On average, 4.3 pounds of waste is generated each day. 55% of the 220 million tonnes of waste produced in the U.S. end up in over 3,500 landfills every year. There are many ways you can reduce the amount of waste in your day that will help you save money and help the Earth. These ten easy steps can make a huge difference in your daily life!
- Reusable containers and bags. Take them along with you to shop, transport, and for packaging food. For food storage, we recommend bags made of recyclable material and glassware.
- You can also reuse water bottles, coffee cups, and plates! Get reusable, refillable kitchenware that can be reused and recycled instead of plastic and paper.
- Avoid individually wrapped products, especially food in single-serving containers or snack packs.
- You can start composting in your yard and kitchen. You can also compost yard and food scraps into fertilizer. They make a very organic and effective fertilizer.
- Online bill payment Paperless payments to your bank and other bills can help save trees. Americans get about 30 pounds of junk mail per year. It is possible to reduce paper consumption by taking a few moments to unsubscribe from junk mail.
- You can also go paperless in your kitchen! Use reusable napkins and washcloths instead of paper towels.
- Recycle more! Before you start a new notebook, fill up your old one. Print on both sides of your paper and make a shopping list using recycled paper or old envelopes.
- Bulk purchase is possible You can also save money by buying bulk! Also, this saves your time as you do not need to go out to shop every now and then. Unless, well, you are a shopaholic.
- You can reuse old items like old t-shirts for cleaning or old food containers for storage. Indians are amazing at it. The world can learn from them.
- Donate old goods. Donate your old clothes, furniture, books and other items. It is better than disposing of it and can help someone who needs it. Donation is a noble deed. You help a human and you help the environment as well. So, why think further?
There were 1 billion tons being wasted annually on top 8 percent items like canned food in 2013. Some would suggest reducing this by 50%, but what about those things used for making our clothes? What if we had better ideas how to treat these everyday garbage sources before they pollute a landfill or take years just down the road from now. If recycling has become as big an issue throughout history because not only does it promote sustainability and environmentalism, then why hasn’t there been any real progress towards eliminating them even though trash products make 40 times more greenhouse gas emissions than plastic containers combined. Let’s start acting now. Hope the above points gave you an idea about how to begin.
You can find more information on ways to reduce waste by reading our how-to guides for reducing, reuse, and recycling.
This post was written by Robert Miller. Robert Miller is the owner of Tote Enterprises, a locally owned and operated waste management company that offers garbage pickup in Pinellas county. Tote Enterprises is a provider of solid waste collection, transfer, recycling, and disposal services. We have an extraordinary waste industry notoriety covering the Pinellas county area.
