Design for Reuse
by Jen Brooks
The author’s Planetbox lunchbox. Photo credit Reuse Alliance
I stand at the kitchen trash can overthinking what to do with my garbage, while my husband endearingly performs his rendition of Jerry Seinfeld's comedy routine - "all things on earth only exist in different stages of becoming garbage." I need to hear this to snap out of my guilt trance and literally let it go - whatever I'm holding - into the bin. But Seinfeld's monologue is also a reminder to focus on consumption - what choices can I make to reduce waste on the front end? This is what reuse means to me - investing in objects and systems that, by design, are resilient and enduring - that don't become waste.
Reuse is not a novel concept. Many of us grew up around family elders who lived through the Great Depression and World War II. My grandparents witnessed the miracle of plastic, but they wasted nothing and certain closets and drawers of their home were meticulously organized material stashes, waiting to be put to their next use. As a kid this translated to a lot of quirky solutions to missing parts or broken appliances and it instilled re-use as a core value. But in today’s culture of abundance it’s a value that is easy - and convenient - to forget.
Reuse is in my DNA, and I take a design approach to a low-waste lifestyle. Design - or a design mindset - gives me agency: I set up constraints for myself within which to operate and seek beautiful objects that make it easy to follow the rules. A manageable goal for me is minimizing single use plastic for my kids. I splurged on reusable metal lunch boxes for my elementary school aged boys and it brings me joy to fill each compartment with a balance of healthy and color-coordinated snacks. Not only does this eliminate stress re: building a family life with a small waste-print, but packing the lunch box is a creative act that fills my cup. I’m betting that it sinks in with my boys, too.
Growing up my grandmother would sometimes serve us lunch out of vintage military mess kits, sparking fun and imagination in our meal. The metal lunchboxes I bought for my kids are a direct tie to this memory and those mess kit artifacts. Like any good design, they are a timeless, elegant solution that works so well it seems inevitable and a long way from becoming garbage.
Jennifer Brooks is a landscape architect and mom living in Charlotte, NC.
Upcoming Reuse Events + Opportunities
August 17 : National Thrift Shop Day
In case you needed an excuse to go thrifting, August 17th is National Thrift Shop Day! Or grab some friends and spend the day volunteering at your local thrift store. “By 2025, 10% of the global apparel market is expected to be made up of secondhand clothes.” Read about that statistic and lots more good news in ThredUp’s Annual Resale Report out now.
August 18 - 21 : CRRA ‘Shifting the Conversation’ Conference
August 2nd is the last day to register for this year’s CRRA Conference in Anaheim, CA. Don’t miss the keynote by Sonoma County’s own Paul Hawken. Be sure to ask him why reuse isn’t a solution yet in Project Drawdown! See the full schedule and register at the link below.
This is Reuse.
Have you seen our ‘This is Reuse’ Campaign? With your help we can spread it far and wide!
Donate $100 or more and we’ll send you a rescued ‘This is Reuse’ T-shirt from Stainable Ink!
Reuse in the News
Every college and university should have a Surplus Store. Here’s how it works at UCSD.
How did you celebrate Repair Independence Day?
We’re beyond thrilled to hear about all this EPA funding going towards building material reuse. Sign up for updates from Build Reuse here.
How green will the 2024 Paris olympics really be? They are trying to reuse existing structures, and the athletes are calling on Coca-Cola and Pepsi to practice more reuse!
Those same companies are piloting a reusable cup project in Petaluma this summer.
Reuse to Amuse
Waste is for the birds.
The S.C.R.A.P. Life is so good. Anyone want to come make a video like this for us?
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