Reducing consumption, reusing items, and recycling are the most effective ways to help the environment. Reducing means using less and avoiding unnecessary purchases which saves money and natural resources. Reusing prolongs the life of items and recycling converts used materials into new products. Together, the three R's can significantly decrease waste sent to landfills and reduce pollution from production of new goods. If everyone practiced reducing, reusing, and recycling, the amount of waste produced globally would be greatly diminished.
2. If you want to have a positive impact on the environment there are several things you can do, starting with… Reducing Reusing Recycling In that order!
3. Reduce The United States Environmental Protection Agency states “reduction actually prevents the generation of waste in the first place, so it is the most preferred method of waste management and goes a long way toward protecting the environment.”
4. Reduce Reducing consumption is the most effective way to help the environment! Why? Because the less “stuff” we buy, the less we throw away in some faraway landfill. Also, when we purchase things we create demand. Which effects the use of energy and natural resources.
5. Reduce So what does reducing consumption really mean? Basically it means to use less! What are the benefits of reducing consumption? Save money Save energy Save natural resources Reduce landfill usage Reduce pollution
6. Reduce The average American is exposed to 247 commercial messages everyday! These messages tell us we need a product to be happy, healthy, popular…so we buy it. As a result, the average American produces 4.5 pounds of garbage everyday!
7. Reduce To reduce consumption… Buy only what you need. (Don’t get caught up in the “stuff” race.) Shop with a list to avoid spontaneous purchases Buy products with less packaging Avoid one time use, disposable products for more permanent solutions
8. Reduce Whenever we save energy, or use it more efficiently we reduce the demand for gasoline, oil, coal, and natural gas. Ways to Reduce Energy Consumption: Turn off the lights when you leave a room Unplug appliances and chargers when they are not in use Walk, ride your bike, carpool, or use public transportation
9. Reduce Water is another resource we should reduce consumption of. Ways to reduce Water Consumption: Turn off the faucet when you are brushing your teeth Make sure the dishwasher is completely full before you run it Take shorter showers Collect rainwater for watering plants and gardens
10. Reuse Whatdoes it mean to reuse? Reusing means to use an item more than once. Sometimes we reuse an item over and over again for the same purpose. Sometimes we reuse an item for a completely different purpose.
11. Reuse It is important to reuse for the same reasons we reduce. What are the benefits of reusing items? Save money Save energy Save natural resources Reduce landfill usage Reduce pollution
12. Reuse There are several different ways to reuse items. Be thrifty! Shop at Goodwill, Salvation Army and yard sales Donate useable items to charity stores Start a magazine or book trade or donate them to your library Use Freecycle, Craigslist, and Ebay to locate or get rid of usable items on-line Borrow or rent items
13. Reuse More ways to reuse items: Use plastic shopping bags in small wastebaskets Use cloth napkins, a lunch pail, reusable water bottles, and real silverware instead of disposable alternatives Reuse gift bags, bows, and ribbon to wrap gifts Use two liter bottles to collect coins or for a container garden
14. Recycle Recycling is the process of taking a product and using all or part of it to make a new product. Besides saving energy, saving natural resources, and reducing the need for landfills… Recycling can reduce water pollution by 35% and air pollution by 73%. Recycling reduces litter - $500 million is spent every year on litter pick up along state highways.
15. Recycle Americans use 4 million plastic bottles every hour. Only one bottle out of four is recycled. Recycling one plastic bottle can save enough energy to power a 60 watt light bulb for six hours. It takes about 25 recycled bottles to make one fleece jacket.
16. Recycle American workers throw away enough paper in one year to build a 12 foot wall from San Francisco to New York. Each ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4000 kilowatts of energy, and 7000 gallons of water. This represents a 64% energy savings, a 58% water savings, and 60 pounds less of air pollution!
17. Recycle Each family uses about six trees worth of paper each year. Paper and cardboard makes up about 32% of all the trash that we throw away. Approximately 1 billion trees worth of paper are thrown away every year in the U.S.
18. Recycle Glass never wears out, it can be recycled forever. Most bottles and jars contain at least 25% of recycled glass. We save over a ton of resources for every ton of glass recycled. (1,330 pounds of sand, 433 pounds of soda ash, 433 pounds of limestone, and 151 pounds of feldspar)
19. Recycle Recycling aluminum cans saves 95% of the energy required to make aluminum from ore. It takes about 400 years for aluminum to break down naturally. Every three months, Americans discard enough aluminum to completely rebuild every single commercial airplane in America.
20. A few last thoughts… Buy Recycled in order to “complete the circle” Plant a garden or tree, buy local, buy in bulk, just one green thing makes a difference The U.S. is the #1 trash-producing country in the world at 1,609 pounds per person per year. This means that 5% of the world's people generate 40% of the world's waste. Think of how little would be left to go into the landfill if everyone reduced, reused, and recycled. Think of the resources and energy saved.
