aggie recycling shop, an on-campus thrift store that makes a range of items available to students for free. In this ASUCD unit, you can bring a sweater that you no longer need and find a new t-shirt for yourself instead, or donate some accessories or school supplies. In this way, the Aggie Reuse Store encourages creative upcycling and a steady flow of product to those in need.
Aggie compass is another on-campus organization that provides students with supplies and basic necessities, including groceries and toiletries, free of charge. One of the services offered by Aggie Compass is the ASUCD pantry at Memorial Union, where students can find free groceries from bagels to orange juice to potatoes.
These initiatives are exactly what institutions and communities should be pursuing to ensure the most lavish way of life possible and thereby protect our common future. We must collectively change our behavior to incentivize donating, reusing, and reusing household items to minimize global pollution and protect our environmental resources.
Contrary to popular misconception, we do not have an infinite supply of raw materials to create an infinite number of things. There are limits, and we must respect those limits and think about the future, rather than throwing off the inevitable accumulation of waste caused by rampant overconsumption.
Written by: Maya Kornyeyeva — [email protected]
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by individual columnists belong solely to the columnists and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of The California Aggie.
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