The three Rs of manufacturing

Most manufacturing companies follow a manufacturing plan that uses the three Rs of manufacturing. The three Rs of manufacturing stand for Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Here is a closer look at the three Rs of manufacturing, plus how they are applied to manufacturing.

Number one: Reduce

Reduce in manufacturing means to lower the amount of waste that your manufacturing plant is generating. Here are some ideas you can try to help your manufacturing plant reduce the amount of waste they are generating:

• Ask to be removed from any mailing lists that send you catalogs, flyers, or other materials that are printed on paper. This is especially important if you do not use these catalogs or printed materials because the company is just wasting materials printing these for you to throw away. By getting rid of the extra supplies, you will lower the amount of waste being created for landfills and the company will lower its use of unneeded supplies.


• If you are a manufacturing company, something that you can do is to not be a source of distribution waste. What you need to do is to be selective about the products that you are distributing and to be sure that any personal information that you have for your customers is protected from outside sources of distribution.


• You want to buy products in bulk so that you reduce the amount of packing that is being used to send the products. You should also try to avoid buying products that come with multiple forms of packing.


• Stay away from the disposable versions of products that you buy. Buying the products that you throw away increases the amount of garbage in the landfill but also requires the product to be made repeatedly.


• Try to use both sides of paper so that nothing is going to waste. If you can only use on side, because you are printing something, when you are done turn the printed-paper into scrap paper for your children to draw on or use to figure out math problems. Try using emails instead of writing actual letters to save paper.

Number two: Reuse

When you buy products, rather than throwing them away try to reuse the items more than once before getting rid of them. By reusing products, you can help lower your manufacturing costs, as well as other companies manufacturing costs, but it can also save your business money. Here are some things you can do to reuse products that you manufacture or buy:

• You should always try to reuse paper or plastic bags for other needs around your house or you can keep them in your car for your next trip to the grocery store. You can buy mesh or fabric bags that you can use repeatedly for your groceries instead of the disposable bags.


• Reuse your paper, such as printed-paper, for scrap paper. You can also reuse newspaper as a packing material.


• Rather than buying expensive, large, or rarely used items, you should try borrowing them from friends or neighbors or rent them from another business.


• When it comes to items that you are no longer going to be using or items that you can no longer use you should sell them to second hand stores or donate them to charities, so somebody else can get some use out them.

Instead of throwing, everything in the dumpster your manufacturing plant should try to recycle products or items that they are no longer using and that other people cannot use. You can take your unused items or products to recycling facilities where they can be broken down and used for other products in green manufacturing. You can also talk to your local garbage company to find out what recycling programs they have available for your business to use. You can also buy products for your manufacturing plant that are made from recycled products, which will also help towards recycling.