The concept of “Zero Waste” is becoming increasingly popular nowadays. Australia and New Zealand have entire states and districts that are advocates of the Zero Waste concept. There was declaration of Wales, in the UK, as a zero-waste area.
Always ask if someone else might be willing to take items that you no longer use. Inquire from your local schools, community group, charities, social halls, social services and churches.
- Compost most if not all of the waste from your kitchen and garden – refer to the section on Compost for more information
- Collect and recycle plastic bottles.
Scour your trashcan for all the materials that can be composted or recycled, so that very little goes in the landfills. Do not use plastic boxes as storage for tools, toys and knick-knacks. Send it for recycling instead. Call the local authorities for additional information on the curbside program in your area or you can check the information on the internet.
- Do not use excessive packaging. The products that you buy do not have to be individually- wrapped. It is best if the packaging or the product itself is from recycled material.
This is a very common belief of the public. However, what you fail to realize is that a single chinaware or dish that gets into the recycle bin could cause the entire contents of the bin to become unusable for recycling. A huge portion of the contents of the recycle bins gets to be recycled, but sadly, a few of them end up contaminated because of people who believe in this kind of myth.
There are different types of views when it comes to recycling. Some believe that recycling is an expensive endeavor compared to just using new materials for production. Others also believe that recycling consumes a lot of energy. Both these points of view are merely myths and there is no truth behind them.
Recycling is not a concept practiced by every household in this country. Only a few households are practicing this. However, hopefully in near future every single household will have recyclable materials ready on their doorstep for collection. Some areas in the country have been recycling for some time now and the recycling rates are very higher than the average. These areas have already begun expanding their range of recyclable materials and that includes wastes from the garden and kitchen that are usable for composting, as well as recycling plastic materials.
It has become very natural for us to throw away our things without even thinking about it. Instead of throwing our things away, we can:
Repair
Repair furniture instead of dumping it into the trash. An expert craftsman can make your old furniture look like new.
Reinstate
Old chairs and sofas can be re-upholstered. Old chairs can also be re-caned.
Reactivate
Buy less stuff! Buy second-hand
A huge portion of our trash may still be very usable for other people. Instead of throwing things in the trash, we can sell them at flea markets, tag sales and thrift shops, where they will find a new home, instead of ending up in the dumpster.
Refuse packaging where possible
For every single dollar that you spend in purchasing a certain product, an average of 30 cents is for the product’s packaging.
The best choice is to reduce our waste at all cost. Most of us barely look at what goes into our trash bin. You might be surprised to find out that a huge percentage of our trash is still very usable. One good example is the huge corporate offices that upgrade their computer system and just throw out the old computers. Even the computers which are in perfectly usable condition go into the trash, just because they are outdated. It is such a waste, because these computers are upgradeable just by reformatting them and installing more updated software.
