Make The Switch
Recycling: What Goes Around, Comes Around
The average person produces 1,610 pounds of waste per year. Recycling can cut that waste by up to 75%. The easiest step to take would be to simply start recycling paper, glass and metal in your own home, and urge members of your community to do the same. If we all started to recycle we could save 162 million tons of material from entering the landfills. If we added plastics to that recycling rotation we would save even more.
There are many ways you can cut down on your use of plastic. Instead of garbage bags, just empty your trash directly into the garbage can. Or if you can’t deal with that, try using recycled or biodegradable bags. And skip the bag every chance you get—at the grocery store, at the dry cleaners, wherever! Also, consider buying things in larger containers—a one gallon bottle uses a lot less plastic than four quart bottles. And remember when you used to drink water out of a glass? Try it again…not every drop of water you drink needs to come out of a bottle!
Did you know...
For every ton of paper that is recycled, the following is saved: 7,000 gallons of water; 380 gallons of oil; and enough electricity to power an average house for six months.
You can run a TV for six hours on the amount of electricity that is saved by recycling one aluminum can.
Getting Started
As resources that were once seemingly unlimited like clean air and water slowly become resources found in short supply, now is the time to become educated and involved in reducing your ecological footprint. Most of us understand that what we do today will significantly impact our future.
Don’t lose sight because you don’t know where to start to start or don’t think that small changes can make a difference. This guide is designed to help get you started with simple steps to improve your health and better the global community.
Fight the Power - Taking a few minutes to turn off electrical devices will help both the environment and your electric bill. The job is simple, when you leave a room, turn off the lights; unplug your computer and printer or any other appliances that does not need to be plugged in. If a plug is in an outlet, it is using energy even if the appliance is off! It is also very important to make sure that the appliances you currently have are maintained and updated to maximize efficiency and energy savings.
Stop the Drain - The average American uses 100 gallons of water before leaving the house in the morning. Cutting your shower time in half and turning off water while you brush or shave are great ways to change this statistic. Skip the bottled water and invest in a filter to purify your tap water. This will help reduce the large amounts of container waste bottles produce, as they are not recommended for reuse.
Other ways you can conserve water: wash full loads of laundry in cool water instead of hot; upgrade to a timed sprinkler system to water your lawn but make sure the water hits the grass not the pavement; use the dishwasher when fully loaded instead of washing the dishes. Saving a little of water will go a long way.
Bright Idea - Switch from your feverish incandescent bulbs to chill fluorescent ones to save over $30 in energy costs per light bulb. The fluorescent light bulbs are four times more efficient than the standard ones, if you replace five of your most frequently used light bulbs you will save about $60 a year.
Experts believe that if every American household replaced 3 standard light bulbs with compact fluorescents, the energy savings would be somewhere near the equivalent of taking 3 million cars off the road.
Say No to Over Packaging - Choosing products with less packaging is a simple way to help reduce the amount of waste that we toss everyday. The amount of waste we use with take out containers, paper plates and plastic cups, can be easily saved by eating in and using real plates and silverware.
Plastic contains various harmful and potentially harmful chemicals and waiting for packaging materials to biodegrade in a landfill will take years. Reducing what you add to the heap and reusing products you have is a giant step toward making a difference.
Food for Thought - Buying organic, local and seasonal foods for just one meal a week can help reduce gas emissions created by importing produce that could be shipped from 3,000 miles or more away. Buying food that is locally grown is a step towards reducing our dependence on oil.
Eco-vocabulary
Green- A generic term used to describe something that has a benign or moderate effect on the environment.
Biodegradable- A substance that has been scientifically proven to break down entirely and return to nature.
Biodiesel – An alternative fuel made from vegetable oil, it is better for the environment than diesel fuel because it is made with renewable resources, is nontoxic, biodegradable and has lower emissions.
Cage Free- This label guarantees that the chickens were not held in cages but does not guarantee that they spent anytime outdoors.
Chemical Free- An arbitrary label, in an effort to avoid exposure to harmful chemicals and to reduce their proliferation.
Chlorine Free – Products in which chlorine was not used in any of the manufacturing stages.
Clean/Renewable Energy- Energy generating technologies that release little or no emissions, such as solar, hydro, wind, and heat.
Electric (Vehicles) - Cars powered by electric motors, powered by a controller, which is powered by a rechargeable battery pack. An electric car is supposedly 35 to 97% cleaner than a gas car.
Energy Star- a U.S. EPA program that evaluates and determines energy consumed or saved by products that either rely on energy to run or can reduce energy use through their application. The energy star label means that a product meets minimum energy efficiency standards.
Fluoride Free- products that do not contain the environmentally harmful chemical fluoride that has been proved to have an adverse effect on livestock and vegetation.
Free Farmed- Administered by the American Humane Association and testifies that dairy cows, chickens, cattle and hogs were raised humanely and under healthy living conditions.
Free Range/Roaming/Pasture Raised- Labels identify cattle that had continuous and unconfined access to pasture throughout their life cycle, and to swine that had continuous access to pasture for at least 80% of their production cycle.
Free Range (poultry) – Chickens have free access to the outdoors for a significant portion of the day. This label is too undefined for the buyer to really know whether the chicken actually made it outside.
Fuel Efficient- Automobiles that reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide, they produce less air pollution and global warming emissions per mile driven.
GMO Free – Products that do not contain or were not genetically mutated. Genetic Mutation of plants may eventually ruin the ecosystems by creating super weeds, killing beneficial insects & contaminating the food supply by cross pollinating with natural plant species.
Green Energy – a mix of energy sources that have been combined to supply electricity that is less harmful to the environment.
Hybrid- Cars that combine a gasoline engine with an electric motor, they produce below average emissions and get above average gas mileage.
Nontoxic- products that do not contain Persistent, Bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals, therefore they breakdown easier and are better for both humans and the environment.
Organic- Food and fiber grown or produced in accordance with the National Organic Standards Act. There are no toxic pesticides and fertilizers, synthetic hormones, antibiotics, sewage sludge, GMO’s or radiation.
100% Organic- all product ingredients are organic
Made with Organic Ingredients- at least 70% of the ingredients are organically grown.
Pesticide Free- Simply implies the absence of the use of any pesticide residues based on tests in the field after harvest.
Phosphate free- Phosphates in dishwashing and laundry detergent can cause excessive algae growth, which can lead to the depletion of oxygen levels, killing aquatic life.
Recyclable- a product that after its useful life can be remanufactured into another useful material or product, keeping it out of the waste stream.
Recycled- Materials that have been recovered or diverted from the solid waste stream, either during the manufacturing process or after consumer use.
Solar Powered- Solar cells covert the sun’s energy into electricity, the process allows the sun’s energy to be stored in a battery that runs the unit. The process costs nothing and is nonpolluting.
Tree Free (paper)- paper that is made from plants like kenaf, hemp, bamboo, cotton and flax.
