Recycle vs Reuse
If you buy a cloth bag to carry the items you bought in the market, you can use the bag when you go to the market in the future too. This means you are reusing the bag with every subsequent use. Recycle, on the other hand, refers to use of a product once again by collecting it from trash and converting this raw material into new products. The aim of both reuse and recycle is to reduce waste and conserve materials, though both work in different ways. This article aims to clear the doubts some have about the differences between these two words.
Reuse
Reuse is one way to avoid purchasing more and more and adding to waste ultimately. When you can make do with the same product as it is still performing to its optimum, why add to the numbers and waste stream? Reuse does not sound glamorous to those who can buy more and new. However, apart from keep using the product for long, there are other ways in which a particular product can be reused. You bought a glass jar of jam. You can reuse the empty jar after you have consumed the jam by keeping leftovers or biscuits in it. When you buy a second hand car, you are contributing to the reuse of the car. When you share a DVD or a magazine with your friend, you are making reuse of the items. Instead of throwing your old computer in garbage, you can get it upgraded and thus reuse it.
Recycle
Most materials thrown into the garbage can be recycled to convert them into new products. Recycle is a process that reduces waste as it changes it into new items. For example, newspapers are dissolved and converted into raw material for new paper to be reprinted again as newspaper. It is not just paper but used bottles, cans and other such material that can be recycled to make new material so as to allow making of new products. Instead of throwing items to make up landfill, making some use of the trash is what is called recycle. There are buy back centers and recollection facilities, where people can send their used material and products, so that they can be sent to a recycling facility where new products can be made.
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What is the difference between Recycle and Reuse? • Reuse and recycle are two different ways of consuming less and increasing the life of materials. • Using a product multiple times is called reuse and it is an art rather than science. Recycling is collecting trash and making it undergo a process to be converted into new products. • Not every product can be recycled, but that can be recycled should not be thrown into garbage, to provide material for landfill.
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