Waste may be one of the most hazardous problems in the environment. Each day, tons of trash from around the world is dumped into landfills and oceans, in the form of everyday items, such as plastic bottles, paper, televisions, metal and Styrofoam products. Although many of these items can be recycled, they always seem to end up in the garbage, leading to the deaths of animals and their ecosystems. Perhaps items are dumped into the trash because people believe that they will biodegrade. However, this is not true: for example, plastic bags take ten to twenty years to break down, enough time for an animal to choke itself on one. The best of the three “R”s for trash is reduce; reducing causes less waste to enter the landfills. Reuse would be ranked second best, as reusing saves both resources and money. Recycling is also positive, though it is more costly and takes more energy to recycle items. Below are some suggestions to reduce the amount of waste you produce every day, which will lead to the reduction of landfills around the globe.
1. Reuse:
- Store food in plastic or stainless steel containers.
- Have litterless lunches! Use containers instead or plastic bags and disposables.
- Take cloth bags when shopping to reduce the amount of plastic bags.
- Use both sides of a sheet of paper before recycling.
- Print double-sided instead of one-sided.
- Repair old products before you consider buying new ones.
- Use stainless steel water bottles rather than plastic bottles.
- Use cloth towels in the kitchen and during meals rather than paper towels and napkins.
- Bring a travel mug to the coffee shop instead of using a new cup each time.
2. Recycle:
- Paper
- Cardboard
- Newspaper
- Glass
- Plastic (numbers 1,2,4 and 5)
- Metal Cans
- Electronics at a nearby electronic recycling center
- Paint cans at a paint disposal center
3. Compost:
- Fruit and Vegetable Scraps
- Grass
- Leaves
- Tea Bags and Coffee Grounds
- Twigs and Branches
