With Earth Day just around the corner, it's a good time to take stock of your impact on the environment and make some changes to your lifestyle. While there's no shortage of sustainability tips in print or on the internet, sometimes it can be difficult to figure out what will work for you and your family. And if your days are anything like ours, we're busy from the time we get up until we go to bed, which means we need eco-friendly solutions that are easy to implement and maintain.
Here's our shortlist of five easy changes we've made in our home, and their eco-impact:
- Recycling - hands down, we think we made the biggest
impact by recycling. Why? It reduces solid waste going into landfills, uses fewer natural resources to create new products and helps to reduce greenhouse gases. What can be recycled? While municipal waste recyclers can vary somewhat, the EPA has a comprehensive list of recyclables, including cans, glass, plastic bottles, drink boxes and paper. Our results? For our little family alone, we calculated that recycling saved over 200 bags of trash going into our landfill annually.
iStockphoto - Minimizing food waste - up to a third of our solid waste in the US is from food, and most of us aren't aware of the valuable natural resources that go into producing that waste, which according to the NRDC includes 25% of all fresh water and 4% of the oil we consume. We've been able to eliminate almost all food waste from our trash. How? We don't buy more food than we know we can eat, we've simplified our meals with more basic foods (which is healthier anyhow), we're careful about storing food properly and we eat leftovers and all other foods before they go bad. Some added benefits we've noticed? We are spending less money on groceries and on trash bags.
- Reducing packaging waste, our way of precycling to minimize waste - our favorite ways to do this?
- Reusable drinking bottles - disposable plastic water bottles are recyclable but valuable resources are needed to manufacture them, and the same issue applies to bottles and cans for many beverages. We keep several types of reusable bottles on hand, including filtering and fruit infusing water bottles. The benefit? Not only do we reduce our consumption of bottled water, but sugary soft drinks and juices as well.
- Reusable lunch containers and flatware - what could be more convenient than having your favorite meal at your fingertips? There are many good quality, food safe lunch containers available, and many are designed just for specific foods like salad, soup or sandwiches. We keep a variety of these containers on hand for to-go meals and healthy, home prepared breakfasts, lunches and snacks. No need for prepackaged meals or fast food!
- Buying food in bulk - we buy in bulk and store where it makes sense for us, such as with olive oil, flour and rice. We keep smaller amounts of these staples in refillable containers in our kitchen, where they are conveniently available.
- Being water wise - droughts, inefficient use and increased demand are stretching our limited fresh water resources, and the EPA reports that homes use more than half of all publicly supplied water in the US. We wash full loads only when using the washing machine or dish washer. We also make sure that leaky, dripping faucets and running toilets are repaired promptly. This was not only environmentally responsible, it helped us save on our water bill!
- Lastly, we donate or sell what we don't need - it's amazing how clutter can sneak up on you. When you decide to clean or organize, the temptation is then 'when it doubt, throw it out.' That usually means it ends up in a landfill though. There are many fine charities who will accept donations, and some will even pick them up from you. These donations may even be tax deductible!
