How to Reduce Waste!

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Why is it important to reduce waste, trash and garbage? 

Ponder these facts:

  • There are over 2000 active landfills in the U.S

  • 9/10 of all solid waste in U.S. doesn’t get recycled, although ¾ of it is recyclable!

  • Over 11 million tons of recyclable clothing, footwear & textiles end up in landfills each year.

  • Glass bottles take 4000 years to decompose.

  • You can make 20 new cans from recycled materials using the same amount of energy needed to make 1 brand new (unrecycled content) can.

  • Of the 62 million newspapers printed daily in the U.S., 44 million will be thrown away (roughly 500,000 trees).  However, if 1/10 of all discarded newspapers were recycled annually – 25 million trees would be saved!

  • 40% of all food in America is wasted.

 

Earth Day is a great time to rethink and reduce waste from our own homes.  Take action in reducing trash.

Rethink how you do things by following the 5 R’s

1.      Refuse what you don’t need - Do you really need that item you are about to buy?

2.      Reduce what  you do need

3.      Reuse by using recyclables

4.      Recycle what can’t refuse, reduce or reuse

5.      Rot (compost) the rest

 

14 actions you can take to reduce waste:

  • Be aware of packaging – i.e. Avoid single serving.  Purchase larger or bulk & divide in own containers.

  • Fix things instead of replacing

  • Use cloth shopping bags & Nylon produce bags

  • Rent tools that are not used often

  • Buy recycled/recyclable products when available

  • Compost

  • Carry a metal or bamboo straw and refuse plastic ones

  • Carry your own flatware & shopping bags (Refuse ones at store and fast food)

  • Unscented detergent bottles can be reused to make your own green cleaning products

  • Clothing not good to wear can be turned into rags to reduce paper towel use. 

  • Recycle mattresses

  • Recycle electronics. In Minneapolis/St. Paul go to Go to Free Geek.

  • Check out metal recycling location in your city & county

  • Only buy from companies that have zero-waste goals and eco-friendly policies.

 

We can all reduce our waste. 

One of the advantages of quarantining for a year is it helped us realize how many things we don’t need. 

 

6 Steps to HealthLinda SimonEnvironment, Make a Difference