Don't Just Recycle, Precycle

One way to save energy is to "precycle." Precycling is paying attention to what you're buying...before you buy it. Can it be recycled? Is there a lot of extra packaging? Is it made of recycled material?

For example, imagine you’re in a toy store. There are two really great toys you’ve always wanted….and you can’t make up your mind which one to get.

How do you choose between them?

Give them a “precycling test” – check out how each toy is wrapped. Then pick the toy that has less packaging to be thrown away after you get home.

It takes energy to make that packaging, and it takes more energy to cart away the extra garbage that you’re left with after you unwrap the toy.

Anytime you use the “precycling test” to make a choice, you’ll be saving resources and energy.

Energy Information

Each American, on average, throws away 60 pounds of plastic packaging every year. How is that possible? Think about all the little plastic things you throw away every day – a bottle cap, a sandwich bag, a juice bottle, a yogurt container. Then think about throwing those things away every day, 365 days a year. Plastic garbage really adds up!

One reason to avoid extra packaging is that all that plastic packaging is made from one of our most important energy sources – oil.

Another reason is that all of that packaging is filling up our landfills. In fact, about one-third of all the garbage we throw away is packaging.

Be an Energy-Saver

Use the precycling test – always think about how much packaging you will have to throw away before you pick what you are going to buy.

Buy things that come in packages that can be recycled (instead of thrown in the garbage.) Best of all, buy packages made of materials that have already been recycled. For example, cardboard egg cartons are almost always made from recycled paper. (Egg cartons also make great containers for planting seeds.)

Talk to your family about buying food in large quantities. When you buy one large bottle of apple juice, for example, you’ll get just as much juice as two or more small bottles, but you’ll lose less packaging.