Are we really aware of the impact and degree of use of the resources needed to obtain our goods and services?
September 24, 2025
Sustainability is the key nowadays. It is difficult to conceive of a project that does not take into account sustainability criteria and that does not consider its impact, measure it, evaluate it and assess it.
We no longer live in a society that turns its back on the planet, but we have internalized that good results are useless if we cannot enjoy them tomorrow. Moreover, regulation shares this path of measuring and evaluating the impact of activities, sometimes with more or less success. But it is undeniable that the concern is there.
And in this muttulabber context, it is good to refresh some concepts that are sometimes used interchangeably but that will help us a lot to set our sustainability strategies.
Making a project sustainable is not only about reducing indicators or quarterly results. It is a work of continuous improvement of processes and attitudes that leads us step by step to improve, to close the circle. If you want to know more about open-loop and closed-loop processes, you can find it here.
Let's start at the beginning, the classic 3 R's are Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Reducing means generating less waste. In other words, if you can do the same thing while generating less waste, it is better. If I can use only one bag, better than three. This is the first and most efficient measure, although it is not always possible. For example, in cosmetics we need a container or support in which to include the legal and safety texts.
At this point another R has appeared, Rethink or Redesign, which invites us to reflect on our habits and rethink them to see if we can reduce the impact of our lives. Rethink is to rethink how our grandparents, even our ancestors, lived and evaluate whether the additional waste we generate really helps to improve our lives or our safety. In other words, we used to buy everything in bulk and then moved on to selling things in packages. Rethinking means reflecting on why we switched from bulk to packaging (probably for reasons of hygiene and waste reduction at the point of sale) and considering alternatives that solve the problem, but do not generate waste. It's an exciting challenge!
Reuse means to reuse something for the same or a new purpose. That is, to extend the useful life of an object, delaying its evolution to Waste. For example, turning old CDs into curtain beads would be reuse.
From this comes a fourth R, Repair. In the last 30 years in the western world we have forgotten how to repair things: shoes, clothes, household appliances, computer equipment, furniture, and a long etcetera of things that when they lose part of their functionality are discarded as waste instead of being repaired. The economic cost of repairing is often equal or even higher than the cost of producing a new product, but we must rethink this approach, since the environmental cost is much higher.
The third classic R and the one we see most everywhere is Recycle. But we must be aware that Recycle arises from the failure of the previous strategies: we have not been able to Reduce, Rethink, Repair or Reuse something and therefore it becomes a waste that we must Recycle.
And this is where doubts often arise in the use of the term, often being confused with Reuse or Revalue.
Recycling means to return the materials of an object to the circuit. In other words, it is still the same material. We recycle plastic by returning it to its grana state to re-create products from the same plastic. The same with glass.
This process always has an energy cost and also the material loses quality compared to the virgin material, since during the use and the recycling process it has accumulated impurities.
Within recycling there is a seventh R is to Recover, since in the same object there may be different materials with different value and recyclability. This is what we do when separating waste at home or in waste treatment plants with electronic equipment.
If we have counted correctly, we have 6R: Reduce, Rethink, Reuse, Repair, Recycle and Recover. We are one short of 7 and that would be Revalue.
The revaluation of waste, also called up-cycling, is a complex and difficult practice, but one that can greatly contribute to the sustainability of a system and to rethinking our production cycles.
Unlike Recycling, which means to return the material to the cycle in its same form and implies a decrease in quality, due to the increase of impurities), Revaluing means to give a new life to a waste, valorizing it as a new material, which can have the same or higher quality than the original virgin material. It is to put into practice the phrase "one man's trash is another man's treasure".
Here, in recent years we have found an infinite number of materials that for one industry are waste, but for another can be wonderful raw materials. For example, in the cosmetics industry, citrus peels are used to obtain essential oils, the peels and pits of some fruits to obtain plastic-free exfoliating particles or eggshells to obtain active ingredients.
There is a long etcetera and we will see more and more, as it is one of the best ways to close productive circles. We don't have to do it all alone, we can achieve solutions as a community.
So, if reusing waste is the solution, why don't we all do it?
Indeed, on paper, it is very simple to close a production cycle. If I generate a waste that is valuable for another industry, I give it to them and that's it, right?
Well, when we come face to face with the situation, the reality is usually different.
We find that sometimes the point of waste generation is very far away and we have to use a lot of resources to move that "waste" to the place where it could be revalued. Or the rate of waste production does not match the need that would be generated if up-cycling is implemented.
Likewise, in the revalorization process we cannot generate a waste that is more dangerous or persistent than the initial waste, nor use an excessive amount of energy. The up-cycling process must be as clean as possible.
We also encounter legal impediments to Reuse, Reduce or Redesign.
And technological impediments for the Recycling of some materials, which, although they are recovered correctly, do not fit the recycling machinery when they arrive at the recycling plant, such as cosmetic containers that, due to their small size, escape the trommel screen.
Another example is the difficulty in applying the R for Repair, since in addition to the fact that production costs are usually lower than repair costs, it is necessary to have a stock of spare parts and trained repair personnel in the same area, which is not always possible.
In other words, the road to sustainability is neither easy nor fast. And it requires a lot of strategic vision. So it is everyone's responsibility to work to implement some of the 7Rs in our daily lives. And it is the responsibility of companies and organizations to have a strategic plan that includes sustainability parameters, not just quarterly indicators, but a real commitment to do things a little better every day, in a more sustainable way every day.
It is not a matter of looking for immediate solutions but of identifying the problems and gradually solving the impediments that prevent us from implementing any of the 7Rs, rethinking solutions that are economically viable but also sustainable and that do not increase the amount of waste we generate, since we must remember that the first R and the most important for sustainability is and will always be Reduce.
Find out more about Celia Campos, Technical Director and co-founder at MuttuLab, author of this article.
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