Think about your effect on the environment. Do your shopping selections add a lot or a little to the waste stream? Can your purchases be used a single time or repeated times? Are your appliances durable, fixable and energy efficient? Do you conserve or squander natural resources through daily habits? We all on occasion make choices of convenience that have more environmentally harmful consequences than would more carefully planned purchases and activities. The trick is to become aware of the impact of our decisions and try to start making environmental stewardship a habit, not a choice. By conserving energy and natural resources, by making more careful and informed purchases and by becoming more aware of the waste we create and support, we can start making the world a cleaner, healthier place to live for ourselves and those who follow. Follow these tips to make your shopping experience environmentally friendly.
1. Think before you buy. Do you really need the item? Can you make do with what you already have on hand?
2. Avoid single-serving packages.
3. Avoid packages containing several individually wrapped items.
4. Buy eggs in cardboard cartons, not polystyrene.
5. Buy loose rather than prepackaged produce.
6. Buy concentrated products when possible.
7. Avoid single use, nonrefillable and disposable products, such as paper towels, throw-away cameras and disposable razors respectively.
8. Ask clerks not to bag purchases of only a few, easily carried items.
9. When asked whether you want paper or plastic bags, select the type you are more likely to reuse for other purposes, such as trash can liners, newspaper recycling or future shopping.
10. Avoid plastic packaging when there are affordable alternatives.
11. Make your Earthday celebration memorable for a "waste-free" celebration by boycotting use of disposable items such as paper plates and cups at your cookout.
12. Need extra picnic tables, chairs, or even an industrial size barbecue grill? Consider borrowing or renting items that you will use only occasionally.
13. Cleaning up after barbecuing is easy and toxic-free. After the charcoal has cooled, clean the grill by placing wet newspapers on the racks, close the lid and wait for an hour. Rub the newspapers across the racks. No need to scrub or to use special cleaning products.
14. Lawn grooming for your cookouts is a breeze when mowers, weed eaters and hedge trimmers are kept in tip-top shape. Regular maintenance prolongs the life of yard equipment and ensures maximum performance.
If you take the total amount of waste produced in Mecklenburg County and divide it by the number of residents, you'll find that a Mecklenburg County resident produces almost 7 pounds of garbage daily! That's a lot of trash to produce in a world where natural resources -- like land and virgin materials -- are getting scarcer. It's time we as individuals take responsibility for both what we consume and what we dispose. What we dispose of wastes energy and materials and can release pollutants into the environment. When we reduce the amount of waste we produce, we save energy and reduce pollution.
Here are some strategies to help you reduce your packaging/garbage before you even produce it:
