In pulling together this blog, one theme kept popping up for the WasteMINZ Reuse Working Group – what is reuse, and is it well understood? There are a number of news articles that the group found that were “Great examples of Reuse” but on reading the article, it was just interesting recycling. So - what makes reuse, re use?
In 2023, the Reuse Working Group and Product Stewardship Steering Committee did some work on waste definitions, and here is what they agreed on:
REUSE - the second step in the waste management hierarchy. Reuse means the repeated or continual use of products or components in their existing form, for the same purpose for which they were originally conceived, without the need for significant alteration, thereby extending the lifespan of those products or components and replacing the need for new products or components and replacing the need for new products or components.
To be reused, products or components may or may not require preparation for reuse between uses.
PREPARATION FOR REUSE - means checking, cleaning, sanitising, repairing, refurbishing or similar recovery activities that enable used, broken and/or faulty products or components that have become waste, or would otherwise become waste, to be reused without any other pre-processing.
RECYCLE - the third step in the waste management hierarchy. Recycling refers to a set of processes for converting materials, which would otherwise be discarded as waste into new products. This may be done once, several times or many times, thereby eliminating the need to use new, raw materials. For example - steel cans, aluminium cans, glass, paper and many other materials can be melted down and recycled into the same product over and over again. This represents closed loop recycling. Plastics, by contrast are usually made into a different product. For example, milk bottles can be made into insulation materials or mats and pots for plants (open loop recycling).
In reuse a product may be cleaned or sterilised, but doesn’t change form, whereas in recycling there is a change of form. If we take beer bottles as an example – a Swappa crate is reuse, whereas dropping your glass bottles in your kerbside in the North Island will see it recycled into a new product.
Reuse also sits alongside repair and repurpose in the Ministry for the Environment waste hierarchy.
REPAIR means returning a broken, defective or otherwise faulty product back to a usable condition that allows it to fulfill its original intended use. Repair can also include maintenance activity that keeps a product in this usable condition to avoid failure or defect.
REPURPOSE means using again a product that would otherwise become waste, for a different purpose to that for which it was originally conceived, without the need for significant alteration. For example, wooden pallets being turned into wooden shelving. It is often this repurposing that starts to get confused with recycling.
Follow this blog for some great examples of reuse (and sometimes repair and repurpose).
Cafes, restaurants, hotels and organisations across the country are introducing milk kegs for their coffees. But while you might associate drinking from a keg with knocking back a few beers, these kegs are designed to eliminate the up to 10,000 single-use milk bottles used at each cafe every year.
Although many of us remember putting our glass milk bottles and tokens out at the mailbox for the milk man every morning, kegs solve the issue of delivering milk at scale, more easily than can be done with smaller glass bottles. Kegs are usually designed to hold between 10-20 litres of milk, many are made of stainless steel. But there are also some containers made from LDPE that are still 100% reusable with a life span of about 8-10 years before being recycled.
At WasteMINZ’s 2025 conference you will be able to sample keg milk for yourself- as Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre has been using milk kegs for the last year – saving 2,430 plastic bottles from landfill.
As organisations and territorial authorities grapple with issues around reuse including financing, reverse logistics and systemic changes, being aware of some of the recent research, tools and calculators that exist can be helpful. See below a list from the working group of some useful sources of information.
Many consumers are aware of Kowtow Clothing and its ethical approach to making garments 100% plastic-free - from buttons to threads. Designs are planned to minimise waste and developed to last rather than fade with seasonal trends. All of this is at the very top tier of the waste hierarchy, rethinking the approach to making good quality clothing.
After purchase, Kowtow continues to take responsibility for their garments and designs ways to extend their life. Anyone can join Kowtow’s Collective, and with that comes certain benefits. Every Kowtow garment comes with the promise of free repair for all Collective Members.
Extending the life of garments is the perfect way to break the "use and discard" cycle of the linear fashion model. Subtle and purposeful repair techniques help items live longer, as well as adding character and value. Minor repairs are free: including mending split seams or broken stitching, fixing small holes or tears and replacing buttons.
The process is designed to be easy. Individuals first fill in a short questionnaire about their garment and supply a minimum of one image which details the fault. Once the garment has been accepted, individuals then need to send it back to Kowtow within 14 days. Alternatively, the garment can be dropped back to a Kowtow store. Once the repair has been completed it will be sent back to the owner, free of charge.
Since the inception of the Kowtow repair program in 2018, their in-house team have repaired over 1500 garments.
The reuse blog, We Choose Reuse, brings you stories from the frontlines of reuse, in the hope it provides inspiration to others. We will be publishing this blog on a quarterly basis so send any reuse initiatives to fiona@wasteminz.org.nz to be included in the next one.
This blog is proudly brought to you by the WasteMINZ Reuse Working Group. The Reuse Working Group is an initiative of the Product Stewardship Sector Group but is supported by other WasteMINZ sector groups. Its main purpose is to raise the profile of reuse and make it more talked about than recycling.