Why is there an emphasis on 'Recycle' rather than 'Reuse'?

Question

We buy lots of products in packaging that could be returned to supermarkets to be reused. For example: Wine bottles and Plastic water bottles. Surely having to recycle costs more and uses more energy than cleaning and reusing? Should more items that need packaging be packed in something that can be reused rather recycled?
i remember going to a supermarket in Denmark (many years ago), where you could return wine bottles you bought there, and received a little bit of money back for doing so. you have use of the bottle but pay a deposit.
Does this system work? If so, why hasn't it been adopted everywhere?

Answer 1

This is a good point but there is more manufactured products like cans, plastic bags, aerosol cans, etc. in European countries that system seems to work instead of plastic bottles have glass ones and soda refills at the store it should be adopted in the US

Answer 2

There is a similar system working in Finland for all sorts of bottles (wine, beer, soft drinks...) and cans. It's very effective. Been up and running for ages, I used to make pocket money as a kid collecting bottles. When I lived in U.K. I wondered about the same thing. I mean I think we have still lot to do with both recycling and reusing but at least some of the trash gets sorted and some stuff reused.

Answer 3

People do forget that the "three R's" are Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, in descending order of importance and impact.

A key reason for the emphasis on the lowest priority item is the fact that it is the option with zero impact on producers of consumer goods.

Soft drink or wine companies that sell bottled products would -- from a purely bottom-line standpoint -- obviously prefer that consumers and municipalities look after the empties, rather than having to take responsibility for them themselves. Thus you'll often see lobbying for blue box programs by such companies.

Answer 4

I totally agree...I do recycle... it would be so much better to take the bottles back. They do that in Mexico as well you take the beer bottles back and get a bit of money back...I think in Germany they do that as well..its so simple.

If I buy plastic cartons and things I try to use them as lunch boxes and stuff like that...

Supermarkets should do it too...like if you reuse your carrier bags you should get a little bit of money from your bill (I think some may I am not sure)

Answer 5

I think the answer is that recycling takes up a lot of effort for machines, but reusing takes up a bit of effort for people, therefore not worth the trouble, according to the government. Most people can't be bothered to get off their backsides and take their rubbish all the way to a supermarket, it is a struggle just to get them to put their rubbish in separate piles to be recycled. Is it any wonder the world will end soon?

Answer 6

a lot of places have the refundable bottle, especially glass bottles, for example here in Guyana where i am, beer bottles hold a G$20 (10USc) charge, not much but is an incentivce to return bottles. and few glass bottles are disguarded (apart from at carnival)
on the whole though for policy makers, recycling is easier to put figures to, so govs can say x tonnes were recycled in may 2006 etc
Supermarkets in UK are pushing the reusing of bags, Tesco giving bonus points for reusing.
in short its a case of what can be done logistically and stats

Answer 7

To answer your exact question in short i would say the reason why the attention is drawn to recycle more than reuse is there are probably more items that can be recycled than reused, for example (crude it may be) you could recycle toilet paper...

Answer 8

the order for a sustainable approach is reduce, repair, reuse, recycle.

"modern" industrial growth economic theory (GDP) depends on doing more ever more work; so turns the above mantra on it's head eg consume, throw-out, destroy, re-cycle

however, as pointed out by Epicurius business is about selling stuff, happiness is about friends, comtemplation, good food, and clothes, nothng in excess.
or as the tao te ching says: profit comes from what is there, usefulness from what is not. consider a teacup - it is the space within that is useful.

Answer 9

The Stones have been commonplace to reuse sometimes. They lifted the finished riff From '72s Soul Survivor for '83s It must be Hell. BA: Rocket Reducer No. sixty two (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa) - The MC5 BA2: Very drained. NP: tend My backyard - James Gang

Answer 10

this is the most practical way of collect in enough to make it work as a starting point until people are educated more you are already looking ahead maybe in 5 or more years time it will happen things change slowly