{"id":70,"date":"2019-03-30T19:12:50","date_gmt":"2019-03-30T23:12:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aftansustainability.com\/blog\/?p=70"},"modified":"2019-04-01T14:18:10","modified_gmt":"2019-04-01T18:18:10","slug":"reduce-reuse-recycling-sounds-easy-but-is-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aftansustainability.com\/blog\/reduce-reuse-recycling-sounds-easy-but-is-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Reducing, Reusing, Recycling Waste\u2026  Sounds easy, but is it?"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_103\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-103\" style=\"width: 200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aftansustainability.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/lisa-peterson-small.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-103 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aftansustainability.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/lisa-peterson-small.jpg\" alt=\"Pennsylvania-based Sustainability and Lean 6\u03c3 Continuous Process Improvement Consultant and Recycling Expert Lisa Peterson\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.aftansustainability.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/lisa-peterson-small.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.aftansustainability.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/lisa-peterson-small-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-103\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lisa Peterson is an Expert Sustainability and Lean 6\u03c3 Continuous Process Improvement Consultant and Lean 6\u03c3 Black Belt.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Many times we think about the 3Rs (reducing, reusing and recycling waste) as the answer to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aftansustainability.com\/p\/environmental-sustainability.html\">sustainability<\/a> and circularity.\u00a0 But wait, it\u2019s not so simple.<\/p>\n<p>First, think about all the stakeholders involved across this topic.\u00a0 There are many players<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>manufacturers;<\/li>\n<li>supply chain;<\/li>\n<li>customers;<\/li>\n<li>infrastructure to handle the reuse such as transportation and sterilization;<\/li>\n<li>infrastructure to handle recycling such as sorting and washing;<\/li>\n<li>landfill infrastructure; and<\/li>\n<li>lastly, energy recovery (trash-to-steam) infrastructure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--more-->If one of the players in the 3Rs isn\u2019t in a convenient location, it can become difficult to follow through on the \u201csustainability\u201d plan.<\/p>\n<div>Beyond the players, there are many opinions which can be oversimplified stating that one option is better than another.\u00a0 However, when analyzing the cradle-to-grave impact of these shifts in burdens, we see the trade-offs or pros vs. cons.\u00a0 Here\u2019s an example I recently heard.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cPaper is better than plastic.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to convert all our packaging from plastic to paper.\u201d<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>But what mass of paper do you need to protect the product?\u00a0 That\u2019s far more mass of paper than plastic!<\/li>\n<li>Paper needs to be laminated for moisture protection, so the recyclability of the paper is not simply paper.<\/li>\n<li>We\u2019re already losing forests at an alarming rate on earth, so cutting more trees for more paper doesn\u2019t seem like the right answer either.<\/li>\n<li>The product we are packaging in paper in this example is more likely to be damaged than if packaged in plastic. Therefore, the disposal load was increased due to the damaged product.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Share your examples of challenging choices you are faced with.<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many times we think about the 3Rs (reducing, reusing and recycling waste) as the answer to sustainability and circularity.\u00a0 But wait, it\u2019s not so simple. First, think about all the stakeholders involved across this topic.\u00a0 There are many players manufacturers; supply chain; customers; infrastructure to handle the reuse such as transportation and sterilization; infrastructure to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[9,7],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Reducing, Reusing, and Recylcing Waste | Aftan Sustainability Consultants<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover why the 3Rs, Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling can be complicated. Find out about all the environmental impacts of all the players involved.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aftansustainability.com\/blog\/reduce-reuse-recycling-sounds-easy-but-is-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reducing, Reusing, and Recylcing Waste | Aftan Sustainability Consultants\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Discover why the 3Rs, Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling can be complicated. Find out about all the environmental impacts of all the players involved.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aftansustainability.com\/blog\/reduce-reuse-recycling-sounds-easy-but-is-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Aftan Engineering Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-03-30T23:12:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-04-01T18:18:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aftansustainability.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/lisa-peterson-small.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aftansustainability.com\/blog\/reduce-reuse-recycling-sounds-easy-but-is-it\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aftansustainability.com\/blog\/reduce-reuse-recycling-sounds-easy-but-is-it\/\",\"name\":\"Reducing, Reusing, and Recylcing Waste | Aftan Sustainability Consultants\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aftansustainability.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-30T23:12:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-04-01T18:18:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aftansustainability.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d6b398717826ac0e4b46e37a6dcd5a43\"},\"description\":\"Discover why the 3Rs, Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling can be complicated. 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