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/