Living Green > Getting Started: The Top Ten #4

"There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed."
Mohandas K. Gandhi
4) Denying Disposables

If we all just used a glass instead of a water bottle and a coffee mug instead of Styrofoam cup, we would save 244 billion bottles and cups made from petrochemical-based plastics from entering the U.S. waste stream each year. Purchase durable, long-lasting products that can be reused or refilled in order to decrease waste. Consider using a refillable razor, rechargeable batteries, and reusable containers to hold your lunch.

According to the Earth Policy Institute, the global consumption of bottled water reached 154 billion liters (41 billion gallons) in 2004, up 57 percent from the 98 billion liters consumed five years earlier. Even in areas where tap water is safe to drink, demand for bottled water is increasing—producing unnecessary garbage and consuming vast quantities of energy. Although in the industrial world bottled water is often no healthier than tap water, it can cost up to 10,000 times more. At as much as $2.50 per liter ($10 per gallon), bottled water costs more than gasoline.

Not only are people using more disposable water bottles, but companies are using more and more packaging on their products. Take for instance, if you were to buy an mp3 player, or a toy; there is the outer layer of hard casing plastic; then the individual parts are wrapped in a softer plastic; sitting on top of a piece of cardboard (for marketing and branding purposes) with an average of 2-4 paper manuals and booklets. Now that is just WAY too much packaging for one mp3 player. Or what about when you order something from amazon, and it comes in yet ANOTHER layer or packaging, the shipping box!

Now, it's not solely about over-production of disposable items, it's also about the transportation involved and the environmental damage that comes from that. When you get something shipped in an over sized box from Amazon, that box takes up more space in the shipping truck, causing more, and more trips to transport over-packaged goods.

So look around your kitchen, garage and bathroom, just to see how much disposable packaging has made it's way into your house. Then think about all the beautiful, and easy, ways you can either reduce your hand in that disposable waste, and/or reuse it in a creative way (donations to schools for craft projects are always good)!

Re-using cereal boxes
Re-usable products
Green household items

Living Green > Getting Started: The Top Ten #3

3) Recycling

The average person in the U.S. produces 1,609 lbs. of waste each year. Recycling can cut that waste stream by up to 75%. If each of us just recycled paper, glass, and metal, we would save 162 million tons of material from entering American Landfills each year.

A perfect example of why we all need to pay attention to our behaviors, and recycle, is the Great Pacific Garbage Dump. Around 100 million tons of plastic are produced each year, of which about 10 % ends up in the sea. The currents in the ocean have created 5 known Gyre's; The North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific, and Indian Ocean gyres. As you can very well imagine, this is causes many problems, mainly for our ocean life. The Eastern Pacific Garbage patch has the highest concentration of plastic matter. This is troublesome, because plastic does not biodegrade, it instead, disintigrates, causing it to break into smaller and smaller pieces, therefor becoming more digestable for more animals. I'm sure you have all seen dead birds on the beaches, possibly some caugh in a soda holder. But have you seen a turtle caught in a plastic band, forming his shell into the shape of an hour glass. These horrors are a direct result of us not taking care of our planet, and dumping instead of recycling.

We all need to be paying more attention to our actions. Please recycle everything you possibly can. If you need help figuring out what is recyclable and what is not, contact your local recycling plant, and they will provide you with a list.

Wikipedia - Garbage Dump
Wikipedia - Recycling
GreenPeace - Garbage Dump