Precycling

Precycling is the practice of reducing waste by attempting to avoid bringing items which will generate waste into home or business. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also cites that precycling is the preferred method of integrated solid waste management because it cuts waste at its source and therefore trash is eliminated before it is created. According to the EPA, precycling is also characterized as a decision-making process on the behalf of the consumer because it involves making informed judgments regarding a product's waste implications. The implications that are taken into consideration by the consumer include: whether a product is reusable, durable, or repairable; made from renewable or non-renewable resources; over-packaged; and whether or not the container is reusable. Precycling is the practice of reducing waste by attempting to avoid bringing items which will generate waste into home or business. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also cites that precycling is the preferred method of integrated solid waste management because it cuts waste at its source and therefore trash is eliminated before it is created. According to the EPA, precycling is also characterized as a decision-making process on the behalf of the consumer because it involves making informed judgments regarding a product's waste implications. The implications that are taken into consideration by the consumer include: whether a product is reusable, durable, or repairable; made from renewable or non-renewable resources; over-packaged; and whether or not the container is reusable. Precycling has the ability to build industrial, social, environmental, and economic circumstances that allow for old products to be converted into new resources The concept of ‘precycling’ was coined in 1988 by social marketing executive Maureen O’Rorke in a public waste education campaign for the City of Berkeley.The application of precycling is not limited to large corporations, but can be administered on smaller scales in local communities. The reason precycling is effective on large scales and on small scales stems from the idea that it shares a common language between experts and non-experts, buyers and sellers, economists and environmentalists. However, it is important to consider that waste prevention systems, such as precycling, require the collaborative effort from several working parts. These parts include prevention targets, producer responsibility, householder charging, funding for pilot projects, public involvement, engagement of private and third sectors, and public campaigns that spread awareness. The original three-pronged push for waste management is 'Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.' Precycling emphasizes 'reducing and reusing', while harnessing and questioning the momentum and popularity of the term 'recycle.' In addition to this strategy, precycling incorporates four supplementary R's: Repair, Recondition, Remanufacture and Refuse. Waste is a resource that can be reused, recycled, recovered, or treated. Precycling differs from other singular forms of waste prevention because it encompasses not one behavior, but many. Reduce is a form of precycling that allows for the preservation of natural resources and also saves money on behalf of the manufacturer, the consumer, and the waste manager. Moreover, effective source reduction slows the depletion of environmental resources, prolongs the life of waste management facilities, and makes combustion and landfills safer by removing toxic waste components. Reuse is a form of precycling that reinvents items after their initial life and avoids creating additional waste. Although precycling harnesses the familiarity of the term recycling, it is still important to note the difference between recycling and prevention. Since precycling focuses on the prevention of waste production, this entails that measures are taken before a substance, material, or product has become waste. Whereas recycling is a type of precycling that involves taking action before existing waste is abandoned to nature. Recycling is a process where discarded materials are collected, sorted, processed, and used in the production of new products. Every time a person engages in the act of recycling, they help increase the market and bring the cost down. However, current research from the American Plastics Council states that only 25% of the nation's recycling capabilities are being utilized. Traditionally recycling requires large amounts of energy to 'melt down' and then re-manufacture items. While this may cut down on the amount of trash that is going into landfills, it is not sustainable unless the underlying energy supply is sustainable. In addition, recycling often means downcycling and always involves at least some loss of the original material, so primary extraction is still required to make up the difference. Precycling reduces these problems by using less material in the first place, so less has to be recycled. Repair is a type of precycling that corrects specified faults in a product, however the quality of a repaired product is inferior to reconditioned or remanufactured items. One survey found that 68% of the respondents believed repairing was not cost efficient and sought alternative methods such as reconditioning or remanufacturing.