REUSE, REDUCE, RECYCLE. Refuse, reimagine

The rule of 5Rs as a new guideline for life in the 21st century.

A simple rule, that consists of 5 easy to-follow actions, that actually could save the world. No exaggerations, anyone can become a hero and save our planet, but read this first - so you’ll know what to do afterwards.

recycle

Great news! It’s pretty much common nowadays to have at least a few bins at home or even at a work place. Another good bit of info for your karma — almost every packaging has label on it, which helps us to save time and instructs us on in which bin we shoudl throw the packaging away and if it could be recycled at all. Okay, so here’s the secret trick, therefore you better write it down (unless you have some magic power — remembering information you just heard) — to be even more effective and in order to save even more time you can check the labels directly at the store. The variety of each product you can find on the shelves these days is crazy, but it can be helpful as well. Check the label, so you won’t buy the actual waste.

We are definitely not the ones, who should tell anyone what is better to consume, but according to different sources, it’s better to eat fresh veggies and fruits every single day. “Five portions of fresh fruits and veggies a day, keep a doctor away”, and those “medicines” usually can be found without any packaging at all, so no one has to worry about waste.

Last, but not the least, with every year there are more and more products that support the idea of recycling — usually they choose recycled packaging or can be easily recycled themselves. But at Flawsome! we think wider — the product itself is helping to recycle. You’ve probably already heard about our juices and more specifically about the fruits and veggies we use — they have flaws, and just like us humans, no fruit looks like the other one.

reuse

You’ve heard about second-hand stores, haven’t you? Well, they are the perfect example of how the whole concept of “reuse” works. “One man’s trash — another man’s treasure”. It doesn’t mean, that second hand is full of bad, ripped or broken stuff. Actually, everything that you can find there are things that someone doesn’t need anymore, or it doesn’t suit him/her anymore. Whatever the reason, the concept is fantastic — “use it again”.

“Reuse” isn’t about clothes only. Almost every single thing you’d rather throw away can be used again. Glass bottles can be refilled with any drinks, metal cans can be used as a storage for pencils, brushes, cutlery, as a pot for plants etc. Here your fantasy flows. Seriously, the possibilities are endless. Oh, and don’t forget about the fun stuff as well, as you can decorate every packaging and make it more suitable for you! Make it bright, make it funky, make it minimalistic or leave the original packaging — whatever you do, the most important is, that you actually do something with it, and so, save the world.

reduce

The next one even sounds nice — all you should do is minimize the amount of… well, actually everything. The truth is almost everything that we own is a waste-to-be, so do we really need that many things? By asking ourselves this question every time we are going shopping (groceries as well) we can also minimize our expenses and concentrate on quality, not quantity. Oh yes, this is another important rule which you should write down or remember (if you are the one with superpowers).

refuse

This one may be the easiest, but at the same time the trickiest one - all you need to do is to say “no”. The packaging that cannot be recycled, shouldn’t be bought at all and unfortunately, sometimes this is where we all struggle. Pizza boxes, for example, are hard or even impossible to recycle due to the traces of oil left by pizza. That doesn’t mean we all should say: “NO” to pizza, we are not even suggesting this (every hero has a weakness, right?). Whenever you order a pizza, make sure that afterwards all food leftovers are removed, as well as excess oil. However, if there’s too much oil and it cannot be soaked up with a napkin, this box becomes an actual waste. Good news — lid of that box still can be recycled.

Bottom line: choose wisely, check the labels, and double check the “actual waste”, maybe there’s something what can be recycled or reused.

reimagine

This one is our absolute favorite, therefore we felt like we have to share it with everyone. We do not treat waste as if it should be thrown away. In our world, where everything from news to food is consumed quickly and doesn’t have a long life, it feels different and innovative to take something that is treated as a waste and give it a second look - so we can give it a second chance as well. Inspiration can be found everywhere, just as sources. Consider this as a new project and you’ll be surprised how much hidden talents something weird and unremarkable can have.

More information about recycling in the UK can be found here.