Ten Eco-Friendly New Year Resolutions

Are you looking for a simple way to make your life a little more eco-friendly? What better time than the new year to incorporate a few new habits into your life. These small steps can you help you live your life a little greener, one day at a time.

• Recycle – This point can’t be emphasized enough. Recycling not only prevents trash from going to landfills, it reduces the need for the manufacture of new products. Go to Earth911 to find the nearest recycling center or bin. Set up a few separate trash cans. The most important products to separate are paper, plastic, and aluminum. If you’re lucky enough to have curbside recycling in your neighborhood, start taking advantage of this great service right away!
• Reuse – Instead of throwing away unwanted items – from shoes and clothes to appliances and toys – find ways to reuse them. This can mean taking them to Goodwill or the Salvation Army, or selling them in a garage sale or on Craigslist. There are lots of places that take used and unwanted objects to give them new life.
• Slowly Switch to CFLs – Compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) are energy efficient light bulbs that will not only help you live a little greener, but will also put some green in your pocket by reducing your energy bills. The key to switching to CFLs in an eco-friendly manner is to wait until your present light bulbs burn out first. Throwing away bulbs that are still good is creating unnecessary waste – counterintuitive to everything green.
• Use Reusable Bags – You’ve heard it a hundred times. Now, add it to your new year resolutions and actually do it. Take your own bags to the grocery store and stop amassing all those plastic and paper bags.
• Ditch the Disposable Packaging – Do you pack a sandwich for lunch in a zip-top baggie every day? Invest in a reusable Tupperware container or the eco-friendly Wrap-n-Mat and cut down on your waste. All of that discarded plastic will only pollute landfills and oceans for centuries. While you’re at it, get reusable containers for your other lunch items, as well as for any other product that usually ends up in a baggie.
• Buy Organic – You don’t have to convert your entire grocery list to organic items, but invest in a few locally grown or organic items each week. Check out this listing of the 43 Best and Worst Fruits and Vegetables when it comes to pesticide contamination. Buying just one of the top offenders in an organic variety will not only help the environment, it could help your health.
• The Brick Trick – Place a brick in your toilet tank to reduce your water usage. This quick and easy step will save you money all year long!
• Clean Green – You can buy environmentally-friendly cleaning products almost anywhere now. Look for eco-conscious products from Method and Seventh Generation. These are safer alternatives to bleach and other harsh chemicals that will give you a healthier home and environment.
• Cancel Paper Bills – Spend a few minutes online and cancel all your paper bills. Most credit cards and even some water and power companies now offer this handy alternative. If you check your email daily, you won’t lose any of the convenience and you’ll save a lot of waste.
• Stop Your Junk Mail – This action will not only save the planet, it might help save your sanity a bit, too. Who really needs all of those endless advertisements cluttering their mailbox? Go to Green Dimes and stop the junk mail coming to your home.