Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.
Let’s talk about recycling by starting with an analogy.
Imagine this: you’re in the middle of a heated game of pickup basketball. You soar for a rebound, snatching the ball out of the air, returning gracefully to the ground, until… Snap! You land on the side of your foot, your ankle twists, and you go tumbling to the floor. Immediately, the pain begins to radiate from your foot all the way to your head. Ouch.
What are you going to do?
I can see at least four options that you can take. Let’s go through them one at a time.
One, you could do nothing. Okay, nevermind that option.
Two, you could choose to take some pain pills. Ibuprofen, or the like, is not going to get rid of your sprained ankle. But similar to recycling, it will make the effects much less noticeable. The ligament damage is still there, the inflammation is still there (it may go down a little), but at least you can get it off your mind. Without the severe pain, you can focus on other things. Sure, the sprained ankle will affect your daily life, but at least you can ignore it most of the time and do most of the things you need to do each day. Soon enough, you won’t even remember you had a sprained ankle.
Three, you could use the RICE protocol: rest, ice, compression, elevation. This will help to reduce both pain and inflammation in a more proactive manner. It takes more time and energy, but it’s also more effective. You could also utilize physical therapy to help your ankle heal more quickly. Once again, this isn’t going to remove your sprained ankle. But it will help you to be more conscious of how you are treating your ankle and will force you to take steps to prevent long-term damage. This is similar to reusing, where we are able to make the best of the damage/waste that has already been created.
Or four, you could’ve avoided the sprained ankle altogether. Okay, I admit, this is no longer an option. At this point, you options are limited to what you can do after the fact. But what if you had thought about the scenario beforehand? What if you had decided to strengthen your ankle before playing basketball? This could have prevented the injury altogether. And this is exactly what reducing does. By choosing to avoid waste, you don’t have to worry about what to do with it once it’s here. Just as preventative medicine is the best medicine, preventative recycling is the best recycling.
Now, it must also be said that preventative recycling is not always an option. I mean, how many foods at the grocery store come in some sort of package? Most! Avoid what you can, you still need to eat something. And even if you are well prepared, you still might sprain your ankle. But the important part is to think about these things before they come so that you can make the best decision possible when you need to.
Over the next few weeks, we will take a look at how to make the most of each option, especially when it comes to recycling because it’s a lot harder than it seems.
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