Blog
Repeat After Me: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Guest Contributor in Eco Friendly, Editorial — December 6th, 2007 (29 views / Print this article )
Sent by: Lena
The United Nations conference on climate change started a few days ago (December 3) in Bali, and will last until December 12. The event, called the Conference of Parties is the 13th in a series of meetings designed to allow nations to sit together, discuss and decide on measures to mitigate and adapt to climate change. It’s very important for all nations to work out a solution to the climate change problem together since what one nation does impacts everyone else (and vice versa: what one nation doesn’t do also impacts everyone else). The 3rd COP in 1997 resulted in the famous Kyoto Protocol, and many people hope that this Bali conference will result in more concrete steps and commitments by all nations. You can follow the conference proceedings live and through the online newsletter updated hourly.
As fashionistas, each of us can contribute to reducing the impacts of climate change. The key words: reduce, reuse and recycle. Reduce doesn’t mean that we have to stop shopping altogether, since our purchases also contribute to economic well-being of others. But as consumers our choices are powerful instruments of change. We can support vendors that clean up after themselves and use environmentally-friendly ingredients, and reduce purchases from vendors that are not responsible in their manufacturing practices. The forums at Fashionese Daily are a great clearing house for swapping products that otherwise might end up in the trash can, unused, or redundant. Drive less and use public transport system more, like FD members who carpool to meet-ups. And since we live in a tropical country in Indonesia, ask your office manager to set the air conditioning at a higher temperature, that way you can loose the bulky clothes, and the office can save money!
Recently in FD’s Today’s Outfit forum a member sported a very elegant blouse altered from a vintage wedding gown—this is the perfect example of reuse. Some shoes, bags and clothes from years back are made of really good quality material–it’s a shame for them to languish in the attic or, even worse, end up in the garbage dumps! Boxes and wrapping papers can also be used again for storage and gift-giving. I’m glad I saved a few of my empty moisturizer jars, just perfect for storing my shared portion of mineral makeup. I also found those empty transparent ice cream tubs the perfect storage for my bead necklaces.
Recycling is a bit hard to do at home, especially for us juggling a career, home, and personal life. Luckily, recycling has become a lucrative job for many people, so there is a ready market for unused plastics, bottles, papers, etc. Support the army of scavengers by separating your trash at home; this way, more stuff get recycled.
So what’s your strategy to reduce, reuse and recycle? I bet you got some savvy ones—come on, share it here!
* image source: veer.com
There are 21 comments for this entry. Add yours
sLesTa
buy vintage clothes and 2nd hand bags. heheh.. sebenernya banyak yang bisa dilakukan, simple things really… like always print on both sides, or only print when necessary. separate your garbage. reuse your printouts as your chit paper. don’t let the water run while brushing your teeth. involve in re-packing program. and the list continues.. i’m sure others have more…
btw.. good article, lena!
December 6th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
happineesh
bawa kantong plastik atau tas sendiri kalau belanja….soalnya plastik shopping bag pasti bertumpuk2 dirumah dan plastik kan ga bs didaur ulang bukan?
December 6th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Deszell
B2M dong, alias Back 2 Mack program. Daripada menuh2in tempat sampah mendingan empty container dari MAC productnya dibalikkin. Kalo udah ada 6 bisa dituker dengan eyeshadow or lipgloss
Or kalo di Body shop empty container bisa dibalikkin ke tokonya buat dituker sama candle
December 6th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
vitsky
Matiin lampu atau listrik yang gak perlu kalau kita mau keluar rumah. Misalpun lg ga kemana2, sebisa mungkin kabel listrik yg tidak sedang digunakan, dicabut dari outletnya. Krn biarpun kecil, mereka menggunakan energi juga.
December 6th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
juleha
Kl gw kayak vitsky .. hemat listrik dan air. Trus kl ada product refil gw pasti beli refil, hemat botol plastik kan :D.
December 6th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
Hanzky
recycling:
for the past 2.5 years, i’ve been very adamant about recycling, setiap hari kamis, ada truck yang ngangkut barang yang bisa di recycle lewat depan rumah, dan kita juga udah di sediain keranjang besar untuk naro naro barangnya, so everything from my house that can be recycled goes in there, kadang sampah recycle gue lebih banyak daripada sampah basah..:D. and yes the 300 shoeboxes from cutesy shoes also went to the recycling truck. sekarang gue udah nggak bisa kayanya buang sesuatu yang bisa di recycle ke tempat sampah biasa..nggak tega..:(, even if it’s just a piece of paper.
reuse:
itu gue tuh yang pake altered wedding gown len, hehe. sebenernya kalo di jakarta kan tukang jait murah yah jadi mau alter baju itu gampang, kalo di sini mahal, jadi biasanya gue cuma nge crop celana celana panjang aja jadi cropped pants. gue juga selalu cuci bersih toples2 bekas bumbu bumbu/ice cream container, bisa buat tempat kerupuk, minyak goreng sisa dll. i also go to second hand store every now and then, selain beli di situ juga donasiin baju baju yang udah nggak kepake. one woman trash is another woman treasure!
reduce:
dulu gue selalu nyalahin tv kalo lagi sendirian di rumah, padahal nggak di tonton, just for the sake of background noise. sekarang udah enggak lagi, paling radio aja atau komputer. trus dulu selalu makan pake piring plastik dan minum dari gelas plastik!! karena males cuci piring, sekarang udah nggak pernah lagi, selaen lebih enak makan di piring beneran, ya untuk mengurangi sampah yang nggak penting juga. kecuali kalo lagi ada acara di rumah sih!!
that’s all i can think for now..kalo organic clothing gue belum minat sih simply because i don’t think they are as organic as they claimed to be, jangan2 malah buat cari untung lebih aja secara organic clothing kan lebih mahal..mesti research2 dulu nih…i still need to learn a lot to be more environmentally friendly dan nggak jadi orang yang ignorant dengan environment kita..:)
December 7th, 2007 at 1:04 am
Lena
[b]sLesTa[/b], thanks dear. yup yup, i’m a big thrifting person, and my justification is….it’s a green hobby
December 7th, 2007 at 1:35 am
Lena
happineesh: right! and don’t you wish more people do it?? i also think jakarta should tax the supermarkets for being too royal with plastic bags (like in San Fransisco)–i mean come on, you don’t need to give people a whole plastic bag for one toothbrush do you!?
vitsky & juleh, agree! my water bottle has the tasmanian monster’s pic on it, hehe.
han, yup i remember that white nehru-collared blouse sooo well, that’s a great find btw. in the US recycling has become a way of life isn’t it?! untuk acara di rumah, i learnt from the balinese: they have plates made from bamboo or rattan weaving, which just needs to be covered with some clean, wide banana leaf or wax-covered paper, and voila, you have plates! and no dishes to wash afterwards! course it’s not ideal for soupy meals, but sate, nasi uduk, mie goreng, ketoprak…definitely ok!
December 7th, 2007 at 1:49 am
Lena
Deszell: hey, i didn’t know MAC has that program! great, more reason to try out their stuff
December 7th, 2007 at 1:54 am
Hanzky
he eh len, it’s a way of life. wahh nice idea from the balinese tuh tapi cari daun pisang di sini susaahh..hehehe..:D
oh iya ada satu lagi nih, setiap kita ke atm atau isi bensin yang self service, biasanya ada pilihan if we want the printed receipt or not. dan biasanya gue pilih enggak..karena buat apa juga ada printed receiptnya toh kita udah liat balance nya di monitornya, yang ada juga abis liat langsung di kremes2 trus malah jadi sampah di tas atau di mobil
December 7th, 2007 at 2:18 am
Lena
han bca sudah selangkah lebih maju tuh, kalo ambil cash malah ga dikasi receipt sama sekali, ga pake pilihan
*bentar lagi comment box jadi tempat chat neh*
December 7th, 2007 at 2:43 am
tje2p
suster Lena, nice article!
*
gw udah menerapkan gak pernah minta plastik klo belanja, dan malah diliatin ama mbak2nya… seolah-olah aneh *padahal gw emang org aneh
trus yg terbaru, gw klo beli makan di kantin kantor, gw bawa tempat makan sendiri, biar gak usah ngebungkus pake styrofoam… dan… lagi-lagi gw diliatin dgn aneh
klo soal hemat listrik & air… kayanya udah dari dulu, dilatih mak gw biar gak bayar listriknya banyak
December 7th, 2007 at 10:25 am
vitsky
Iya sih, kl hemat listrik & air ya emang buat keuntungan kantong kita juga ya, tjep? hehe..
Btw, selain point2 yg udah disebut oleh jeng2 diatas –yg mana gue juga pernah/masih lakukan, such as ngga nyalain air pas sikat gigi, back 2 mac program, beli barang vintage/used, reuse botol/kotak bekas makanan utk hal2 lain, belanja pake kantong sendiri (tp ini seringnya tasnya kelupaan, jd suka gemes sendiri), etc — gue juga lebih pilih paperless billing option. Selain praktis, ngurangin sampah di rumah, juga utk ngurangin penggunaan kertas kan..
Lena, foto dong sekali2 botol minumnya.. hihihi
December 7th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Cynthia
Kalo apa so far, i choose not to receive bills by paper, but simply just online. i paid all my bills online. save the tree, save the paper. i know its hard at first cause i keep on forgeting the due dates, but as time goes by, aku jadi terbiasa and i put it on my organizer. jadi lebih teratur dan responsible aja. terus disini juga setiap hari kamis pagi, khusus buat buang sampah recycle. yang mau di recycle harus di cuci dulu. terus dimasukin ke tempat sampah khusus. and then when i do my groceries shopping, i bought those fabric shopping bag, jadi gak usah pakai plastic bag lagi. or if i bought only a small amount of items and i can just chuck them in my bag, i wont use plastic bag either. i donated all my magazines to hospital and clinics near my house. my husband and i also donated some of the old clothes that we dont use anymore, even if it means some of them are never been used to the nearest salvation army shops. and all sjaminah’s baby clothes are stacked neatly in a transparent box, washed and ironed, ready to be give away when someone is having a new baby girl :). i turned off the water when i use the conditioner for my hair and when i brush my teeth. i only do my laundry when i have a lot of laundry to be wash, rather than a little at time (it saves more water and electricity). i washed empty mineral bottle water and just fill it with tap water rather than just buy all the time. thats all i can think for now
December 8th, 2007 at 9:03 am
amazing_grace
For me the least thing I can do from my side sih nggak nyalain lampu or TV saat nggak perlu and plant more trees at home ….
Simple, realistic and do-able……..
Oh iya, kalau paying bill online juga termasuk maka saya juga sudah melakukan itu sejak lama .. never thought that it could contribute to save trees though
December 8th, 2007 at 9:42 am
Nia
stop using disposable chopsticks!
kalo lagi makan chinese food atau sushi, mending minta sumpit yang bisa dicuci lagi..atau kalo perlu bawa sumpit sendiri :))
save more trees
use non disposable chopsticks
December 10th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
purplerebel
like hanzky, i am very lucky to live in NY, where the local government care so much about the recycling program. although not everyone in the city follows the rule, my partner and i are very strict about it. we have different plastic bags for our garbage. clear bags for recyclable garbage such as papers, bottles, aluminium packagings, and so on (inipun kemudian dipisah2 sesuai kategori).
gw juga selalu bawa tas karung utk pergi belanja grocery, untuk meminimalisir sampah plastik and demen DIY baju2 tua gw.
seperti kata shinta, banyak cara untuk jadi environmentally friendly person. yang penting, we do something for our beloved earth. ada indian wisdom yang gw demen banget:
“Only When the Last Tree Has Died and the Last River Has Been Poisoned and the Last Fish has Been Caught, Will We Realize That We Cannot Eat Money”
December 12th, 2007 at 1:17 am
meeyaa
kayaknya ide reduce, reuse and recycle memang lebih tepat sasaran untuk ladies ya. The queen of the household who decides what to buy or not, what to eat or not. Salut buat FD-ers!
Kalo menurut aku, yang lebih crucial sebenernya adalah mengubah pola konsumsi dan lifestyle kita. you know, as a woman, we tends to be a impulsive buyer. kalo kita bisa me-reduce jadi lebih functional, maybe that will help a lot.
December 12th, 2007 at 9:57 am
tomy
Yees, I support that.
December 13th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
DYS
wah gw masi belajar siy ttg ini, dulu jaman2 ABG gw sempet terkagum2 ama body shop dgn recycle2 program mereka.. jd beli produk mereka trus botolnya gw kasih balik ke tokonya..
di daerah tpt gue tinggal sekarang, uda pasti mau ga mau harus merhatiin ttg ini.. harus dipisah barang2 yg di bisa di recycle terutama dr sampah rumah. Karena kalo gak DIDENDA !
Nyokap gw biasanya siy yg urusin tp karena kita uda kena tilang 2 kali, akhirnya semua di rumah belajar.
Jadi, di dapur ada 3 tpt sampah yg dikasi label, yg utk sampah basah dan tdk bisa di recycle, utk botol-kaleng-etc, dan utk kertas-karton-etc. Jadi kita seblm buang sampah, ngeliat contekan dulu daftar sampah2 yg hrs dipisah dr dept of sanitation.
Pernah niy kita uda yakin bener, ehh kena tilang cuma gara2, tutup botol susu dan tutup liquid detergent masi nyatu dgn botol nya! Jadi ternyata tutup2 botol itu harus dipisah dr botolnya, dan dibuang terpisah di kantong sampah basah! puyeng juga.. soalnya ada byk brg yg kita masi suka bingung masuk ke kantong yg mana.. dept of sanitation juga suka ‘ronda’ di daerah rumah gw utk ngasi ticket/tilang, jd mau ga mau kita semua bener2 hati2 kalo buang sampah.
kalo di urusan fashion, gw tetep demen ke garage sale and vintage stores… bikin byk pilihan utk belanja hehe
oh, pas summer kmaren gw ama adik2 gw sempet ngadain garage sale jg di rumah, lumayan rame.. brg2 kita ke recycle juga kan 
dipake orang lain, dan dpt uang pula hehe
December 15th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
車両保守部門
車両保守部門,車両保守部門
September 10th, 2008 at 11:38 pm