The director of sustainability for SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry knows plenty of ways to support the local reuse economy.

“The beauty of reuse is that you can fold this in any part of your life. So, are you grocery shopping? There are ways to avoid single use products and to bring reuse into that. Are you furniture shopping? Do you want something that’s more durable that isn’t a laminate product that won’t break in a few months? That’s what reuse gives you, they’re durable, they’re unique, it’s affordable, long lasting, it’s fun,” said Sue Fassler, director of sustainability for SUNY ESF.

Fassler says incorporating sustainable practices into your lifestyle, like shopping at a consignment store such as Kid to Kid in Syracuse, can really go a long way.

“I bought some clothes from here, they’re really nice clothes, there’s no stains. So now I’m thinking if I want to resell my clothes here when my son outgrows them, maybe I should take that shirt off of him while he’s eating,” Fassler said.

And as a new mom, reusable diapers has been a life-changing sustainable practice for her.

“Now that he’s eating solid food, we do actually have a disposable liner that goes over it to collect any of the solid materials that we do then throw out. On the outer layer, we have these really cute patterns so he can show his unique style; today, we have some foxes,” Fassler said.

She stores them in a waterproof liner that she can then put in her trash bin until she is ready to wash them.

“We sprinkle some baking powder on it and then three days later we wash it, and it really works. Everything is cyclical, right?" Fassler said. "So like when I was growing up, my parents said that they really had no other option than reusable diapers in many cases, and they had a diaper service. So a lot of sustainability is kind of harkening back to a slower time where people had to do more with what they had. They had to reuse things."

As a parent, Fassler says the habits you set can carry over to your children, but it’s also meeting them at their level.

“Kids are so silly and that’s how they remember things. So get down to their level and get silly with them and help them build lifelong habits. It’s getting outside, even if it’s rainy, even if you don’t feel like it, your kid's going to have more fun in a mud puddle than they would probably on a dry, warm, beautiful day,” Fassler said.

Fassler says there’s many ways to be sustainable, but it’s doing what works for you and your lifestyle.

“I love to go to places where there’s bulk and kind of self serve food and I bring in these glass jars. I have been reusing these for years and you only pay for the quantity of trail mix or rice that you need,” Fassler said.

She says a lot of sustainability is about understanding and empathy.

“It’s explaining and being gentle with people and with yourself and making the kind of interventions that you can in your life in that moment,” Fassler said.