Precycling

Precycling is the practice of reducing waste by attempting to avoid bringing items which will generate waste into home or business. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also cites that precycling is the preferred method of integrated solid waste management because it cuts waste at its source and therefore trash is eliminated before it is created. According to the EPA, precycling is also characterized as a decision-making process on the behalf of the consumer because it involves making informed judgments regarding a product’s waste implications. The implications that are taken into consideration by the consumer include: whether a product is reusable, durable, or repairable; made from renewable or non-renewable resources; over-packaged; and whether or not the container is reusable.

Precycling has the ability to build industrial, social, environmental, and economic circumstances that allow for old products to be converted into new resources

The concept of ‘precycling’ was coined in 1988 by social marketing executive Maureen O’Rorke in a public waste education campaign for the City of Berkeley. The application of precycling is not limited to large corporations, but can be administered on smaller scales in local communities. The reason precycling is effective on large scales and on small scales stems from the idea that it shares a common language between experts and non-experts, buyers and sellers, economists and environmentalists. However, it is important to consider that waste prevention systems, such as precycling, require the collaborative effort from several working parts. These parts include prevention targets, producer responsibility, householder charging, funding for pilot projects, public involvement, engagement of private and third sectors, and public campaigns that spread awareness.

The original three-pronged push for waste management is "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." Precycling emphasizes "reducing and reusing", while harnessing and questioning the momentum and popularity of the term "recycle." In addition to this strategy, precycling incorporates four supplementary R’s: Repair, Recondition, Remanufacture and Refuse. Waste is a resource that can be reused, recycled, recovered, or treated. Precycling differs from other singular forms of waste prevention because it encompasses not one behavior, but many.

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Wikipedia