The Three Rs of the Environment or are there more?

In response to my recent blog post about ethical shopping in Edinburgh, Jenn Jilks left a comment saying she had taught the Three Rs at school. That got me thinking about how we define the three environmental Rs - Reduce, ReUse and Reycle are the three that always spring to my mind but are there more?

I thought of Refuse (as in don't buy something that you don't need or refuse the packaging) but that is more or less the same as Reduce (as in buy less or buy essential products that have less packaging). Then there's Repurpose, which although similar to ReUse is different enough to add in - you can reuse something for the same purpose (like ealways drinking water from a reusable water bottle) but repurposing means finding a new use for something when it's no longer fit to fulfil it's original purpose (like re-purposing your water bottle as a vase for dried flowers when it springs a leak). There's also Repair - I could have repaired my old water bottle if I could have identified where the leak was and worked out a method to fix it. I've certainly repaired many items of clothing - see this post for an example.

I read this interesting article in the Guardian about how decluttering (which is currently all the rage) isn't really the point, certainly not the end point as you really need to ask what is going to happen to all the stuff once you've decluttered it? The secret is to be minimalist about how much you buy and acquire in the first place. Which is difficult sometimes, specially if you are a crafter and like to have good stocks of materials around to work with. (My craft materials in the main are all second hand or repurposed). 

Have you got any good ideas for the various Environmental Rs? Leave them in the comments!