Reuse vs Single-Use

Reuse vs Single-Use

See this amazing full article HERE.

Reuse beats single-use on every environmental metric.

The science shows that reuse clearly beats single-use in the six environmental metrics where they’ve been compared:

  1. Greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), or global warming potential (GWP)

  2. Water consumption

  3. Resource extraction

  4. Waste generation

  5. Litter generation

  6. Plastic pollution

 

1. Reuse protects the climate

Over their life cycle, reusable products, foodware and packaging have lower greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) compared to disposable alternatives.

  • With disposables, the largest greenhouse gas impacts occur in the resource extraction and manufacturing phases, mostly plastics from fossil fuels, paper from trees, bioplastics/biomaterials from crops, and aluminum from mining.

  • The GHGs from single-use-disposables dwarf those from reusables once the reusables have been used a certain number of times. This varies according to different types of reusable products; the materials they’re made from; the efficiency of the washing machines used; and the sources of energy for the regional electricity grid.

  • The main energy impacts of reusables occur during washing. With the increasing efficiency of dishwashers, the benefits have increased over time and continue to do so.

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