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Remember the three Rs? Reduce, reuse, recycle? Why is there so much focus on recycling and so little on the other Rs? Why do perfectly useable products end up in the shredder, when so many people go without in the world?
This episode features an interview with Cat Fletcher, one of the UK’s most articulate and passionate reuse activists. She played a key role in the founding of Freegle, a UK version of Freecycle, and has carved out a niche in Brighton by promoting reuse within the heart of her local government. Her work is truly innovative in the UK.
Cat’s vision of a people-centred resource efficiency is something many of us can get behind. We all reuse stuff, and we always have. And the internet has opened up new possibilities. The real question is whether government and innovators can help us to divert more from landfill and the shredder, in this twitchy, impatient era.
[Feature image from Cat’s Twitter feed]
Great podcast. I will share on the Zero Waste Scotland facebook as it backs up a lot of what we’re working on including http://www.passitonweek.com (11-19 March 2017) and which includes #TheBigElectricAmnesty as we agree with your podcast that far too many electricals are wasted that could have been re-used. And great that the speaker liked our http://www.reusephoneline.com service in Scotland, trying to make it easier for people to donate large re-usable items.
Great to hear #TheBigElectricAmnesty will prioritise reuse. Perhaps in future, The Reuse Phoneline can incorporate electricals and gadgets?
The re-use line does incorporate the larger electricals such as white goods, but currently can’t take the smaller items as the stores can’t really justify the expense to go out and collect something like a toaster. But if #TheBigElectricAmnesty is a success, we can look at options for making it more of a regular thing