Think about what you've thrown in your trash can in the last week. Much of our trash could be used again. Not surprisingly, many candidates for reuse include the very heavy, bulky items, which are often made of glass, metal, and boxboard. These items increase the weight and, therefore, the cost for disposal of our trash. These items also consume a great amount of valuable landfill space.
Many reusable items are noncombustible and hinder the burning operation of an incineration system.
Finally, most reusable items are inorganic and can contaminate compost production. Reuse is far less expensive than recycling, incineration, composting, or adding to a landfill because reuse involves no processing of the material from one state to another. Reuse does not involve common hauling or shipping costs or handling fees. By withholding entry of these materials into the waste stream, both disposal costs and, in some cases, disposal itself are avoided. The pennies are saved by avoiding disposal costs and the earnings are through increasing the life of our resources.