Recycling is easily the most recognizable of all environmental programs and they most adopted. In 2007, a Harris Interactive poll reported that 77% of Americans recycle at home (that still leaves a large 23% to convert to recycling). Recycling takes materials that otherwise would have been discarded and creates new products out of them.

“Rethink” is retraining your mind to see your environment – and your impact on it – in a new way...  Rethinking will increase your awareness about a problem, cause you to seek new information, and then take action to improve the way you are doing things.

Reuse is the second aspect of the common phrase “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”.  The order is no coincidence. Reducing what we use in the first place is the crucial first step.  Then, we move to reuse. Reuse allows a product – or its parts – to be used in its original form more than once.

Minimizing materials used to design, manufacture, purchase, or use a product, can reduce material contributing to the waste stream. For example, you reduce waste by purchasing products with minimal packaging or by using a non-toxic alternative that will do the same job.