Less Waste is More (Eco)

It baffles me that we are capable of producing so much trash. Our neighborhood does pickups twice a week and many neighbors have entirely full bins plus extra bags for EACH of these two pickups.

There are only two of us and two cats so I suppose the lack of children helps in the trash department but so much can be reused or recycled so surely we can all do something to help reduce what goes into landfills.

Tips:
- Most local recyclers will take codes 1 and 2 plastics. Always recycle these, there’s no excuse not to. Most will also take paperboard like your cereal boxes and snack boxes.
- Our recycler does not take glass (though we can take it ourselves to Ecology Action in downtown Austin). Either way, we try to avoid buying glass. (www.ecology-action.org)
- Buy larger containers. Don’t buy the individually packaged stuff. This will save you money too. (www.costco.com)
- Compost! It’s as simple as building a bin, digging a hole in the ground to use, or buying a compost bin. Then all you need is a good mix of green stuff and brown stuff to put in it and a package of earthworms. Green stuff is kitchen scraps like vegetables or living vegetation (like the weeds you’ve pulled). Brown stuff is dead leaves and grasses and things you’ve raked up. Then you can get the worms at any plant nursery. (www.howtocompost.org)
- Watch out for extra plastics. Try to use reusable shopping bags, and not just at the grocery store. Any retailer will let you use your own bags. Also, save the bags your newspaper comes in, these can be recycled with the plastic grocery bags at your grocer.
- Diapers: (infant and adult) Not only are these not biodegradable but it’s really not safe to put human waste in landfills. This is why we have sewage systems. If you have to use a disposable consider flushing the poo first. There are cloth and hybrid alternatives. “G Diapers” are a flushable hybrid where you basically have an outer pant, inner waterproof liner, and a flushable disposable. The flushable disposable is effectively a giant flushable maxi pad. You rip open the disposable part, dump the “dump” in the toilet, follow with the flushable itself, swirl with a stick (provided), and flush. The poo goes into the sewage and there’s nothing to add to the landfill. Did I mention they’re hella cute? (www.gdiapers.com)
- Save scratch paper. How many times do you go to print something out and an extra page prints with just a couple lines of irrelevant text? Save these for scratch paper or for your kids to doodle on. You can even draw simple pictures for the kiddos to color instead of buying wasteful coloring books.
- Speaking of books, buy used. Most used books from used book retailers are in great condition. And again, you’ll save money. Then you can sell them back too and complete the circle. (www.halfpricebooks.com)
- Reuse your plastic containers and ziplocks. Since you’re buying larger eco-packages of your favorite snacks, divvy them into single portions with containers or snack size ziplocks but then reuse those containers all week.

Of course, some of these things may be practical for you and others won’t. If it’s not practical then you’re not likely to stick with it and there’s no real fault in that. We’re all busy enough.

But, every little bit does help and if you only have a weekly trash pickup or a “pay as you throw” program then it can save you money too.

Post any additional tips or ideas you have.