Five Simple Methods for Lessening the Amount of Trash You Throw Out
We have all had an experience like this in one form or another. It’s the natural byproduct of living in a consumerist society; products get used and whatever remains of them will become waste. Sometimes it can become overwhelming, not just for the environment but for the aesthetics of any image conscious homeowner! Unfortunately, very few of us are capable of completely shedding off our consumerist instincts and start living a trash-free lifestyle. But don’t fear, there is hope yet! The thing is, a lot of the trash that fills up the landfills is actually extraneous. There are several things you can do to lessen the amount of trash that piles up in your house without changing your lifestyle one iota.
5) Get a cloth bag for your groceries or reuse old bags
This is so simple it surprises me that more people haven ‘t caught on to it. It involves purchasing (or making it from old clothes that are lying around would be even cooler!) a cloth bag which you will bring with you whenever you go to the groceries. Don’t get paper or plastic, bring your own bag!
For those of us who have a penchant for saving the old paper/plastic bags we get from the grocers but never seem to find a use for them, why not just bring them with you next time you go grocery shopping? Eventually you will have to throw those bags away, but at least you’re getting your money’s worth out of them.
4) Avoid purchasing items which are individually wrapped
You know the kind, those products you can purchase which come wrapped in individual plastic containers. To lessen the trash produced by these items, simply buy the version that doesn’t come prepared. Instead of the cookie box with each snicker doodle encased in it’s own plastic home, just get the box full of cookies. They’re delightful no matter how they’re wrapped.
Something as simple as buying 2 galleon water bottles instead of the 24 set of smaller bottles would also go a long way to saving valuable space in the environment and your home.
3) Forget the bottle entirely
In fact, why not forget purchasing water in the bottle anyway? Instead, invest in a single container which you will use to store the water in your house. There are usually water dispensers at all major grocers where you can pop in a quarter or two and, presto chango, your quarter becomes a galleon of water! If filling up water bottles in the grocery isn’t your thing, you could even purchase on of those water purifiers that you put on your faucet, or even a water distiller!
2) Keep things organized so you know what you have and what you don’t
This is something that’s often overlooked in most households, if the kitchen isn’t kept organized then the chance of purchasing something you don’t really need increases quite a bit. I’ve seen it happen many times, you purchase a brand new bag of flour only to discover that you have no room for it because the old bag still have a small amount of it’s original quantity. The solution? Too many people just through away the good flour to make use for the new one. Always finish items before throwing them away, if that’s not done then it’s a surefire way to needlessly fill up the trashcan.
1) Purchase less packaged goods
When you boil down to it, a lot of the stuff we throw away is stuff we didn’t really need in the first place. The most important thing to consider when deciding the best way to reduce the amount of trash that piles up in your home is to consider buying only what you need. Purchase more raw ingredients, less microwavable meals. Cooking your own food will reduce the garbage in the house significantly, it will also give you plenty of chances to impress your guests and family! Go ahead, pull out that old dusty cookbook and start scrounging through the recipes until you see something which catches your eye. You never know, after sometime you may find that you can never go back to TV dinners again!
