Kate Richard, sustainability associate in the Office of Sustainability and in Dining Services, takes us on a journey through the waste stream and shares some insight about the phrase “reduce, reuse, recycle.” Kate works on a range of campus sustainability programs. She graduated from the University of Maryland in 2013 with degrees in environmental science and policy and English.

You’ve just finished your lunch at Stamp. The three bins can be confusing, but you’ve mastered tri-sorting. Drink bottle in the recycling; napkin, plate, and food waste in the compost – all that goes into the trash is your fork. It looks like it’s almost a zero waste meal, but the waste that we see represents only a tiny fraction of the waste generated when any product is made. One garbage can-worth of waste you generate in your home generates 70 garbage cans upstream.[1]

Upstream waste is all of the waste related to extracting materials, producing or manufacturing the product, and transporting the product. The waste that we see – packaging, recyclables, etc. – is downstream waste. To stick with the upstream and downstream language, imagine a river that flows down the side of a mountain. At the top of the mountain is a factory that dumps polluted water into the river. Those substances float down the river, all the way to the bottom of the mountain. At the base of the mountain, a community works to eliminate the pollution in their stretch of river. This work is important, and it improves the environment in that community. But the larger pollution problem still remains, and the rest of the river continues to be polluted.

Recycling and composting are valuable actions that help the environment. They are things we can do every day to reduce our footprint and make a small difference. But to make an even bigger difference, we need to address the problem at its source. The phrase “reduce, reuse, recycle” has an order: first we should reduce, next reuse, and finally recycle. Reducing our overall consumption and reusing as much as possible are great steps to eliminate that upstream waste. If people buy fewer things, fewer things will be produced. All the waste generated upstream – resource extraction, production, transportation – is prevented.

When we reduce our upstream waste, we aren’t just sending less trash to the landfill. We’re reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions associated with the upstream processes; we’re using fewer natural resources to make new products; we’re avoiding air and water pollution that results from manufacturing products. It’s a powerful action that positively impacts so many aspects of the environment. And the best thing about it is that this action is so easy – all we need to do is consume less. Reduce: really consider what you buy and if you need it; look for second-hand options if possible. Reuse: try to fix broken items instead of throwing them away; invest in reusable alternatives to common disposable products. And finally, recycle what’s left. But when we consume less, and look to reducing and reusing as a priority, we’ll end up with a lot less waste, both up and downstream.

For more, check out the Story of Stuff

[1] The Next Efficiency Revolution: Creating a Sustainable Materials Economy by John Young and Aaron Sachs, Worldwatch Institute (1994)

Feature Image: The waste hierarchy refers to the “3 Rs” reduce, reuse and recycle, which classify waste management strategies according to their desirability. The 3 Rs are meant to be a hierarchy, in order of importance. (Drstuey at the English language Wikipedia, via Wikimedia Commons)