Understand
Waste is not born the day it gets thrown out: it cost material, energy and transport long before it reached us. That is why the order matters, reduce, then reuse, then recycle. Sorting is the last step, the one that salvages what could not be avoided; it never replaces the first two.
Take action
- Before buying, ask yourself where the thing will end up. The question takes two seconds and cancels a good share of regretted purchases.
- Repair before replacing. An item kept twice as long is an item made half as often.
- Turn down what gets handed to you unasked: bag, sample, paper receipt, cutlery.
- Buy second-hand what you rarely use, and lend out what you use three times a year.
- Check your bin's rules: they have changed, and one wrongly sorted item can get a whole load rejected.
Guides
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Organizations
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Tools
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Did you know?
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Go further
8-10% of global emissions come from food that gets thrown awayPlastic accounts for 3.4% of global emissions. Food nobody eats accounts for two to three times more.7 min read
Three waste scenarios, and only one makes moneyUNEP put a figure on inaction, on control, and on a circular economy to 2050. The third number carries a different sign.7 min read
A quarter of the world's waste is not even collectedEvery conversation about sorting assumes a truck, a plant, a system. For a large share of the world's waste, none of that exists.7 min read
Myth and reality
"It says biodegradable, so it just disappears."
Most so-called compostable materials break down only in an industrial facility built for them, sustained heat, time, turning. In an ordinary bin, in cold ground or in water, they behave much like the plastic they replace.