Do this |
Because |
|
| Try to not dispose off anything |
If
you keep it, fix it, or reuse it for something else you do not have to
replace the item and you create less pollution by keeping it out of the
trash and do not become responsible for the making of a new item. |
significant |
| Avoid products that result in a lot of garbage |
Some products result in a lot of garbage. Most items you can buy at a
department store are over-packaged. Some items have a very short
"consumer use period" (= the time the product is actually in use) and
are discarded very quickly, some even BEFORE they have ever been used.
. Examples are: Anything designed to be disposable. Some of these items
can be recycled but even that requires energy. Don't buy it! |
significant |
| Make sure that trash gets where it needs to be |
Watch
out who is doing the transport of materials that need to go to the
dump. Will they drive it to the dump or will it end up being dumped in
the woods for free? |
noticeable |
| Compost organic waste |
Composting
turns organic waste into compost (no kidding!), a valuable organic
fertilizer. If the organic waste is not in the regular trash you have
less trash, the trash you have does not smell bad, wild animals are not
interested in ripping the bags open, and you do not waste resources for
collection, transport, disposal, storage facilities and methods, etc.
for that amount of garbage. Throwing the organic waste into a pile and
leaving that pile alone for a few years is all you really need to do.
There are better and faster methods, but basically that is it. |
significant |
| Avoid in-sink-garbage disposal |
Shredding
organic waste and pouring it down the drain increases the amount of
energy and number of facilities necessary to clean the water to make it
drinking water again. Compost instead. |
not enough |
| Recycle plastic, aluminum, glass, metals, paper, cardboard |
All
of these materials can be transformed into materials that can be reused
for making new products. Aluminum and glass even help to reduce the
costs for melting any new material when recycled material is added to
the mix. Make sure to remove labels and separate all materials. You may
even have to disassemble products. Even though recycling can save
resources and save energy, in some cases it requires energy and can
create toxic waste. |
noticeable |
| Bring bins out only when necessary |
Every
time the truck stops to pick up a garbage or recycling container it
creates a bit more pollution It needs to accelerate again after and it
idles just a bit longer. If the garbage or recycling bin is not full,
wait until next week. The garbage guys will thank you too - they are
done faster if they only stop for the full containers. |
not enough |
| Recycle large amounts once in a while |
Make
a few trips to the recycling center with a lot of stuff rather than
many trips with a few items of recycling or bottles for deposit. It
saves energy because it decreases the energy needed for transportation.
|
not enough |
| Do not burn any trash at home |
Burning
trash at home is very dangerous. Depending on what is in your trash you
can create extremely toxic materials that drift around in the smoke and
end up staying in the air/water/soil. Trash burning facilities burn
trash at much higher temperatures and also filter the smoke. |
significant |
| Let it rot |
Organic
waste of any kind will decompose naturally if it is exposed to soil,
microorganisms and moisture. Burning it requires just as much oxygen as
natural decomposition but it creates pollution in form of small
particulate matter in the smoke. If you do not plan to heat your house
with it, let it rot. |
noticeable |
| Use biodegradable garbage bags made from natural materials |
This
way at least the bags you use to throw out the garbage will decompose
in time. Stay away from biodegradable PLASTICS though. They are still
made from petro-chemical products and result in wasting those valuable
materials. |
not enough |
| Deposit fluorescent light bulbs in hazardous waste collection |
They
contain mercury which will end up in the environment if they break.
Mercury is a dangerous heavy metal that accumulates in your body and
causes brain damage especially in children. |
noticeable |
| Collect toxic trash and bring it to the toxic waste dump or collection |
Toxic
and hazardous waste is either burned in special high temperature ovens
with smoke filters or is stored in special land fills with additional
lining and other features that make this sort of landfill safer than
others. Not perfect though. Better to not purchase what will be toxic
later. |
not enough |
| Avoid products that result in toxic waste |
Batteries,
oil paints, gasoline, diesel, kerosene, motor oil, break fluid,
anti-freeze, acids, thinners, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides,
anything-cides, chemical fertilizers, medication, antibiotics,
fluorescent light bulbs, etc. are all products that need to be disposed
through the hazardous waste collection. If you don`t buy them you don't
have to worry. |
significant |
| Avoid materials that cannot be re-used |
Materials
like fiberglass, carbon fiber, thermoset plastics, particle board, MDF,
plywood, concrete, masonite, plaster, ceramic, porcelain, vinyl,
kevlar, rubber, ... cannot be recycled and often not be used for
anything else and will sooner or later end up in a land-fill or get
burned. If you do not have them or products made from those materials,
you have nothing to worry about. |
significant |
| Disassemble a product before disposal |
In
order to recycle materials well it is necessary to separate the
materials into groups of alike (or even better: identical) materials.
It is difficult to impossible to do this with suitcases, sneakers, most
clothes, most sports equipment, boats, pens, etc. All this will be a
problem one day. See what you can do to avoid this. Can you disassemble
the product? Could it be designed differently? |
significant |
| Destroy left-over antibiotics |
Antibiotics
need to be kept out of our environment in order to avoid that certain
bacteria are getting resistant to those antibiotics. Unfortunately we
use them way too much and incorrectly which causes problems. If you are
done using them for the prescribed period, put the bottle or pills in
the microwave and boil them good. All living antibiotic organisms will
be killed and you can dispose off the material without having to worry
about negative effects. |
not enough |
| Leave potentially valuable items out for others to take |
Somebody
may keep it instead of using resources and energy to get it new. Leave
it in plain sight and make sure it is clean. Do not break it if it
still works. Do not break it further - someone may be able to fix what
is broken now.
Check if you can give it away or even sell it online (Freecycle, Craigslist, Lespac, ect.). |
noticeable |
| Pick through other's garbage |
If you find it valuable - keep it instead of using resources and energy to get something new.
Check if you can acquire or buy it for little money online (Freecycle, Craigslist, Lespac, ect.). |
significant |
