Reuse - Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages and Disadvantages

Reuse has certain potential advantages:

• Energy and raw materials savings as replacing many single use products with one reusable one reduces the number that need to be manufactured.
• Reduced disposal needs and costs.
• Refurbishment can bring sophisticated, sustainable, well paid jobs to underdeveloped economies.
• Cost savings for business and consumers as a reusable product is often cheaper than the many single use products it replaces.
• Some older items were better handcrafted and appreciate in value.

Disadvantages are also apparent:

• Reuse often requires cleaning or transport, which have environmental costs.
• Some items, such as freon appliances or infant auto seats, could be hazardous or less energy efficient as they continue to be used.
• Reusable products need to be more durable than single-use products, and hence require more material per item. This is particularly significant if only a small proportion of the reusable products are in fact reused.
• Sorting and preparing items for reuse takes time, which is inconvenient for consumers and costs money for businesses.
• Special skills are required to tweak the functional throughput of items when devoting them to new uses outside of their original purpose.