Today is Earth Day…..Actually, the 40th Anniversary of the Holiday. People everywhere are doing things in honor of the Earth. Some of the events are wonderful while others seem like just another way to make money. But that’s not really what I wanted to talk about. I figured, in honor of Earth Day 2010, I’d take a look at trash.
Trash is everywhere it seems. Even in “wild places” you can sometimes find litter. And consider for a moment the movie Wall-E. The Earth was finally so filled with trash that the humans went to live in space.
It doesn’t have to be that way though. if each family did just a few things it would reduce that trash load dramatically. How about a Earth Day Resolution to watch your trash output and work to make it smaller? You can start with these tips.
First, Think Compost.
A big step in reducing waste, is composting. Make a pile, get a compost bin, but you’ve gotta get that compostable waste our of your trash bag and back into the ground.
Then Comes Reusing
Reuse whatever possible to keep it out of the land fill. Things like shopping at the thrift store and washing out your plastic bags and containers it all keeps things out of the land fill. If you’ve gotta let something go – try Freecycycle or donate it to a place like Good Will or the Salvation Army.
Switch to Cloth
Paper towels, paper and plastic bags, paper napkins, tissues. You can easily switch to cloth for all of these things and save both money and trees, and….reduce your trash output!
Of Course You’ve Gotta Recycle
Obvious – but sometimes it just still needs to be said
Bring Your Own Containers
Water bottles and coffee cups are huge culprits of the trash pile up – and it’s so easy to bring your own reusable container instead. Some places will even give you a discount on your drink fill up if you provide your own container.
And, when you buy in bulk, reduce the packaging even further and bring your own! In many cases, the jars and containers you use can be reused each time – that means no pasta box, no bag of candy, no container of sugar, no soap dispenser…less trash!
These ideas are just the tip of the…trash pile. Get creative. Make a challenge out of it – see how little trash you can produce in a week, in a month, even all year. Not only will it reduce your trash bill, but it will help make our amazing and wonderous planet happier too!
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