Reduce

Reducing refers to lessening the waste stream by preventing waste before it begins.  This can be accomplished in many ways, including:

• Substituting disposable items with reusable or longer-lived items (such as reusable mugs instead of sytrofoam or paper cups)
• Making more efficient use of existing resources (such as double-sided copying or printing).
• Reducing packaging (such as using bulk containers instead of single-serving or individually packaged items)

This principle is already in use around campus, with double-sided copying in departments, reusable tableware at colleges, and bulk condiment servers at Sammy's.

One program that has been recently tested is a reusable mugs program.  This program seeks to reduce the amount of paper and styrofoam cups used in "to go" orders in food service on campus.  Based on the first project at Jones College, a brief description and instructions for creating your own mugs program are described.