Month: September 2018

Nine Ways to Cut Down on Plastic in the Home

If you’re concerned about green issues in your household, you’ve probably heard just how bad plastics can be for your health and for the environment. If you want to live cleaner and greener, here are some ways to cut down on plastic in your home.

1. Be Clear about Your Local Recycling Program

At present, there are seven different categories of recyclable plastic. If plastic is recyclable, you should see the recycle symbol stamped on it, and a number inside the symbol. The number will tell you the type of plastic it is. Not every recycling plant can handle all seven types of waste, so be vigilant about what you are putting out so it does not end up in the landfill. If it can’t be recycled, see if you can use it for other purposes around the home.

2. Say No to Straws

More than half a billion straws are ending up in the trash every day in the US alone. Reusable options you can buy and carry with you include paper, bamboo, stainless steel, and glass.

3. Invest in Your Own Coffee-Making Equipment

Vast mountains of plastic-coated coffee cups and lids end up in landfills every day. Skip the expensive habit and make it yourself at home using a traditional coffee machine and a reusable stainless steel filter. Buy a travel mug to take your hot drinks with you anywhere. Compost the coffee grounds and use them in your garden or potted plants.

4. Invest in a Water Filter and Stainless Steel Water Bottle

Mountains of small plastic water bottles now litter the planet and as the quality of our water gets worse, the number of bottles continues to grow. Consider investing in a Brita pitcher to filter your water, or a filter that attaches to the tap in your kitchen. Carry fresh water everywhere you go in a durable stainless steel water bottle.

5. Say No to Plastic Wrap

One of the main issues with plastic wrap and plastic bottles, in addition to what they do to the environment, is the problem of harmful chemicals from the plastic leaching into your food and drink. This is even more likely if you heat your food in a plastic container.

You can keep food fresh and protect yourself from plastic by wrapping your food in waxed paper first, not plastic wrap. If you then want to preserve it further, put it in a plastic container. Or consider investing in glass food storage container sets with lids.

6. Bring Reusable Containers to Your Takeaway

If you are treating yourself to a takeaway, consider bringing reusable glass containers with lids to carry your food home. Most places will use Styrofoam otherwise, which is not commonly recycled.

7. Buy Cleaning Product Refills

Many cleaning products now offer a small vial of their active cleaning solution which you can then place in your reusable spray bottle and dilute in order to use it safely. This will save on bottles and on gas being used to lug heavy bottles back and forth.

8. Invest in a SodaStream

If your family can’t live without soda, just think how many bottles and cans you could avoid putting in the trash if you were to make it yourself with a SodaStream reusable bottle system.

9. Use a Razor with Replaceable Blades Instead of a Disposable Razor

Or use an electric one – either way you will reduce plastic waste.

Follow these simple tips to cut down on plastic use in your home. Your health and the environment will both benefit.

How to Find and Organize Clean-Up Programs in Your Area

Thanks to the general public becoming more interested in the environment, there has been an increase in the number of clean-up programs around the US. How can you locate one in your area and join in? Read on to learn more.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

The EPA, as the name suggests, tries to come up with guidelines, rules and processes that can help minimize the negative impact of human activity upon the environment. At their website, you can find projects in your community or suggest ones that need to be done. Click on the map for your area and then narrow down your choices.

https://www.epa.gov/cleanups/cleanups-my-community

Steps to Organizing Your Own Clean-Up

If you don’t want to wait for others to organize a clean-up, you can always do it yourself. For example, maybe your local park and the baseball fields are used heavily but rarely treated with respect. You could start to organize volunteers to get the trash out and perhaps even get rid of the worst bald patches with a new growth of grass.

Here are the steps you would need to take to get a clean-up started.

1. Promote the idea

2. Ask for volunteers

3. Propose a date you know your volunteers can attend, and the baseball diamonds will not be in use

4. Choose someone to be the main coordinator of the event

This person should keep track of all the volunteers and the publicity for the event. Volunteers should be checked in on the day before they start.

5. Contact the local sanitation service to let them know that you will be doing this

You should divide up the different types of trash and check to see that they are willing to handle lawn and garden type trash. Otherwise, you will need volunteers to take the trash to the nearest recycling centers or the dump.

6. Consider getting sponsors

Some local businesses might be happy to donate items or money that can help with the big clean-up. They could help with things like:

* Rubber gloves
* Face masks
* Trash bags
* Grass seed or turf
* Trowels
* T-shirts with the names of you community group and their business on it
* Rakes
* Shovels
* A small marquee
* A first aid kit
* Refreshments
* And so on

7. Plan for refreshments and a party

If people are going to volunteer for the work, they should be rewarded in the form of drinks, snacks and lunch. You can get a range of things cheaply at your local warehouse club. Get some ice and a cooler to try to chill the drinks or keep them cold.

8. Plan a safety talk

Give all the volunteers some hints and tips on how to stay safe while working on the clean-up.

9. Issue a press release about the clean-up day

Get it into your local paper, on the local radio station, and more.

10. Plan some fun activities

Arrange a little friendly competition by seeing who can collect the most cans and bottles in a given five-minute period, and so on. Consider inexpensive spot prizes for the winners.

11. Have at least two people in charge of photos and video

Get a record of the event in this way. You can also broadcast live through your Facebook page or Instagram page. Show everyone how much fun a clean-up day can be and let them come on down and lend a hand.

12. Assess how things went

Review the event at the end of the day to see what went well and what could have gone better.

Finally, plan your next clean-up. You’ve made a great start, so keep on going.