Setting a goal of living green is not only a nice thing to do, it is an urgent priority if we want to leave a livable world to our children and our grandchildren. One of the many problems we need to tackle is reducing the amount of trash we all generate every year that gets stuffed into our ever-growing landfills.
Here are ten ways you can easily reduce your contribution to this nasty problem. If everyone followed at least half of these suggestions, our world’s trash problem would be well on its way to being handled.
1) Stop using paper towels and switch to rags for basic cleanups. Rags are reusable just by washing them. When you do use paper towels, buy recycled!
2) Get a reusable grocery bag or two, they are sturdy and stop the plastic and paper bag clutter that can get out of hand in our homes too. And now, there are so many styles to chose from.
3) Donate old clothes to charity or sell them on eBay instead of throwing them away, and buy used clothes from consignment shops, eBay or Overstock.com. Buying used products as much as possible also helps keep them from ending up in landfills.
4) Recycle EVERYTHING that can be recycled. Kids are especially bad at making sure things end up in the recycle bin, so be sure to impress upon them the importance of not simply throwing everything into the trash because it is easier.
5) Practice “JIT” (just in time) living. Most of us buy far too much when we go to the grocery store. Then we end up throwing away much of it, which ends up in landfills.
6) If you have a baby, use washable instead of disposable diapers. It may be more hassle, but it is better for your baby and for the earth. For traveling away from home, be sure to look for bio-degradable diapers instead.
7) Buy concentrated products such as shampoo, conditioner, dishwashing soap, and laundry detergent. Packaging is then smaller and takes up less space if it accidentally ends up in a landfill and isn’t recycled.
Make your own drinks instead of buying them, and use reusable containers such as pitchers and cups. Limit use of disposable items such as paper plates, cups, and dinnerware.
9) Start a garden and compost table scraps instead of throwing them away.
10) Only buy what you need, and avoid impulse purchases. Impulse purchases often end up at the bottom of landfills.
Our landfills are dangerously overflowing, be sure to do your part to stop this overwhelming problem.
June 26th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Are they one and the same thing My goal is to publish an HTML message to my List, and then have it appear in HTML format as a blog post. Rylee Other
July 17th, 2010 at 9:08 pm
I’ve recently started a blog, the information you provide on this site has helped me tremendously. Thank you for all of your time & work.
July 29th, 2010 at 10:59 pm
I’ve recently started a blog, the information you provide on this site has helped me tremendously. Thank you for all of your time & work.