Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle – What is the Difference?

Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle – Aren’t they all just recycling? Well not really.

Most of us probably know the story of how the Eskimos have many names for snow while most of the rest of us have at most two or three. This is because the more you observe and think about something, the more you recognize small variations. Once recognized, you develop a variety of words to describe these differences to others.

This is true for snow and “recycling.” I had a friend the other day say in exasperation – “Why do they call it repurposed? It’s really just recycled.” If you look at it carefully, “repurposed” is just a more accurate description of what in the past was thought of as recycling, although, to many people the difference might not matter.

So, just in case you are interested, here is what those “tree huggers” are talking about. Actually each name basically says it all.

Reuse: Whatever the purpose, you basically reuse the item for the same purpose more than one time. In my business we reuse boxes for our shipping. We are not actually recycling them because they don’t go through any processing before they are reused. (Of course we do try to peel off any old shipping labels, etc. but that is not “recycling.”)

Repurpose: This means you take one thing and use it for something else (repurpose it) before it goes through any breakdown and reformation. My shop sells “Birds with Attitude” made from “repurposed” metal. Meaning the metal was originally a radiator or a pipe or whatever, and the artist has taken that metal and repurposed it into a sculpture. Another example is fabric. One could buy a shirt at the Goodwill and “repurpose” it into a handbag, baby bib, or anything else one could imagine. The original material is given a new purpose before it may eventually be recycled.

Recycle: The Oxford American Dictionary defines recycle as “return (material) to a previous stage of a cyclic process, esp. convert (waste) to a reusable material.”

In the past, many people have used the second part of this definition to mean basically any effort to take something that was waste and make it useable. For more clarity, however, the first part of the definition returns something to a previous state. – So recycled boxes are broken down and then made into new cardboard. Recycled plastic is broken down and then melted into new plastic, etc.

I am not a linguist, but it strikes me that how we use language can affect how we think. By using more precise words, we may stimulate new creative ways to “convert waste.” My philosophy is Notyak! meaning do what makes sense to you – you don’t have to be a yak herder – but in this case maybe using the more precise words could be an advantage.

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Notyak! You don't have to become a yak herder to do something good for the environment. www.notyak.com

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See green articles our President, Dixie Schmatz, has written for businesses at www.EvanCarmichael.com/Going-Green/

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