Let Junk King Riverside Help You Reduce, Recycle, Reuse Your Household Clutter Most of us probably learned in elementary school the “three R´s” of environmental responsibility: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. For several decades now, the scope of environmental damage tied to our economy and way of life has become thoroughly evident. We urgently need to reduce the amount of things that we purchase, reuse them for as long as possible before eventually sending them to the trash, and attempt to recycle as many things as possible instead of sending them to the local dump. Today, however, many environmental experts agree that the ethic of the “three R´s” may not go far enough in helping us radically reduce our environmental footprint. Instead of talking about reducing, reusing, and recycling the products we use, many local governments, environmental organizations, and concerned citizens have started to talk about the need to transition to a “zero waste society.” According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “Zero Waste is a goal that is ethical, economical, efficient and visionary, to guide people in changing their lifestyles and practices to emulate sustainable natural cycles, where all discarded materials are designed to become resources for others to use.” In essence, a Zero Waste Society is one where the underlying ethics of the three R´s that we learned in elementary school are taken seriously to the point that we design waste out of our economic system. Unfortunately, there are several new challenges today that make it extremely difficult to implement the “reduce, reuse, and recycle” ethic. Below, we look at a few of those challenges, and explain why working with Junk King of Riverside for all your junk removal needs may very well help individuals, homeowners, and business owners successfully reduce their waste footprint as we move towards a future Zero Waste Society. Challenge #1: Changes in the Recycling Landscape In the past couple of years, the recycling industry has been upended by the decision of China and other Asian countries to no longer accept exports of cheap plastic recyclables. Over much of the past couple of decades, the vast majority of the plastics that you dutifully separated into your recyclable bin were not actually “recycled” by the waste management company that picked up that bin. Rather, those recyclables were further sorted and the vast majority of plastics were shipped to China and other countries for recycling. With most Asian countries no longer accepting our plastic waste, much of the plastic items we separated for recycling today end up in the landfill or incinerators. So what exactly can we do about this? Firstly, avoiding single-use plastics is the best way to reduce your plastic footprint. Don’t accept plastic bags from the grocery store, and try to purchase items that have limited packaging materials. For other plastic items that cannot be avoided, however, you might consider hiring professional junk removal companies like Junk King of Riverside. Over several years of working in the junk removal industry, we have found innovative ways to keep all types of junk, trash, and waste out of our local landfills. We are proud to say that our mission is to ensure that 60 percent of the junk collected at each job site is either recycled, reused, or repurposed, rather than being dumped into landfills. We have developed a huge network of relationships with recycling facilities, thrift stores, donation centers, and other businesses that specialize in finding ways to reuse or repurpose your junk items. We offer both residential and commercial junk pickup services throughout the Riverside area, including to the communities of Bloomington, Colton, Corona, Fontana, Grand Terrace, Jurupa Valley, Loma Linda, March Air Reserve Base, Moreno Valley, Norco, Redlands, Rialto, Riverside, and San Bernardino. Let Junk King Riverside Help You Reduce, Recycle, Reuse Your Household Clutter