Cutting back on the use of products is the most important step toward creating an environmentally healthy lifestyle, said Terry Link, director of the Office of Campus Sustainability.

“The last thing you want to do is recycle,” Link said.

Only when reduction and reuse have been ruled out should a product be put in the recycling bin on the curb.

In the book “Cradle To Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things,” authors William McDonough and Michael Braungart coined the phrase “upcycled.” Instead of recycling products — a process that often results in a loss in quality of the product — upcycling takes a once-disposable item and gives it greater use.

“We’ve always been told to recycle,” said Sean Donovan, co-president of Eco, a campus environmental group. “But the truth is when you reuse something, it’s vastly more valuable than recycling.”

The most commonly found item that can be easily transformed and given new life is the plastic grocery bag. They’re everywhere and can last after one use.

You can fuse several bags together by ironing them.

Then use the thick plastic sheet to make anything from a tote bag to a wallet. The fused plastic is waterproof and reliable.

This new product can last for a long time, with virtually no waste created in the process.

“Plastic bags are a huge waste,” Donovan said. “A lot of little things you need you can get from your waste if you’re creative and a little bit crafty.”

Another product that can be easily reused is the inner tube of a bike tire. After getting a flat tire, people sometimes throw away the thin, black rubber circle.

By cutting it, attaching a buckle and adding a couple of holes, this can become a sweet new belt.

Or, for the rockers, the tubes can just as easily be changed into a guitar strap.

“One of the advantages of doing this is the creativity it unlocks in people,” Link said.

Once you start looking at products and waste in a new, sustainable way, tons of possibilities arise. Old beer cans can become jewelry. Cereal boxes can become folders to take to class.

“I think there’s something in the human spirit for which the idea of taking waste and making something pretty or useful out of it is a good thing,” Link said.