Waste Reduction

What is waste reduction?

Waste reduction refers to reducing the amount of waste produced and reducing the toxic substances in waste. Think about it, all products you buy come with packaging which will eventually require disposal, most often ending up in landfills. The earth has a limited amount of space and with more and more waste being dumped into landfills, the capacity is running out. The least waste you produce, the more you are helping to save natural resources, energy, costs, and pollution. Waste reduction is a actually pretty easy task to take on, you just have to be mindful of a couple choices and opt for alternatives. Heres a list of the things we've been doing to reduce our waste production:

• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

• Avoid excessive packaging. Packaging accounts for 64 million tons of weight, 33% of our garbage.

  • Buying in bulk reduces the amount packaging waste but don't buy more than you need as that produces wastes as well, be mindful and chose what's right for you.

• Avoid using paper towels. Opt for cloth rags instead.

• Avoid styrofoam. Opt for unbleached paper products.

  • Not biodegradable

  • Toxic chemicals leach out of these products into the food that they contain.

  • Products made with petroleum which is not sustainable and heavily polluting

• Avoid plastic bottles. Use a canteen or nalgene instead!

  • Plastic bottles take 450-1,000 years to biodegrade.

  • People in the U.S. throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles an hour.

  • Plastic contains harmful chemicals (cadmium, lead, PVC,etc.)

• Avoid plastic bags. Bring your own reusable bag.

  • Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year.

  • Plastic bags don't biodegrade, they photodegrade-breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest.

  • Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food.

• Compost. Nature's way of recycling, reduce the volume of garbage sent unnecessarily to landfills and give back to the soils.

  • The National Composting Council estimates the average U.S. household generates 650 lb of compostables every year. (That's a lot of potential soil!)

• Avoid buying new clothing, buy secondhand if needed. Altering clothes you already own is a fun and sustainable option!

  • Cuts down on the amount of fabric waste that ends up in landfills

  • Cuts back on the amount of energy and raw materials utilized to make clothing

  • Support charities/non-profit organizations such as Goodwill and The Salvation Army