Reducing is the most environmentally sustainable way to deal with waste because reducing prevents waste.

Reusing is less favorable than reducing because it slows rather than prevents waste.

Recycling is least favorable because it does nothing to slow let alone prevent waste.

While recycling does mean materials get reused, it takes substantial energy just to transport and transform recycled goods into reusable goods. But in an economic system that prioritizes rapid consumption and disposal over preservation, reducing and reusing are downright threatening to goods-producing business.

Recycling, however, is acceptable because it does not challenge business and consumerism, but on the contrary creates new prospects for business and consumption through the recycling industry.

The most environmentally sustainable systems practice all three principles, of course, but they prioritize reducing first, then reusing, and recycling as a last resort. However, in Somerville and Cambridge, as in most of the nation, recycling comes first, and to a more or less quite limited extent at that. As former Somerville mayor Dorothy Kelly Gay once told me, one of the biggest challenges is to somehow get municipal residents to recycle, and to recycle properly.

So, absent institutional support for reducing and reusing, this article pragmatically aims to improve recycling right here in Somerville and Cambridge by raising: (a) five of the most common recycling errors residents make, and (b) some inexpensive ideas for expanding and improving recycling among our city residents.

Five common bungles

In my four years living on Line Street on the border between Cambridge and Somerville, here are five of the most common recycling errors I have seen residents make. Residents erroneously:

1) Leave lids, caps, and corks on bottles and jars. All caps, lids and corks are supposed to be thrown away, not recycled.

2) Fail to rinse or compress/crush containers. Food and chemical residue should be rinsed away as much as possible. Compressible containers like plastic milk jugs, soda bottles and juice cartons should be compressed to save space (hint: use your feet to compress).

3) Mix paper goods with glass, plastic and metal. Glass, plastic, metal, and milk and juice cartons should be placed together, loose, in the blue recycling bins. Paper goods should be placed in paper bags only (no plastic bags), and the bags placed in the recycling bins on top of the loose glass, plastic, metal and cartons.

4) Dump computers, TVs, stereos, cell phones, and batteries. Such items cannot simply be thrown out because they often contain hazardous chemicals. Accumulate then drop such items off at appropriate city locations (for more information, call your city hall; their phone numbers are given at the bottom of this article).

5) Fail to recycle most recyclables. In Somerville and Cambridge, residents can recycle most of their trash if they choose to, but most throw the majority of their recyclables away. Those recyclables most commonly thrown out include junk mail, paperboard (e.g., cereal and pasta boxes), aerosol cans, and laundry and shampoo bottles.

Of course, this article alone will do little to improve recycling in Somerville and Cambridge, so here are some inexpensive ways our city halls could get the word out, and potentially improve substantially recycling among city residents:

Three cheap tricks

(1) Put durable stickers on all recycling bins informing residents of the dos and don’ts of recycling. The blue bins currently tell residents nothing other than that the bins belong to the city.

(2) Produce catchy, paper, stick-on notices which inform residents of the most common recycling errors plus city contacts for residents with questions. Have recycling workers put these stick-on notices on those bins with improperly recycled items. Initially, of course, the workers will be sticking the notices on most recycling bins, but with time, the quality of recycling should improve. To reduce cost, the tickets could be printed and issued once a year, like in late September when new tenants have settled in, rather than on an ongoing basis.

(3) Have the city recycling directors or an assistant write a quarterly or bi-annual letter to the Somerville newspapers to correct recycling errors, and to update and inspire residents to recycle more and better.

These initiatives alone will not vastly improve recycling, but they should spur distinct improvements, and ñ best of all to cities with limited budgets at little cost.

Paul Lachelier is a member of the Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party, and the 2002 Green-Rainbow Party candidate for State Representative in the 26th Middlesex District, comprising eastern parts of Cambridge and Somerville.

For more information about recycling call your city hall and ask for the recycling office. In Cambridge, call 617-349-4000. In Somerville, call 617-625-6600.