October is Ireland’s National Reuse Month and it aims to raise awareness about the benefits of reusing everyday items and materials that would otherwise go to waste. Reuse is about valuing our stuff, by using and reusing it for as long and as often as possible. This avoids the need to extract raw materials, manufacture and distribute new stuff, and avoids waste thereby cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions.
This might sound like stepping back in time, to when post-war frugality meant that people held on to things for longer, passed on things they no longer needed and recycled everything from curtains to car parts, but this campaign is targeted at a generation that grew up in a consumer culture that didn't consider where things came from or went to after their use – never mind the environmental consequences of using up primary resources and dumping toxic waste.
Throughout October mywaste.ie invites the public and all organisations to hold and attend community –based workshops in a multitude of areas such as managing food waste and upcycling everything from fashion to furniture. The idea is to bring people beyond the idea of “reduce, reuse and recycle” to a more conscious prevention of waste in the first place.
If you are organizing an event we invite yo to use the mywaste.ie official artwork which you can download
here please ensure to take a look at the branding guidelines to ensure that you are using them correctly.
How can you get involved?
National Reuse Month’s aim is to inspire you and provide you with the skills and tools to reuse more at home, work and at play.
For example , you may have already reused by getting old shoes resoled rather than replacing them, or borrowing books from the library.
To cut down on waste and greenhouse gas emissions, we asked everyone to go further in October and beyond by prioritizing repair, buying second hand and upcycled, borrowing, swapping and refilling.
