I read something the other day that really struck a chord with me, "When you throw something away, it never really goes away, it just leaves your house." The very best way to slow the landfill crisis is to reduce the amount of stuff we get rid of (called source reduction). This practice includes purchasing durable, long-lasting goods and seeking products and packaging that are as free of toxins as possible. Source reduction actually prevents the generation of waste and is the most preferable method of waste management. It avoids the cost of recycling, municipal composting, landfilling and combustion. It immeasurably conserves resources and reduces pollution.
But what does that mean to us? Well, believe it or not, collectively, the tiny efforts we make do have a big impact. We've already suggested tips on reducing junk mail and using reusable water bottles and by doing just these two things, my recycling bin has gone from heaping to manageable. It made me wonder how I could further reduce my recycling and garbage amount as well. I still have a lot of print material to recycle; I have to admit that I'm a magazine junkie. I've decided to really put myself on a gloss-free diet for the time being.... no more grocery store moments of weakness! I'm also planning to reduce the number of subscriptions I have and share the issues I do get with friends. We get two daily newspapers and I'm going to talk my husband into making one of them weekend only. Gee, maybe I'll finally have time to clean out those closets I've been meaning to get to! Another item I've been able to reduce from our household is the plastic grocery bag now that, once I empty my reusable bags after a shopping trip, I fold them and put them on top of my purse. That way I'm sure to take them to the car the next trip out. Bringing my own bags often generates "green chat" in the grocery line, I like to think I'm being a good influence on other shoppers. I have been trying different kinds of concentrated, eco-friendly cleaners which really helps in reducing plastic too. We'll be doing a separate blog entry on that soon.
I also took a hard look at what I was throwing away: lots of food, napkins, paper towels and tons of plastic packaging. I was talking to Bonnie who lived overseas. She said a third of the food bought in the UK ends up being thrown away. This wasted food is a waste of money and a major contributor to climate change. To help throw less food away, I'm rethinking the way I cook. My plan is to cook more AND cook less! I'll cook more by batch cooking--some meals like chili and soups lend themselves to be frozen and saved for those days when I just don't have the time to make something (and I'd be heading to the take-out section of the grocery, loading up on plastic boxes of prepared items). Other times, I'll cook less; making just enough so there won't be that extra pork chop or chicken breast that gets shoved back in the fridge and forgotten. For more ways to reduce your food waste, visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com.
Reducing the paper napkins and paper towels was easy. I already had a pretty nice collection of cloth napkins which I decided to not save for company-only meals. I've found that if I dry them on a line or rack, I really don't have to iron them! Microfiber cloths have replaced paper towels for all but the messiest cleanups (like cat hair balls!) Plastic packaging is the toughest problem. I'm still trying to find out if newspaper bags can be recycled with the grocery bags. I'm trying to buy in bulk so I don't have as many shrink wrapped items.
The last suggestion I have for reducing your waste is a concept called "Product Service Systems". It's a new (at least to me) label for an idea that we're already familiar with where a centrally located product is shared (for free or fee) by many people. Libraries, public transportation, theaters, zoos and video stores are just some examples of PSS that we use, enabling us to buy fewer things. In the near future we'll be seeing more and more such as: Book Mooch (a book swap) and PeerFlix (a movie swap).
