Now is the perfect time to give up making waste!
Now is a great time to work towards being a zero-waste household; some folks are celebrating Lent and Earth Month is approaching! Zero-waste means moving toward eliminating trash and creating a circular economy by minimizing the amount you send to a landfill.
The basics: arm yourself with reusable water bottles, reusable shopping bags and grocery totes, reusable to-go containers, cloth napkins, kitchen towels and a compost collection container for your kitchen counter.
Getting Started:
Reducing your waste can seem daunting. There’s so much you can do, it’s often hard to know where to begin. But now that you have the right tools, try choosing 3 or more of these easy ways to start reducing your waste today! If you want to go further, check out the resources at the end for more in-depth tips.
- Swap disposables (paper towels, napkins, plastic utensils, paper plates, etc.) for their reusable counterparts (cloth rags, silverware, ceramic mugs, cloth napkins, glassware, etc.).
- Buy in bulk and bring your own reusable container. It saves you money and reduces waste–Score!
- Shop at farmer’s markets and buy items without packaging or with recyclable packaging (like paper egg containers or cardboard boxes).
- Take personal care items like deodorant containers and toothpaste tubes to Upcycle Treasure Box for specialty recycling.
- When ordering online, request ‘no Styrofoam’ in the special shipping instructions. If it comes with Styrofoam anyway, some places like FedEx, UPS or Leftovers, Inc. can reuse Styrofoam packing peanuts.
- Search our database to find places that will accept other unwanted items for reuse or recycling to minimize landfill waste.
- Opt out of junk mail, cancel phone book deliveries and go paperless with all of your bills.
- Keep a zero-waste toolkit in your car containing: cloth shopping bags, washable to-go containers, non-plastic straws (like these cool stainless steel ones), a cloth towel for spills and a spare reusable water bottle so you’re ready when on-the-go!
- When dining out, choose a Green Dining Alliance certified restaurant (and eat your leftovers if you have any). That way you’re supporting restaurants that minimize their waste too!
- Have your whole family take the ‘No Straw Please’ pledge.
- Educate your friends and family about your zero waste efforts so they can try it too.
- Collecting kitchen scraps for compost has never been easier!  Perennial City Composting and Love Your Mother Compost both offer a monthly subscription service to pick up your compostables.
For more great waste reduction tips, check out:
1 Comment
Thank you so much for this!