Make Less Trash

Written by Lovelyn on March 13, 2009 – 2:29 pm -

When I first moved to the UK I was very impressed with the recycling programs here. In Florida, if you wanted to recycle you had to do it yourself. You’d have to collect all your recycling in different boxes and drive it to a recycling center. This is inconvenient, so most people don’t bother recycling.

In the UK besides getting our recycling picked up from outside our house on trash day, they recycle more stuff. They even have separate bins for compost–food scraps, cardboard, yard clippings. Initially, the recycling situation was quite confusing for us. We didn’t know what we could recycle and what we couldn’t. Now that we have the hang of it, we think it’s quite good.

People create a lot of trash. The average American throws out 1,500 pounds (675 kilograms) of garbage every year. The average UK resident throws away their own body weight in trash every 7 weeks. Only 55% of the trash in the world gets recycled. The rest of the trash gets incinerated or buried in landfills.

When garbage is incinerated the ashes can be used in the making of roads but mostly the ashes are just buried in landfills. The incineration of trash also produces a lot of pollution. When trash is put in a landfill it’s not simply buried in the ground. First it’s sealed so that air and water can’t get in. This pretty much makes the landfill a tomb for mummified trash. If no air and water get to the trash it takes a very long time to decompose and sometimes doesn’t decompose at all. These landfills can spring leaks causing toxins to seep into water supplies.

We should all make an effort to cut our waste production. Here are some simple ways to get started.

Use reusable stopping bags

Reuse paper and plastic bags

Wash and reuse resealable storage bags

Print double-sided

Use scrap paper and old envelops to write notes and shopping lists

Donate old clothing

Have a yard sale when you need to get rid of something

Join Freecycle

Use cloth rags

Use cloth napkins

Buy in bulk to cut down on packaging

Use reusable batteries

These are just a few simple ideas. If you are interested in more ideas about how to cut down on the amount of waste you produce check out My Zero Waste. It’s a great blog about a family who’s trying to cut down the amount of trash they make. Also check out Life Less Plastic. This blogger is trying to cut plastic out of her life.

Photo by D’Arcy Norman

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