Photo Credit jpstanley

James sent me an email the other day about a new term he had come across – Precycling.

It wasn’t one I had come across before either. According to Wordspy, Precycling is

Purchasing products based on how recyclable they are

With the earliest citation coming from 1989.

The Wikipedia entry on Precycling is more comprehensive:

Precycling is the practice of reducing waste by attempting to avoid bringing into the home or business items which will generate waste. It includes such practices as buying consumables in bulk to reduce packaging, buying consumables in recyclable packaging over non-recyclable packages, avoiding junk mail, and using electronic media for reading materials, especially throwaway items such as magazines or newspapers.

I guess this is a another form of ethical consumerism.

This post, written by Tom Raftery originally appeared on GreenMonk: the blog GreenMonk: the blog - Green from the roots up, Sustainable from the top down