 Media Credit: Christopher Hanewickel
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The earth is rejoicing because today is Green Consumer Day.
Green Consumer Day is a day for recognizing the effect consumerism has on the environment, according to the EduGreen Web site, a Web site that educates youth about the environment.
The three R's that should be practiced to produce less waste and protect the environment are reduce, reuse and recycle. While all three are important, there are several items students need to reuse to cut down on resource use.
REUSE BEFORE RECYCLE
Ben Champion, instructor of geography, said reusing materials instead of recycling them helps avoid creating wastes from the processes of recycling.
"Recycling is often very resource-intensive," he said, "and it is also logistically complex. It is, therefore, pretty wasteful."
Champion said society uses a lot of products that derive from basic natural resources. He gave the example of drinking tap water that comes from local reservoirs, and drinking bottled water that comes from a different locale and its affects on water use throughout the world.
"The production of a lot of the goods we do consume is also energy and resource-intensive," he said. "The inputs and outputs of those processes can be very concerning in air and water pollution."
According to the Environmental Protection Agency's Web site, reusing items by repairing them, donating them or selling them helps reduce waste and is "even better than recycling because the item does not need to be reprocessed before it can be used again."
PROJECT IDEAS
K-State's Students for Environmental Action members think of creative ways to reuse everyday items, and sometimes they sell them for fundraising events.
Pam Wittman, SEA secretary, said the organization thinks of different craft ideas each semester.
Wittman, a junior in finance, said many items still can
be used for different purposes rather than being thrown away - it just takes creativity and adaptability with the original products. This helps the consumer save money by not needing to buy more products.
"You are doing both you and the environment a favor," she said.
The members have reused everyday materials to make objects like magnets out of bottle caps and pictures out of magazines.
She said the magnets are made by using Modge Podge to attach the pictures to the bottle caps, and then hot glue is used to attach the magnets to the bottle caps.
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