Environmental Challange: Reduce, Re-Use, Recycle

In a world were consumerism reins free, keeping up with the output of garbage is not only a problem but it has turned into an epidemic as the rise in consumers grows rapidly each year. The idea of throwing things "away" is a false statement. It seems to suggest that the trash is going somewhere, like it is dissolving into the distance with the use of a magic word or some magic spell from Harry Potter. Incindeo! I wish it where that easy.

The reality is that it is taken to a location which is usually out of site and out of mind. You bag your trash up into clean sterile plastic bags, put it into a larger trash barrel and then the magic trash fairies come and get it on a scheduled day of the week. The trash is collected and dumped in a landfill. The trash is left to decompose in the ground, for many, many years. Just to give you some perspective. Plastic, unless it is specifically made with plant based materials will essentially never decompose. That is right, the bacteria responsible for decomposing food and natural materials like cotton, or wood pulp in paper do not work on plastics. The only way found to degrade plastic is sunlight, and buried in a landfill there is very little of that. So when people knowingly throw away plastics including bottles, trash bags, and containers there is a huge problem.
We could fill our earth with the amount of trash we throw away. Fortunately there are some that reduce, re-use, and recycle. This can be done easily and with the right system you can transform your families waste production. This weekend my family is taking on this challenge. We would like to reduce our trash by half in one weekend. This is how we are doing it.


Reduce

• We have already kicked the soda death trap. This was mostly my husband who was addicted to soda, but we helped him along.
• Our children got re-usable water bottles for school and outings. This is great because no matter what we can get them drinks without having to pay for one. All you need is a faucet.
• We are re-using any bags that we do have, such as zip lock bags for food storage. We simply wash them and hang them to dry.
• No more plastic bags for lunches and instead challenge ourselves to creating binto box like lunches, which are more fun that I thought. Creating unique lunches within these little boxes.
• Buying a large container of yogurt instead of individual cups
• We make our own coffee and take it in a re-usable container
• We don't use disposable wipes for the baby, instead we use cut up strips of soft material that we wash and re-use ( I am trying to convince the family we could do the same and cut out toilet paper, but that may take some time!)
• The big challenge is getting rid of trash bags, yes I said trash bags. What is the real use of these anyway? You have two options, either buy a re-usable trash bag, or just go bag less....go on try it, it feels good. We are going bag less!

Re-Use

• For the most part we buy as much as we can second hand, or look for freebies and fix them up if damaged
• We are collecting cans to create a colorful spring mobile for our garden
• I am collection wine bottles and turning them into unique lights for family (I will post another DIY project on this later)

Recycle

• We recycle as much as possible!
• This is a list of things you thought you couldn't recycle but you can
• canned biscuit containers
• any paper including paper towels, tissues, and napkins if they aren't too soiled
• pizza boxes
• wrapping paper
• coffee cups (most are made from post recycled paper products and resemble styrofoam, but can actually be recycled)
• Batteries, electronics, and more (make sure to check with your municipal waste company to find out where to take these items)

The next step in recycling is to re-purpose your food scraps in the form of composting. This is our families personal system.



Step One
Determine an appropriate place to make your compost pile, it should be relatively shaded if possible. It should not be close to your house just in case of fire (which can happen if it gets to hot). The best way is to make a box out of cinder blocks, and that way if there is a fire it will be contained. The next step is to decide on a container for your scraps. The bin should be completely water tight. We choose a old fire place ash bin. It is metal, and water tight and has a good lid on it. It is big but not too big. It is the winter time so the composting won't really take off.  The bin is big enough to store the waste, and start the decomposing before we take it outside to dump it.

Step Two
Organize your family. If you have kids, it is important to include them into the fun. Sit everyone down and decide what things will be thrown into your trash can for disposal, your recycling, and your compost. You would be surprised what you can compost! Go over the list, explain to them how to dispose of things, and what to put in each container. It is a good idea to label when container is which, for an easy reminder.

Step Three
Start reducing, re-using, and recycling!! Yea. I choose to do a little dance as I put the first few things into our compost bin. I thought the other members of the family would be more excited, but they didn't share my jubilation for throwing thing in.


Compost List
tissue
toilet paper
coffee/filters
vegetables
yogurt
pasta
stale chips
crackers
stale bread
seeds
nuts
dryer lint
hair
contents of your vacuum cleaner
and much, much more


Our challenge is to reduce our trash by half. Currently we go through about four trash bags a week. We would like to only have two trash cans full a week. We would also like to stop using plastic bags allthogether. Going bagless is an effort to at least reduce the amount of plastics that are being disposed of. Living more simply is not as hard to do when you remove social stigma's about how one should live. What we are doing is not dirty, or gross, we are reducing our families foot print. We need to reduce the damages made by over consuming, over indulding, and over stimulating our children with needless material things. Our house is like our habitat, lets keep it clean.