Living Green: The Missing Manual

Reusing: Use It Again, Sam

New York City began collecting trash in 1905. In the hundred years that followed, the amount of trash people threw away increased by 13 times, from 92 pounds per person each year to a whopping 1,242 pounds. Throughout the western hemisphere, the 20th century saw the growth of disposable societies, where consumerism and the ease of throwing things out combined to create literal mountains of trash. In such a society, people are taught that it's easier to throw things away than to fix them, use them again, or find a new use for them.

But much of what people throw out is still perfectly good. In the "reduce, reuse, recycle" mantra, reuse means not tossing out stuff that's still useful or fixable. Think about what people throw away: out-of-fashion clothes, electronics, food containers, toys, furniture, building materials. Next trash day, check out what people leave out on the curb—some of it might surprise you.

There are two main ways to reuse stuff:

• Repurposing—finding new uses for things you have.

• Finding people who want the stuff you don't.

The following pages suggest a zillion ways to do both (give or take a jillion).

Repurposing: New Uses for Old Stuff

Repurposing requires a little imagination. Instead of dropping something in the trash without a second thought, take a minute to figure out whether you could use it again. Here are some examples to get your creative juices flowing:

• Have a garden? Use yogurt containers or egg cartons to start seedlings. Or prick ...