In 2016, the city of Chicago “became a municipal laboratory” to test the different ways to disincentivize the use of plastic bags. The city initially attempted eliminating plastic bags, which led to more paper waste. Then it levied a plastic bag tax of 7 cents, an effective behavioral nudge that decreased plastic bag use and increased city revenue. The effort is now spreading across Illinois, as part of a growing trend of decreasing plastic usage across the country.

Instead of throwing broken items away, what if those items could be repaired? The Edinburgh Remakery and the Reading Repair Cafe are attempting just that. Different remake shops have different approaches: some rely on volunteers and provide repair services for free, others charge a fee to make the company more sustainable. What they all have in common is a passion for remaking what is old into what is new again and helping the planet at the same time.

When something breaks, most people go to the store to replace it. In Amsterdam, the UK, and elsewhere, people take their broken goods to repair cafes. Led by volunteers who want to preserve the art of repairs while also reducing waste, these organizations can make a big difference. There are now at least 1600 repair cafes around the world.

All across the UK, zero-waste shops are gaining traction, with over 100 stores popping up in the last two years. They encourage shoppers to buy in bulk, minimize plastic waste, and ponder the power they have as consumers in where they shop. It’s part of a broader trend of reuse and repair that is making it easier to shop and live in an environmentally friendly way.

Eliminating single use plastics requires developing alternatives for consumers. In Durham, North Carolina, Green-to-Go offers a reusable container service for take-out orders. Users can download the Green-to-Go app, which links to participating take-out restaurants. A reusable take-out container replaces the need of as many as 1,000 single use containers, marking an important step toward a circular-use economy.

Taiwan, despite housing 23 million people on a densely populated island, claims one of the highest recycling and reuse rates in the world. The government has created incentives for private companies, which throw some catchy tunes in the mix. But whether or not a country recycles remains, largely, a question of willpower.

Food waste typically ends up on in landfills, which exacerbates climate change, but in Massachusetts, dairy farmers are converting the waste into electricity. Food waste from around the state is gathered, ground, and liquefied and then transported to an anaerobic digester on a dairy farm which is able to convert enough energy to power more than just the farm.

Nationally, only about a third of municipal solid waste is recycled. An initiative to use simpler, standardized signs and labels is helping communities reap greater benefits from recycling.

Eschewing packaging reduces waste. Cleenland, a store in Cambridge, Massachusetts, encourages low-waste shopping by selling household items like soap, cleaner, and detergent in bulk. Customers bring their own containers and purchase the products by weight. The store is among the first in the country to offer package-free shopping.