Five Easy - Even Effortless - Ways to Reduce Household Waste For Greener Living
As I begin this article -- a look at five easy ways to reduce household waste without even realizing it -- I wonder if readers see me as yet another voice preaching an occasional "Go Green" message as the new fashionable "it" thing.
I hope not, and here's why...
I don't really see myself as "Green," but simply practical.
Our family chooses items for our home that are built to last and opts for reusable products over disposable ones.
This cuts down household waste and ultimately saves money.
We also reduce waste by participating in our curbside recycling program.
Neither of these things are hard to do, and we were doing them long before it was "the thing" to do.
A good example of "built to last" options are casual or outdoor plastic dishes.
I did not buy cheap seasonal "top rack dishwasher safe" acrylic plates with the expectation that I would wash them however I want and simply toss when worn.
Instead, I bought tougher commercial quality dishwasher-safe plastic dishes, and five years later they're still going strong.
That's easily two to three fewer sets of plastic dishes being thrown out by our household in five years' time.
Another way to drastically reduce household waste is switching from paper towels and napkins to cloth.
Before Christmas, I bought one dozen rolls of paper towels for our home, and by mid-Summer I had opened only three.
While paper towels are essential for some things (say, ribs!), we rarely use paper towels for spills or cleaning.
Instead we reach for an old standard, soft, absorbant cotton flour sack dishtowels which are ideal for many uses, from cleaning counter tops to dusting.
On the table, cloth napkins are much more attractive, absorbant and useful than paper napkins.
Best of all, cloth napkins and floursack towels just toss into the laundry -- painless, cheaper and certainly "greener"! Reducing paper and packaging waste in general is not hard to do.
Cardboard and chipboard recycling collection has grown quite a bit in recent years.
Some curbside collections now take flattened cereal and food boxes, and some even take corrugated cardboard.
Don't have curbside collection? Check with your local elementary school.
A nationwide paper collection program, Paper Retriever, places large collection bins at schools to collect virtually all paper and cardboard products -- with the added bonus that the school makes money off the recyclable waste.
When it comes to food, I find the old adage "the less packaging food has, the better it is for you" usually true, and equally so for the waste stream and environment.
Fresh foods require far less energy to create than processed foods, and the "packaging" can go right back to nature.
Amazingly almost 30 percent of residential waste is kitchen waste, and much can be reduced through simple backyard composting.
Now I am no gardener, much less a farmer, but this is possible even in our small suburban yard, and the roses love it.
Any home and garden store can get you started, or see how at City Farmer and get the kids involved...
it's actually fun! My last "effortless" way to reduce household waste is my personal challenge this year, and one others have adopted with ease -- switching to reusable shopping bags.
One weekly trip to the grocery store for a family of four generates at least a dozen grocery sacks.
Even though paper and plastic sacks can be reused for various purposes, they do stack up and add to clutter.
I struggled with this switch, and admittedly ditched the idea for a while, but I finally found a practically effortless solution.
I have two complete "sets" of washable bags, each enough for my weekly shopping trip.
After washing a set in the laundry, into my car they go, ready when I need them.
Sure, when I pop into a store for an item or two, I get a plastic sack.
But on big trips, I save more than 12 bags each time.
Plus, the handles don't break - that in itself is worth the effort! With easy, common sense waste reduction efforts, our household of three typically generates only one partially full kitchen sized trash bag per week.
When I drive through our neighborhood on trash day, I'm amazed to see many homes regularly put out two trashcans or more, but no recycling bin.
Hopefully simple, effective waste reduction ideas will eventually become commonplace -- not "the thing to do" but rather, the thing we all do.
I'm certainly proof that it can be done, and that it doesn't take any extra effort to do it.
I hope not, and here's why...
I don't really see myself as "Green," but simply practical.
Our family chooses items for our home that are built to last and opts for reusable products over disposable ones.
This cuts down household waste and ultimately saves money.
We also reduce waste by participating in our curbside recycling program.
Neither of these things are hard to do, and we were doing them long before it was "the thing" to do.
A good example of "built to last" options are casual or outdoor plastic dishes.
I did not buy cheap seasonal "top rack dishwasher safe" acrylic plates with the expectation that I would wash them however I want and simply toss when worn.
Instead, I bought tougher commercial quality dishwasher-safe plastic dishes, and five years later they're still going strong.
That's easily two to three fewer sets of plastic dishes being thrown out by our household in five years' time.
Another way to drastically reduce household waste is switching from paper towels and napkins to cloth.
Before Christmas, I bought one dozen rolls of paper towels for our home, and by mid-Summer I had opened only three.
While paper towels are essential for some things (say, ribs!), we rarely use paper towels for spills or cleaning.
Instead we reach for an old standard, soft, absorbant cotton flour sack dishtowels which are ideal for many uses, from cleaning counter tops to dusting.
On the table, cloth napkins are much more attractive, absorbant and useful than paper napkins.
Best of all, cloth napkins and floursack towels just toss into the laundry -- painless, cheaper and certainly "greener"! Reducing paper and packaging waste in general is not hard to do.
Cardboard and chipboard recycling collection has grown quite a bit in recent years.
Some curbside collections now take flattened cereal and food boxes, and some even take corrugated cardboard.
Don't have curbside collection? Check with your local elementary school.
A nationwide paper collection program, Paper Retriever, places large collection bins at schools to collect virtually all paper and cardboard products -- with the added bonus that the school makes money off the recyclable waste.
When it comes to food, I find the old adage "the less packaging food has, the better it is for you" usually true, and equally so for the waste stream and environment.
Fresh foods require far less energy to create than processed foods, and the "packaging" can go right back to nature.
Amazingly almost 30 percent of residential waste is kitchen waste, and much can be reduced through simple backyard composting.
Now I am no gardener, much less a farmer, but this is possible even in our small suburban yard, and the roses love it.
Any home and garden store can get you started, or see how at City Farmer and get the kids involved...
it's actually fun! My last "effortless" way to reduce household waste is my personal challenge this year, and one others have adopted with ease -- switching to reusable shopping bags.
One weekly trip to the grocery store for a family of four generates at least a dozen grocery sacks.
Even though paper and plastic sacks can be reused for various purposes, they do stack up and add to clutter.
I struggled with this switch, and admittedly ditched the idea for a while, but I finally found a practically effortless solution.
I have two complete "sets" of washable bags, each enough for my weekly shopping trip.
After washing a set in the laundry, into my car they go, ready when I need them.
Sure, when I pop into a store for an item or two, I get a plastic sack.
But on big trips, I save more than 12 bags each time.
Plus, the handles don't break - that in itself is worth the effort! With easy, common sense waste reduction efforts, our household of three typically generates only one partially full kitchen sized trash bag per week.
When I drive through our neighborhood on trash day, I'm amazed to see many homes regularly put out two trashcans or more, but no recycling bin.
Hopefully simple, effective waste reduction ideas will eventually become commonplace -- not "the thing to do" but rather, the thing we all do.
I'm certainly proof that it can be done, and that it doesn't take any extra effort to do it.
Source...