How to Reduce Waste at home and Live a Greener Lifestyle

If you could save 1,600 pounds of waste from filling up landfills this year, would you do it?

You’re thinking, “Of course! I want to learn how to reduce trash, but I don’t want to give up my morning Starbucks.”

As a country, we have a 34% recycling rate. That’s over 85 million tons of recycled material every year.

Cutting back on waste is easier than you might think. You don’t have to sacrifice your morning cup of joe to reduce your footprint.

How to Reduce Waste at Home

1. Find out What’s Recyclable

Did you know pizza boxes are only recyclable if they’re unused? Knowing what is and isn't recyclable can go along way in reducing waste.

Why does this matter? For a long time, China took care of America’s growing recycling needs.

Americans figured China must have some cheap way of sorting through the immense volume of recyclables the way China always seems to have a cheap solution to modern problems. When it came to how to reduce waste, China was the expert.

It turns out most of what was sent overseas was being burned or thrown in the ocean.

Cheap labor would sift through loads of recyclables mixed in with regular garbage. Anything pulled out would turn into pollution.

2. Meal Prep

It’s estimated up to 40% of America's food ends up in a landfill. That’s a real bummer when you consider the fact that over 15 million children go without adequate nutrition in the U.S. alone.

Buying only food you know you can eat before it goes bad doesn’t just help you avoid unhealthy takeout, you avoid all the disposable containers and utensils that accompany it.

3. Rely on Reusable Containers

Reusable containers can keep your food fresh for longer. Did that last box of cereal go stale because the kids forget to close up the bag?

Not a problem with reusable containers, like this. Reusable food containers are airtight and provide much better protection against ants and other pests.

Don’t forget to clean each container when they start to run low.

What Is Being Done to Remedy Our Recycling Problems?

Right now, there are two different methods of approaching the massive waste single-use beverage makers and the like face.

One way of reducing waste is by forcing producers to use no less than 75% recycled material in their products.

The other forces these same producers to have to buy back their waste to recycle it.

Both have an ample chance of working because they leave the work up to the manufacturers who not only have the resources to do it but the incentive to recycle.

Expecting the majority of people to handle recycling on their own is a lot more unrealistic.

Are Landfills Affecting Our Health?

Researchers in Brazil recently discovered the shocking effects pollution is having on its poorest citizens.

By comparing blood sample of locals living near Sao Jorge landfill to those not exposed we can see the very real side effects of landfills on health.

What you’re about to read will have you questioning how humans can reduce the number of landfills in the world...

Sao Jorge locals were more at risk for developing: 

• Neutropenia: neutrophils are white blood cells that help make up our immune system. A low neutrophil count can lead to serious infections, especially in children and seniors.
• Anemia: causes a lack of red blood cells causing chronic fatigue

• Leukopenia: anther condition caused by a lack of white blood cells and leaves the patient open to infections and other complications

Is Atlanta’s Air Toxic?

For the last 15 years, Atlanta summers have brought an average of 40 “code orange” days with them.

Code orange means the air outside is especially dangerous for children and people with heart and lung issues.

This isn’t just paranoia either. Code orange days see a 35% jump in emergency room visits for respiratory-related injuries.

The entire Atlanta metro area doesn’t even meet national health standards for smog levels. So what’s the source of Atlanta’s air pollution?

Driving. Car exhaust is the main contributor to Atlanta’s unpalatable air. With Atlanta locals driving over 100 million miles a day, it’s hard to see our city’s air getting cleaner any time soon.

South Fulton County Landfill Fire

Tandy Ross Bullock, the owner of an unlicensed landfill in south Fulton County was jailed twice over the fire burning on his property for close to nine months last year.

The stench of burning sulfur casts an ominous cloud for miles around the fire. From September of 2018 to April of this year the fire made it near impossible for locals to spend any time outside.

Half a million public tax dollars went to extinguish a fire on private property. The county hopes to replenish the money spent on this environmental disaster with a fine over one million dollars tacked on to the landfill’s owner.

In addition to the fine Bullock must also remove all trash from the site within the next four months.

He has to make plans for preserving sediment and what to do with any wastewater from cleaning up the site.

The piles of garbage topped 60 feet at one point. This caused soot from the fire to be easily picked up by any wind.

How to Reduce Waste Without Letting It Control Your Life

Getting your home cleared out will put you in the mood to keep your footprint to a minimum.

Now that you know how to reduce waste at home you can stop putting off your plans to live a greener lifestyle.

It’s easy to justify putting off plans to start being less wasteful when you’re surrounded by clutter.

The ancient art of Feng Shui says clutter drains your energy like a bucket with a leak. It’s hard to start on new regimens when you’re surrounded by so much unused stuff.

Take back your home and clear it out in a single day with a rented dumpster. You can call Bin There Dump That right now and have a dumpster at your doorsteps by this time tomorrow.