Finding a New Purpose in Every “Waste”

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Finding a New Purpose in Every “Waste”
by Vivian Nabisere \| 17-09-2021 04:49 1
As the challenges of climate change become more noticeable, every informed person is doing what they can in order to do real impact in achieving sustainability in their lifestyles. Sustainability rotates around 7Rs: refuse, recycle, repurpose, rot, rethink, repair and reduce. The main topic for this article is repurpose, which is conceptually intimate with zero waste, and simply means putting any item to a new use different from the original one. As adopted by the Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA), Zero Waste is the conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of products, packaging, and materials without burning and with no discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health. Repurpose emphasizes a creativity of no waste is waste, where discarded materials are used resourcefully in another scope of life thereby reducing garbage build up and it's negative outcomes. Commonly, some people apply it in turning packaging material of any kind into a planter in container gardening. Repurpose is likewise made use of in mixed farming, a farming system which involves growing of crops and raising animals on the same site. The dung from animals is used to manure soil for high crop yields and surplus crop produce can be used as animal feeds. This is eco-friendly and cost effective for the farm. In 2016, a group of banana farmers in Southwest Uganda came up with an innovative solution to the declining prices of bananas that came with over production and which had further encouraged the farmers to leave most of produce to waste away in rot. They decided to reuse the bananas as a raw material in banana wine making. overtime, this eliminated waste produce and since wine prices are higher, they maximised their profit and improved their living standards. Planters, mixed farming and banana wine making are only a drop in the vast ocean of amazing applications of repurpose in life. Therefore, it is our responsibility to find ways of using any 'waste' in an efficient creative eco-friendly solution. Sources The Zero Waste Definition https://zwia.org/zero-waste-definition/ Wine Makes Profits Go Bananas https://spore.cta.int/fr/production/all/article/wine-makes-profits-go-bananas-sid0b6bac053-f5f8-4616-9c43-12ca13ab00b6 The 7Rs of Sustainability https://www.aeromatico.com/the-7-rs-of-sustainability/

Dormant user Vivian Nabisere

6 Comments

Vivian Nabisere says :
Thank you Hannah.
Posted 24-09-2021 06:49

Hannah Mentor says :
Hello Vivian, this is your mentor Hannah.
It was great to read your report on repurpose, out of 7R for zero waste.
I think repurpose needs deep, creative thought on how the waste could be used as nonwaste, as your example of Uganda's banana wine.

Thank you for your great article and please keep up :)

Posted 22-09-2021 22:35

Vivian Nabisere says :
Hey Joon. Thank you for your insight.
Posted 18-09-2021 06:17

Joon Mentor says :
Hello Vivian,
this is your mentor Joon.

Yes, repurpose is quite an interesting way to go Zero waste
in every day life. There has been many studies and considerations
on ways to repurpose the waste. The example that you have
mentioned can be a case. But did you know this?
There are artists using the trash as a material for their
artwork! They call it 'Junk Art' and there has been
exhibition of Junk Artists recently in Korea.
Like this, there are many ways to repurpose waste
and make a new usage.

It would be nice and meaningful to look around
and find things to repurpose in real life.

Thanks for your article.

Best,

Joon
Posted 17-09-2021 19:07