If you've never really paid attention to your regular daily activities, take a closer look for a day or even a weekend. Chances are there are some simple things you can do in your own home to cut back on waste, water use, and energy use.
The three Rs of waste management (reduce, reuse, recycle) offer some of the easiest strategies of conservation. By controlling the amoung of waste you use, you can help protect the environment and your health.
Reduce
- Buy products with less packaging.
- Don't buy single-serve containers. For instance, do you really need that bottle of water or can you put water from the tap into a reusable sports bottle?
- Buy only what you need and use all of what you buy.
- Reduce the number of disposable products (like razors) that you buy.
Reuse
- Look for items around the house that can serve another purpose.
- Empty jars can be cleaned out and used to store leftovers.
- Plastic grocery bags (if you have any) can be used as trash bags in smaller wastebaskets.
- Unwanted items around the house can be donated to charity rather than thrown away. Make sure they are in good enough condition first.
- Unwrap your gifts with more caution and reuse the paper.
Recycle
Most communities now provide homes with recycle bins. The key is to use them.
- Recycle newspapers, printed paper, aluminum cans, plastic, and glass bottles.
- Recycle electronics like computers and cell phones to a special facility in your city. E-waste is a problem in landfills.
- Don't forget to compost food scraps, grass, and other clippings from the yard.
Water Conservation
The average household of four ses about 200 gallons of water per day, or about 50 gallons per person. The highest sources of water use include toilet flushing, bathing, and washing clothes. Some easy ways to conserve water:
- Limit showers to five minutes.
- Don't let the water run while brushing your teeth.
- Wash a full load of clothes in cold or warm water instead of hot.
- Repair leaks in your faucets.
- Buy high-efficiency plumbing fixtures and appliances.
Energy Conservation
- One of the easest ways to cut back on energy use is to turn off lights and electronics when you leave the room. Don't turn the radio on in one room, then go watch television in another. Turn off all products that aren't in use.
- Unplug cell phone and MP3 chargers when not in use.
- Turn your thermostat down two degrees in the winter and up two degrees in the summer.
- Replace light bulbs with compact flourescent bulbs. According to Earthday.gov, if every house in the United States replaced only one light bulb, it would prevent enough pollution to equal removing one million cars from the roads.
Other Ways to Go Green
- Bike or walk instead of driving. If that's not possible, car pool or take public transportation.
- Purchase items made from recycled materials.
- Plant a tree. One tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.
- Start a recycling program in your school or work place.
- Don't litter. Even the small things make a difference.
Protecting the environment is an every day responsibility. By looking for things around the home that are wasting water or energy, then making necessary adjustments, you can do your part in taking care of the world in which you live.
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