Friday, July 11, 2008

How to Reduce Your Trash to One Small Bag a Week

I'm so proud of my family, we have managed to reduce and recycle our way down to ONE SMALL BAG of garbage a WEEK!


Our family of four did it and so can you! Here is the way how:

RECYCLE

There are bins around the City and at the Landfill to recycle newspaper, cardboard, misc paper, milk jugs and tin cans. Keep a separate bin in your garage or carport to collect these items and bring them for recycling weekly.

Bring your drink bottles and cans for recycling - you have already paid a deposit on them, so you can collect the money back plus you are keeping good recyclables out of the landfill.

Many of the bottle depots around town also collect glass jars (clean, no lids, can keep labels on), milk and juice cartons. BBK Depot is also accepting old television and computers.

London Drugs will accept all plastics (1-7) and styrafoam. Make sure the items are clean and are without lids. If you have a lot they ask that you separate them by number.

For a list of specific places that accept recycling visit http://www.rdffg.bc.ca/Services/Environment/Solid_waste/Recycling/index.html

Give your unneeded stuff to thrift shops or give them to away on Freecycle http://www.freecycle.org/group/Canada/British%20Columbia/Prince%20George


COMPOST

Compost your grass cuttings and kitchen waste (no meat, bones or milk products) to make great soil for your garden. Don't have a garden? Give it to someone who does - they will appreciate it!

Not sure how to start composting? There is lots of information if you just google 'compost'

Large yard cleanups (grass, tree branches, etc) can be brought to the landfill for composting. This compost is later sold to the public.

CONSUMPTION

Take time to think about purchasing that new item - is it really needed?
Don't purchase items that have excess packaging
Do more home cooking and baking
If you need that Timmie's or Starbuck's coffee, bring along your own mug
Bring your own shopping bags to the store
If you eat take out - do your really need the wrapped sandwich placed in an additional bag?
Stop using paper towels - use rags that can be washed and used over again
Stop using kleenex - use hankerchiefs that can be washed and used over again


I'm sure that there are many other ways to reduce your impact on the earth. These are the things my family did and within six months it has become habit. We are a normal family and used to use the City's medium sized garbage container. It was usually full most weeks waiting for pick up.

With only one small bag a week, we feel better, have reduced our consumption, and are feeling much more environmentally friendly.

2 comments:

CoCargoRider said...

We just recently went from the American standard trash can of 90 gallons to a whopping 29 gallon can. We will still only put this small one out every2-3 weeks. Keep up the good work.
Namaste

Deanna Caswell said...

I get excited every time ours is less than half full. We have a few more habits to break, before we get as low as you. Good job!

Ivory

www.littlehouseinthesuburbs.com