Giving “re-use” its 15 minutes

Bringing back the 3 R's with a fresh focus

BY GAVIN LEIGHTON FOR GREENING OF OIL

I recently wrote about behaviors individuals could employ in their everyday lives that would help alleviate their respective impact on the environment.  Because changing individual behavior is one of the simplest ways to confront the environmental challenges we face, and in this installment I’m addressing behaviors that target reusing everyday materials. 

You will probably recall that “reuse” is one of the three green “R’s”, but it doesn’t get as much fanfare as “reduce” and “recycle”.  But I hope to elevate the status of “reuse” with ideas for common materials. Similar to my last column, I’m not looking to describe behaviors everyone is already familiar with, such as reusing paper bags as book covers for schoolbooks, but rather some lesser-known ideas for common items.

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Several of my 365 Days of Green colleagues have mentioned the environmental impacts of the institutionalized ritual of one’s morning coffee.  As a complement to their suggestions I want to discuss some things you can do with coffee leftovers.  First, coffee that has lost its heat doesn’t have to go to waste.  Instead of pouring the lukewarm coffee down the sink, unfinished coffee sitting in the pot can be poured over ice to create an iced coffee. Simple, yet genius. Second, virtually all used coffee grinds are thrown away.  However, these grinds can be mixed into soil to provide a source of nutrients, especially if you are keeping a garden of your own.  You can sprinkle the grounds near plants or mix the grounds into the soil to release nitrogen.  Finally, those who buy a disposable cup of coffee also use a cardboard insulating ring to keep their hand from burning.  Eliminating the use of these insulating rings could save thousands of pounds of cardboard per year. Then how do you save your hands? Reuse old clothing; specifically, whenever one of your socks inevitably loses its mate, simply cut the sock to create a liner. Otherwise, if you don’t have readily available homemade insulating rings, you can reuse the single cardboard that you get from the coffee shop for weeks on end. Keep it stored in your backpack, briefcase or purse.

Another ubiquitous item that gets thrown away or recycled is paper towel and toilet paper rolls.  However, there are several clever ways of reusing these items.  For the larger paper towel rolls, you can use these to avoid the all too common problem of tangled holiday lights.  Lights can be wrapped around the roll in a spiral fashion thereby reducing tangling and facilitating easy storage. And speaking of storage, toilet paper rolls can be turned into plastic bag holders.  These rolls can be stuffed with plastic bags and left in strategic places around the house.  For example, if you line bathroom trashcans with plastic bags, you can place one of these toilet paper rolls under the bathroom sink.  Additionally, a roll stuffed with plastic bags can be a backup in case you forget to bring your canvas bags to the supermarket. 

Coffee and cardboard rolls are encountered by millions of individuals on a daily basis.  These common items have a plethora of practical uses after the coffee or the paper towels are gone.  Finding second and third uses for these items helps reduce our impact in addition to saving money. Most importantly, I hope these ideas help us generate new ideas for reusing everyday items.

About Gavin Leighton

Gavin Leighton is a first year graduate student studying biology at the University of Miami. He is focusing his efforts on the maintenance of a cooperative behavior in an African passerine. 

Born and raised near Philadelphia, PA, Leighton attended Colgate University in New York. At Colgate, he majored in environmental biology and was the president of the environmental student group on campus for two years. Leighton was also a member of the sustainability council at Colgate University. The council was a group composed of faculty, staff, and students that made advised the administration on environmental decisions. 

Visit Leighton's website