reuse or Reuse The action or practice of using an item, either for its original purpose (traditional reuse) or to fulfill a different function (such as upcycling or repurposing). It should be distinguished from recycling, which is the decomposition of used materials into their raw components in order to manufacture new products. Reuse – by taking away and reprocessing previously used items – helps save time, money, energy and resources. In broader economic terms, reuse can provide high-quality products to people and organizations with limited resources, as well as create jobs and business to support the economy.^[1]

Historically, the financial motive has been one of the main drivers of reuse. This drive can lead to very high levels of reuse in the developing world, but rising wages and the consequent consumer demand for consumer products have made it uneconomic to reuse low-value items in processes such as packaging. richer countries, which has led to the suspension of many recycling programs. The current environmental awareness is gradually changing behaviors and regulations, such as new packaging laws, which are gradually beginning to reverse the current situation.

Door-to-door glass milk delivery is an example of traditional reuse, other examples include refurbishment of frames and use of returnable/reusable plastic crates and shipping containers, rather than single-use double compressed fibreboards.

Features and disadvantages[عدل]

Reuse has some potential advantages:

• Saving energy and raw materials, such as using products that can be reused instead of many single-use products, which reduces the number of products that have to be manufactured.
• Reduced disposal needs and costs.
• Regeneration could bring sustainable, well-paying high-end jobs to developing economies.
• The cost savings for businesses and consumers are often achieved by a product that is reusable and cheaper than many of the single-use products it replaces.
• Some vintage items are better handcrafted and more valuable.

There are also some obvious drawbacks:

• Reuse often requires cleaning or transportation, which has environmental costs.
• Some items, such as Freon appliances, infant seats, old televisions, and used cars, can be dangerous or less energy efficient as they continue to be used.
• Reusable products must be more sustainable than single-use products, so they require more materials per item. This is especially important if only a small amount of reusable products is to be reused.
• Sorting and preparing items for reuse takes time, is inconvenient for consumers, and costs money for businesses.
• Special skills are needed to modify the functional productivity of items when they are allocated to new uses outside of their primary use.
• It is essential to know what standards older products are compatible with, to know what adapters to purchase for newer products to be compatible with them, although the cost of adapters for these applications is only a minor drawback.
• Being a fairly minor blemish, metal that is reused at a later time can sometimes have rust, as it can sometimes be aged before even reuse.

Examples[عدل]

Online reuse centers and exchanges[عدل]

These services facilitate the transactions and redistribution of unwanted, fully usable materials and equipment from one entity to another. The entities that benefit from both sides of this service (as donors, sellers, recipients, or buyers) can be businesses, non-profits, schools, community groups, and individuals. Some maintain physical space (a hub for reuse), while others act as an exchange service (a virtual exchange over the Internet). Reuse centers generally have warehouses and trucks where they take donated materials and make them available for redistribution or sale. Virtual exchanges do not have space or physical trucks, but rather allow users to post lists of available and wanted materials (for free or at a cheap cost) on an online material exchange website. Employees help facilitate the exchange of these materials without taking possession of them.^[2]

Address issues of repair, reuse and recycling[عدل]

One way to address this is to increase the shelf life of the product. This is either by extending the first life of the product or by addressing repair, reuse and recycling issues. Product reuse, that is, extending the use of the item beyond the point at which it is disposed of by the first user, is preferable to recycling or disposal, as it is considered the lowest energy solution, although it is often neglected times.^[3]

The EU Circular Economy package recognizes the importance of extending product life and even includes product repair and reuse in its action plan to ensure that products reach their optimum life. If GHG emission reduction targets are reached, then they must be re-incorporated into a full life cycle approach.

See also[عدل]

• Adaptive reuse

Reference[عدل]

• Nature portal
• Ecology portal

In Commons Pictures and files for: Reuse

Retrieved from «https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=reuse&oldid=56550843»