If you’re like most people, you haul your great big garbage can out onto the street once a week in order to get rid of all the garbage you’ve accumulated over that span of time. But what if, instead of hauling out a huge garbage can, you could bring out one small box. Or even cut down on how often you bring your garbage can out to the street.
To achieve this, you’ll likely need to start looking hard at your life and seeing what habits you can stop in order to reduce your waste. To help you in doing this, here are three ways that you produce less garbage in your life.
Work With People Who Are Conscious Of Their Own Waste
It’s not only the waste that you create in your life that can have an impact on you. You also need to think about the people or organizations that you work with on a regular basis and how their own commitment to being environmentally friendly can make it either easier or harder for you to stay true to your own commitment.
For example, Mandy Milks, a contributor to Today’s Parent, shares that you should try to order food from restaurants that provide sustainable takeout options. This means that they don’t use styrofoam, they don’t automatically provide you with single-use items that you don’t want or need, and that they give you biodegradable plastics to use if you request them. Measures like this can really go a long way toward helping you produce less garbage personally.
Reuse Everything
One thing you should think about before you put anything in the trash is how you could reuse that item again before disposing of it.
For many things, there are plenty of ways that you could wash the item off or use a portion of it for another purpose rather than throwing it away. According to the EPA, you can use things like egg cartons, packaging, paper, and other odds and ends to add to your kids’ craft collection or donate them to a school. You can also get creative with how you use items to save from having to buy something new when you could just reuse what you have for another purpose.
Stop Using Plastic Bags
If you’re looking for a simple place to start on your journey to producing less garbage waste at home, going plastic free is a good place to begin.
In most situations, using a plastic bag isn’t necessary or the only option available to you. Rather, Billy Cadden, a contributor to Popular Science, suggests that you get reusable silicone bags or the like to fulfill the purposes you used to use plastic bags for. This can make a big difference environmentally and with your garbage production.
If you’re ready to start reducing the amount of waste that you create on a daily basis, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you start producing less garbage.
