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Talkin’ Trash Turning “green” seems to be fashionable these days. Concerts take place to save the planet, celebrities tout their hybrid cars and politicians boast about plans to eliminate toxic business practices. But being earth-friendly doesn’t have to be an elaborate process. There are several simple steps that can be done at home to go a long way toward preserving the earth’s natural resources. When thinking of limiting the amount of waste you use in your home, simply remember the three Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Reusing products means that materials do not need to be reprocessed before they can be used again. Even donating your old clothes and household items to a local charity helps you save the earth. According to the United Nations Environmental Program, Americans spend more on trash bags than 90 of the world’s 210 countries spend on everything. The average American throws away 4.5 pounds of trash every day. In total, it is estimated that we throw away about 250 million tons per year – that’s the weight of about 2,500 aircraft carriers or nearly 700 Empire State Buildings. The energy required to create a new can from a recycled can is 95 percent less than the energy needed to create a new one from scratch. Nearly 40 percent of America’s waste is paper and could be recycled; a good portion of our trash is yard and food waste, which could easily be composted and used to enrich soil in your lawn or garden. Simply paying close attention to a few simple everyday practices will not only help you reduce household waste, but will also help you save money.
Use Cloth, not Paper or Plastic San Francisco has already passed a city ordinance against plastic grocery bags, and other cities may soon follow suit. Plastic bags are outlawed in South Africa, Taiwan and Bangladesh. Ireland imposes a plastic-bag tax. Do your part and don’t wait until it’s a requirement. Instead, purchase large, cloth bags to use when you go shopping. These bags can be reused time and again. If you choose not to use cloth bags for grocery shopping, simply choose the paper option (not plastic) and recycle the bags.
Reuse plastic bags If you don’t use cloth or paper bags for your grocery shopping, you can help the environment by reusing your plastic bags as trashcan liners. Reuse bread bags, other plastic food bags and the bags that hold your newspaper, too. These make good makeshift lunch bags for school or work, and they’re useful for picking up after your dog during a stroll through the neighborhood.
Minimize junk mail Not only is it annoying to sift through the mounds of junk that fills your mailbox, junk mail contributes to excess waste. According to the Web site, www.41pounds.org, the average adult gets exactly that much junk mail in a year. Prevent receiving it whenever possible. Whenever you give a company your name and address, that information will probably be added to one or more mailing lists and then sold to even more companies. Avoid giving away such details when possible, or insist that the information is not given to a third party. Also, you can opt out of credit card solicitations by calling 1-888-5-OptOut. For existing junk mail, contact the company and ask that they remove you from their mailing list. Many junk mailers, such as ADVO and Val-Pack Coupons, allow you to opt-out of receiving its mailings online. Since it is nearly impossible to put a complete halt to junk mail, use a shredder to shred the mail pieces and recycle the remnants.
E-commerce Reduce the amount of regular mail you receive by making the move to receive bills and financial statements via e-mail. Let your bank, utility companies, credit card agencies and other billers know that you prefer to receive information about their services via e-mail instead of through snail mail.
Buy in bulk Excess packaging results in overstuffed landfills, so consider buying in bulk to not only save waste but also money. Be cautious, though, and beware of “bulk items” that are just small containers clumped together in more packaging.
Reduce packaging Many manufacturers are already exploring ways to reduce packaging in order to reduce their impact on the environment. Beverage cans are much lighter and most use recycled aluminum and shipping cartons that contain larger percentages of recycled fiber. As a consumer, choose products made with the highest recycled content and packaged in the leanest container made of easily recycled material. Buy less processed food; it’s better for your body and reduces packaging waste.
Use reusable products Don’t buy disposable batteries. Instead, buy a charger and rechargeable batteries. Not only do you save money-purchasing batteries, but it takes 50 times the energy contained within batteries to make them. Also, try to avoid single-use cameras. The price of digital cameras continues to decline, so purchase a digital camera instead of one that requires film. Do not throw away plastic food containers. Reuse butter bowls to store everything from leftover food to nails or other odds and ends.
Create your own compost An easy way to make your own compost is to recycle food scraps. These food scraps are chock full of nutrients. Making your own compost saves you money, and it makes good use of waste that would otherwise be sent to a landfill while providing rich nutrients to your garden. Melon rinds, carrot peelings, tea bags, apple cores, banana peels – almost everything that cycles through your kitchen can be used for compost. The average household produces more than 200 pounds of kitchen waste every year. You can compost all forms of kitchen waste, though meat, meat products, dairy products and high-fat foods like salad dressings and peanut butter can present problems. Meat scraps and the rest will decompose eventually, but they will smell bad and attract pests. Eggshells decompose slowly, so they should be crushed. All additions to the compost pile will decompose more quickly if they are chopped up a bit before adding to your pile. To collect your kitchen waste, keep a small compost pail in the kitchen to bring to the pile every few days. Keep a lid on the container to discourage insects. When you add kitchen scraps to the compost pile, which also includes leaves and grass clippings, cover them with about eight inches of brown material to reduce visits by flies or critters.
Purify water Last year, Americans spent nearly $11 billion on more than eight billion gallons of bottled water. Then we tossed more than 22 billion empty plastic bottles in the trash. In bottle production alone, more than 70 million bottles of water consumed each day in the U.S. drain 1.5 million barrels of oil over the course of one year. So, instead of purchasing bottled water, use a water filter to get taint-free drinking water. Not only will this help reduce your waste, it will save you money. Plus, you can recycle the filters by sending them back to the manufacturer.
Recycle your toilet paper The average American uses 50 pounds of tissue paper per year. While paper-recycling facilities don’t want your used tissues or toilet paper, you can reduce waste by seeking out recycle-content paper products. Look for the highest content of post-consumer waste since products that use pre-consumer waste don’t do much to stem the flow of paper entering the landfills. Attempt to cut back on the use of other paper products by recycling old clothing. Cut up t-shirts, jeans and other items for dishrags and dust cloths. This will also help cut down on paper towel use.
BYOCC Bring your own coffee canister when you purchase coffee beans. If you buy beans or ground coffee from a coffee shop, bulk sellers will usually let you bring your own containers.
Recycle electronics responsibly Make sure that your e-waste recycler is not merely collecting and selling your electronics to brokers who will ship it to a developing nation or a prison where it will be dismantled for salvageable parts and dumped. Go to www.ban.org and choose recyclers such as Green Citizens who have taken the Electronic Recycler’s Pledge of True Stewardship. |
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