Think about whether you really need that item before you buy it.

• Can you make do with something you already have? The more you buy, the more trash you will create, so if you can make the items you already own do double duty, you will create less trash in the long run.

Do not buy overpackaged products.

• Don’t buy things packaged in individual serving sizes. Buy one larger bottle instead of four or eight smaller ones.
• Buy one larger container instead of many smaller ones. Since you are paying for less packaging and shipping, you may also pay less by buying in bulk.
• Ask your butcher to wrap your meat in peach paper only, then attach the price on top to keep the paper folded. Peach paper is a strong, water and oil proof beef or pork wrapping paper normally used to split stages of meat inside a styrofoam tray. It is available in rolls or in sheet.
• Buy fresh, unpacked, fruits and vegetables.
• Buy grains, pasta and dried fruit in bulk.
• Look at whether the package is recyclable in your area before you buy.

Use your own bags when you go grocery shopping.

Both paper and plastic bags do the environment little good.

• Bring a canvas bag with you to the store.
• Ask that store clerks not bag items that have their own handles (milk, bottled laundry detergent) or already have bags (produce) or packages (cereal). Often, the package an item comes in is just as convenient as putting that package in another bag.
• Ask for no bags if you only bought items that you can easily carry or if the items are going straight from cart to car to kitchen.
• Pack your purchases yourself. You can pack them your own way and save time and bags.
• If you cannot avoid getting a plastic bag from the store re use it as a trash bag for the bathroom, bedroom or kid’s room.

Go Paperless

! Paper constitutes about 30% of average American’s garbage.

• Don’t print things if you can see them on screen.
• Receive and process bank statements, pay stubs, bills, and many other documents entirely electronically.
• Read newspapers and magazines online if they are available there.
• Avoid collecting brochures and flyers. Were you going to read them, anyway?
• Use reusable gift bags. You can even make your own out of fabric.

Stop your junk mail.

• A few phone calls can work wonders. It will save you time, clutter, and quite possibly money, too.

Give away or sell what you don’t need.

• Try Freecycle, Craigslist, or your local charity.

Purchase used products from garage sales, classified ads, or anywhere else they are available.

• You’ll save money and reduce the demand for new products. Buying used is a direct form of recycling.

Choose to reuse.

• Use fabric napkins instead of paper napkins or paper towels. Find two or three per member of your family (hint: thrift stores and garage sales are a great source). If they don’t all match and they’re not too dirty, family members can use them for more than one meal.
• Pack a waste-free lunch. Use a lunchbox, not a paper bag.
• Use reusable food containers instead of plastic bags or prepackaged drinks, both in your lunch box and at home. If you do use plastic zipper bags for food storage, you can wash and reuse them several times. Don’t reuse bags that contained meat.
• Avoid using paper plates, paper or plastic tablecloths, and plastic, disposable flatware.
• Use a washcloth instead of a disposable face wipe.
• Use fabric, not paper, towels, in the kitchen and bathroom.
• 

   They’re sturdier and more absorbent, besides.

  Clean with terry towels instead of paper towels or wipes.

Use less.

• Buy only as much of something as you know you can use before it spoils. This may mean a one-week supply of perishable foods.
• Cut dryer sheets, paper towels, tissues, and other things into smaller pieces if you do not need the whole thing.
• Empty the trash without replacing the liner, unless the liner is heavily soiled. Separating out especially messy trash, such as vegetable scraps for compost, will keep liners usable for longer. Reuse grocery bags for trash can liners wherever possible.
• Use only as much soap and detergent as you really need. Open your washer during the cycle. If the water feels slippery, and (in a top-loader) looks sudsy, try cutting back just a bit on the amount of detergent you use, regardless of what the cup says. See how little shampoo and dish soap you really need, too. Many products are very concentrated and, past a certain point, more soap does not mean cleaner.
• Cook at home. Raw ingredients often come with less packaging than prepared, boxed foods.

Compost and mulch your garden with what you grow there.

• It will cut down your yard and vegetable waste tremendously (often around 15% of the waste that households produce)and it will improve your soil and your garden without the use of chemical fertilizer. If you can use mostly materials you were producing anyway, such as grass clippings and fallen leaves, you will also save many trips to the nursery or hardware store to buy mulch and soil.

Borrow, lend, rent, and share

• If you and your neighbor both do your own gardening, do you each need your own lawnmower? Could you rent a tiller (or pickup truck) for the one week in spring when you really need it?

• Use your local public library. Borrow books, music, movies, magazines, newspapers and then return them to share with others instead of creating more.

Maintain and repair instead of replacing.

• Don’t throw out your vacuum cleaner if it isn’t picking up. Check the bag and the belt and make sure the hoses are free of clogs.

Buy for durability.

• Whenever possible, choose a product that you will use for a long time and be able to maintain and repair should it be necessary. It may cost a bit more up front, but it will save waste and money in the long run.

• Durability goes for style and fashion, too. It’s not always possible to tell before buying something how soon it will be hopelessly out of date, but it is usually possible to buy simple, classic styles that you like and can wear or display in your home for a long time.

With energy prices reaching all time records and no sign of them coming down, many people are beginning to complain that these costs are just unsustainable. Well, it’s really no big surprise that energy costs continue to skyrocket when people keep ignoring the importance of something as simple as recycling. Most think “what good are the few cans I just threw in the trash?” or “my recycling effort won’t make a difference”. Unfortunately, that kind of thinking is exactly what keeps costs climbing.

saving aluminum helps reduce the planets energy needs

Did you know that in the United States alone, we throw away enough aluminum cans EACH MONTH to rebuild every commercial airliner in the country?

The solution is simple.  If you have a local residential recycling pickup, use it! If not, bag your aluminum cans and save them for your next trip to town, then drop them off at the county recycling center or cash them in at a recycling depot or machine.

Aluminum prices are on the rise with one pound of scrap aluminum cans now fetching nearly a dollar, and the price is rising fast!

That might not sound like much, but add it up and you might be able to offset the higher price of gasoline simply by cashing in your used beer & soda cans.

Throwing used cans in the trash is like throwing away good money and the energy future of your country. That would be like walking around with a hole in your pocket, and your head…

There are many ways you could yourself and the planet to help solve this problem:

1. Invest in a can crusher, small mechanical device that crushes cans! Can be bought for as little as $15. It will reduce the can size by about 70%, and reduce the energy needed to recycle your spent can.
2. Never throw your cans in the general rubbish. Save the tins on a separate container and then take them to the local recycling centre. Some centres will pay you for these cans, or will collect them from you.

A compactor is a machine or mechanism used to reduce the size of waste material or soil through compaction. A trash compactor is often used by homes and businesses to reduce the volume of trash. Normally powered by hydraulics, compactors take many shapes and sizes. In landfill sites for example, a large bulldozer with spiked wheels called a landfill compactor is used to drive over waste deposited by waste collection vehicles (WCVs). WCVs themselves incorporate a compacting mechanism which is used to increase the payload of the vehicle and reduce the number of times it has to empty. This usually takes the form of hydraulically-powered sliding plates which sweep out the collection hopper and compress the material into what has already been loaded. Different compactors are used in scrap metal processing, the most familiar being the car crusher. Such devices can either be of the “pancake” type, where a scrap automobile is flattened by a huge descending hydraulically-powered plate. The other type is the baling press, where the automobile is compressed from several directions until it resembles a large cube.