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This has nothing to do with Lance Armstrong's routine before a race. Rather, as the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) explains, to precycle is to "make buying choices that support responsible products and packaging, make recycling easier and reduce the amount of garbage you throw away. Precycling is a good way to start squaring your personal behavior with your principles. But don't forget it also sends a signal to manufacturers that responsible products and packaging are good business. The idea is that our behavior can change their behavior."TreeHugger.com chimes in with: "Precycling represents the stage before recycling and, unlike recycling, it expends little energy. Precycling happens at the point of purchase, and entails you choosing the product that comes in the least packaging (therefore diverting waste from landfill) or bringing along your own container or bag. Instead of buying packaged sandwiches, for example, take a lunchbox to work, along with cloth napkins and a reusable water bottle."
"While recycling is, of course, a positive thing, it still requires energy to transport the materials, melt them down and then re-manufacture items," says Patricia Mayville-Cox of GreenDaily.com. "Precycling tries to avoid the amount of stuff that gets chucked into landfills AND the recycling bin to begin with."
Some precycling tips from EDF:
- Avoid the paper vs. plastic dilemma
- Buy large single containers
- Pass on styrofoam
- Avoid single- or limited-use items
- Compare the size of the package to the size of the product
- Choose the container that can be easily recycled
- Spread the word
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