The 3 R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) appear in the order of their environmental benefits and resource savings. You can make a positive impact by reducing consumption and reusing materials to prevent waste.

Single-use disposables have become ubiquitous in our fast-paced culture of convenience. Most single-use disposables are only used for a few minutes and take hundreds of years to break down in a landfill. Read more about single-use plastics with the fact sheet here.

Furthermore, single-use disposables take significant resources to manufacture and ship to stores and restaurants. Replacing single-use items like coffee cups and utensils with reusables has substantial resource savings over time. Zero Waste Home is a great resource for discovering eco-alternatives to disposables and ways to transform your lifestyle with the goal of minimizing waste.

Purchase recyclable packaging if there is no reusable option.

Forty percent of food is wasted in America and each of us tosses nearly 300 pounds of food a year. Learn how you can reduce food waste with strategies like meal planning and storage to prolong food freshness at Save the Food.

Extend the life of broken electronics and home goods by repairing them. IFixit offers free crowd-sourced repair guides and sells common parts and tools.