1. Why “Stuff” Matters-Part I
We’ve reviewed that “everything comes from something.” Now I want to step back and draw on other things you already know.
For more than 10 years, this workshop was titled, “Waste Reduction: Addressing the Overlooked ‘R’,” with the Overlooked “R” being…can anyone guess?
For years, I’ve been interested in encouraging teachers to help their students think critically about environmental issues, particularly related to the “stuff” we buy and use, focusing on the “reduction” component of the 3Rs of recycling, reusing and reducing.” That’s because, for many years, I’ve heard comments from all ages such as: “I recycle, so I’m doing my part.” I hope the life cycle lessons shed light on the fact that, though recycling is important, it’s just a small part of what needs to be done to build sustainable and resilient communities.
So in the next few minutes we are going to review what you know, then build on that knowledge. You may not use much of this directly in your classroom (though this PowerPoint is available on our website), but I want you to be comfortable with the big picture so you can better share these concepts with your students.

2. Recycling Re-process material to a make another product
Recycling: Taking material in one form & re-processing it to make another product. (Show examples.)
When talking about these waste management strategies, I like to make the comparison to health care. Recycling helps address an existing problem, just as medicines (we hope) address illness.  

3. Reuse Use product in original form, but in new way.
Reusing: Using a product in a different way in its original form. So, a shoe box or a coffee can can become storage containers. (Show examples.)
Reuse is another way we “fix” a waste problem.

4. Reprinted with permission of Bill Knowlton
Before we talk about the 3rd R, “Reduction…”
When I share this with adult audiences, audiences generally respond with knowing laughter. We have a lot of stuff. The third R addresses this “stuff” in a more fundamental way than the husband in this cartoon addresses it.
Reprinted with permission of Bill Knowlton

5. Reduce Reduce consumer use of materials
Reduce material use in product manufacture
Decrease toxicity
Increase useful life (durability, repair-ability)
Reducing. This is the waste management strategy that we are not very familiar with, yet it is the most preferred strategy because it prevents waste in the first place. To continue with the health care analogy, reduction prevents waste, just as exercise and limiting stress help prevent illness.  
Here are four definitions and examples of reduction:
Reduce consumer use of materials: Using a phone for many years, instead of getting a replacement as soon as your plan allows you to do so. Wearing a piece of clothing until it’s worn out is another example.
Reduce material use in product manufacture (redesign): Aluminum pop can is example. The can’s walls are so thin (about the thickness of a magazine cover) that the bottom has to be bowed inward. A carbonated drink pushing against a flat bottom would make the can bulge and tip over. Most cans are tapered at the top to save aluminum, reducing the top’s diameter by just 10 percent can reduce its weight by almost 20 percent. Thanks to these design innovations, aluminum cans are a third lighter than they were 45 years ago. (Ryan, John Cl and Alan Thein Durning, Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things. P. 64.) We’ll be learning more about design later this afternoon.
Decrease toxicity: Baking soda or vinegar for cleaning, vinegar as a substitute for chlorine for laundry.
Increase useful life: Instead of disposal tableware, bamboo tableware. Or cloth napkins in lieu of paper.
What examples can you think of?
Think back to the cell phone video, and to the hamburger video. When “reduction” strategies are used, which life cycle stages do we omit?

6. Waste Management Strategies #1: Reduce #2: Reuse #3: Recycle Other options: Incinerating for energy recovery and landfilling
If you remember only one thing from this short PowerPoint, I want you to remember that “reduction” is the most preferred waste management strategy.
Though I can’t hear you say it, I would like you to say out loud with me the following statement: “Recycling attempts to fix a problem. Reduction prevents a problem.”
“Recycling attempts to fix a problem. Reduction prevents a problem.”
Reference: Iowa Code, Section 455D.4, 5a.

7. Thanks to… Iowa DNR REAP Conservation Education Program Iowa Solid Waste Alternatives Program Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality & David Allaway