What if nothing was wasted? Not a single material, not a single effort, not a single moment. What if everything—even what the world calls ‘trash’—was absorbed back into the lifeblood of humanity, redeemed and transformed into something that serves, nourishes, and inspires?
This isn’t some utopian daydream. It’s the reality we can build if we choose to approach recycling with a mindset: where every part of life integrates into a unified whole, where nothing is isolated, and where every element has purpose.
Blog Post Lens: This time, the lens is just a personal suggestion.
Try imagining this in your own life. How would it work? Imagine a recycling center lets you sign up to receive other's resources. Imagine going to a recycling center to look for a microwave, and then meeting up with an old friend who just so happened to be recycling a microwave.
The Problem: The Disconnect Between Us and Our Waste
In the current system, recycling is mechanical. It’s impersonal. You toss a bottle in a bin and hope it doesn’t end up in a landfill, but you have no real connection to where it goes or what happens next. Worse still, if something doesn’t fit into the process, it’s discarded completely. This disconnection mirrors a deeper issue: how we’ve allowed broken systems to sever the relationship between humanity and the world we’re called to steward.
It’s time to restore that connection. Because when we see resources—all resources—as part of a living, breathing system that we belong to, we begin to think differently. We stop treating waste as an afterthought and start seeing it as an opportunity to give back, reimagine, and build something greater.
Why the Current Paradigm Isn’t Working
The flaws in the system are obvious, yet their roots stretch far deeper than logistics. Recycling today mirrors a society that has fragmented its purpose, its relationships, and its vision of life itself. We have built systems that echo our broken priorities, a reflection of a civilization that has lost its way.
We live in a world that prizes efficiency over humanity. Every action is measured by speed, productivity, and convenience—a relentless march that leaves no space for beauty, for sustainability, for wholeness. Waste is treated like a shadow we can ignore, swept aside in the name of progress. In this paradigm, short-term gain always eclipses long-term restoration.
We are driven by consumerism and materialism, where value is measured in possessions rather than purpose. Things are produced, consumed, and discarded in a frantic cycle that reflects the emptiness of a society searching for meaning in objects. What doesn’t serve immediate whims is cast away—whether it’s material, time, or even relationships. This endless appetite has made the earth a landfill for our desires.
Our cities, too, betray this disconnection. Urban design has severed us from nature and each other. Architecture prioritizes speed and sterility over harmony and connection. Concrete jungles rise without roots, neighborhoods isolate rather than unite, and beauty becomes a luxury rather than a necessity. We design spaces that reflect the same fragmented thinking we apply to waste.
But perhaps most deeply, we have lost a sense of time and purpose. We live as though only the present exists—the momentary satisfaction of now. There is no vision for tomorrow, no commitment to a greater whole. Without time, there is no sense of stewardship, and without stewardship, there is no redemption. What happens to the things we throw away? What happens to the potential we ignore? What happens to us when we live this way?
Underneath it all is the creeping shadow of hyper-individualism. We believe we are separate, that our lives are ours alone. But isolation is an illusion, and the fragmented systems we cling to—systems that divide, discard, and disconnect—are unsustainable. We live in a society that believes that the self supersedes all. That the self is the supreme arbitrator of what counts as good and what counts as meaningful. And so, inevitably, the self will prioritize what it immediately sees and knows—the present moment. It will not prioritize others, nor the future, nor what most benefits others in the future. It will only see the thing in the moment and the self that wants this thing. This self will only seek the quickest, most efficient way to get it, with little regard, if any, to how meaningful it is. This self runs as fast as it can towards what it wants without regard to the plants it tramples and chokes along the way. It fails to see that others need those plants. Indeed, this self does not regard who it runs past. It runs too fast to see that person's face, nor see what that person needs, nor the boulders nor burdens the person carries.
This hits at the core of our being as sinful humans. Ever since the Fall in Genesis 3, where humanity decided to put self above God, we have become self-serving beings with a sinful and broken nature. And here it manifests in the terrible form of hyper-individualism, an incredibly pervasive problem. When many are hyper-individualistic, it results in a society that wastes its resources.
A society that wastes its resources is a society that throws away its purpose, its connections, and its future. It is a system out of balance—like a body that has forgotten how to heal itself.
The Vision: Reabsorbing Resources into Humanity’s Body
The human body is a perfect system. Nothing is wasted. Cells die, but their components are broken down and absorbed back into the body to nourish growth and healing. Muscles tear to rebuild stronger. Every nutrient, every process, every effort serves the whole.
Now, imagine if the same principles applied to our world. Imagine recycling not as a passive, rigid process, but as a living flow of restoration—a system where materials, like cells, are absorbed back into the body of humanity.
Picture a society of...
Nothing Discarded: Even if an idea or material doesn’t immediately ‘fit’, we find its underlying value—its essence—and make it fit elsewhere. Just as every part of a human body contributes to its flourishing, every resource contributes to the flourishing of civilization.
A Society of Communities in Action: Recycling hubs aren’t just mechanical centers but places where people come together. Artists, scientists, and thinkers collaborate to turn ‘waste’ into art, technology, and nourishment. Schools teach children how to transform scraps into beauty. Neighborhoods build with materials that were once cast aside
A Society of Regenerative Flow: Plastics become polymers for advanced tools. Organic scraps nourish the soil and grow food. Old electronics are stripped for minerals that build new technology. Clothing fibers become insulation or creative art pieces. Everything flows back into the world in a form that benefits the whole—just as the body regenerates and uses every resource.
A Society of Restored Relationships: This isn’t just about resources. It’s about people. When we all pitch in—when we all take ownership of the process—recycling becomes a shared purpose. It binds us together, reminding us that we’re part of something much larger than ourselves. Like parts of a body working in harmony, every person and every effort plays a vital role.
Collaboration and Shared Living to Minimize Waste
Waste doesn’t exist when we see its potential through the eyes of partnership. What one person sees as unusable or meaningless, another might see as a treasure or an opportunity. Minimize “waste” through collaboration by finding others who can either benefit strongly from that “waste” or turn it into something meaningful for anyone, including the person who initially discarded it. Endeavors that feel less meaningful when done alone can take on profound purpose when done in partnership. For example, if someone wants to write about something requiring specialized knowledge they don’t have, it could take far too long alone. But when another person brings complementary expertise, research, or vision, the “waste” becomes a flourishing project. Keeping an eye out for opportunities to repurpose what others call “waste” can transform not just resources, but entire lives.
The Deeper Reality: Stewardship and Redemption
Underneath all of this is a truth humanity has often ignored: we were made to care for creation. In Genesis, God gave Adam and Eve dominion over the earth—not to exploit it, but to nurture it. When we waste, when we discard, we reflect the brokenness of a world that has forgotten its purpose. But when we redeem what was lost, when we reintegrate resources back into life, we reflect something far greater: the redemptive heart of God Himself.
Just as the body heals wounds and regenerates what was broken, so too can we heal the broken systems of our world. Recycling, then, becomes more than a process. It becomes an act of love. It’s a tangible way to embody what it means to restore, to steward, and to live in harmony with creation.
The Future: A The World like Body
In a world inspired by the human body, everything has a place and everything has purpose:
Imagine a world where the artist sees trash not as waste, but as a canvas waiting to be transformed.
Where the scientist views unusable materials as resources for breakthrough solutions.
Where the community builds systems where people and resources thrive together.
Where the dreamer envisions cities where nothing is wasted—where streets, homes, and parks pulse with life, beauty, and redemption.
Imagine creating entrepreneurial hubs and entire infrastructural systems—systems that evolve over time—to bring everyone together and create beauty out of the overlooked, to receive richly and give generously, and to flow resources along rich currents of love and connection. To flow all currents across the waters of Earth and across the rich ocean of humanity.
We can build this world. We can bridge the gap between the discarded and the restored, the forgotten and the redeemed. It starts with a simple, yet radical shift: seeing everything—everything—as part of the body of humanity.
Just as the human body doesn’t let resources go to waste, neither should we. Let’s take the ideas that don’t seem to fit. Let’s take the materials that others call worthless. Let’s reimagine them, reshape them, and reintegrate them into a story of flourishing and hope.
Because nothing—and no one—is beyond redemption.
This isn’t just a concept. It’s a way of life. It’s a vision of a world where we all pitch in, where nothing is wasted, and where every act of restoration echoes the greater story we’re part of. Are you ready to be part of it?
Let’s get to work.
The core ideas of this post are mine, but ChatGPT expanded on them somewhat. I wrote this blog post by asking ChatGPT to turn my ideas into this format. If you want to know what exactly I came up with myself, feel free to contact me directly
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