Although the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) supports and promotes the 3 Rs, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, their focus has also included a fourth “R”….Rethink.
A program developed by the EPA called the Sustainable Materials Management Program (SMM) encourages consumers to “Think Beyond Waste”. This philosophy doesn’t just mean making good decisions after the usefulness of a product has been exhausted, which is said to be the end of the product’s life cycle. Options at this time include recycling, composting, energy recovery, and landfilling.
In a world more specifically focused on conservation, preservation, and recycling, the term "sustainability" usually comes up in conversation.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), "sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment.
Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations.
