Convenience is crucial in motivating people to take action. In many places, for example, city disposal services practically gather recyclables from your doorstep. We all know of those blue bins that accompany our trash cans and many of us are aware of the benefits of recycling, but what if we just produced less waste?

The most common and important materials to recycle include metal, plastic, paper and glass.  But did you know we can recycle our computers and mobile phones as well?  Most recycling centers feature a drop-off center where they accept many more materials than your blue bins can contain. Electronic waste, or "e-waste," is becoming a major problem for disposal services, because of the sheer volumes thrown away. Sites like ewaste help homes and businesses conveniently dispose of their electronic equipment. Other items you can drop off include paint, motor oil, print cartridges, furniture and clothing. To find out more information about what you can recycle and how to use these drop-off centers, check out kabtoolbox.

While these services are a fantastic way to increase recycling practices in the community, you should still regard them as a fall-back solution. There are many ways to reuse materials without having to dispose of them. Save your mayonnaise and peanut butter jars and give them a new life. Every time you make food or beverages at home, it is important to consider ways you can reuse those containers for storage, organization or household items. For example, if you like to work on cars or bikes, you can use a mustard jar to store hardware, like bolts and washers. If you are an artist, you can reuse containers to store paints and other supplies. Many of us reuse materials daily, but for those that do not, pay attention to ways that you can adopt this important practice.

We can always find ways to cut down the amount we dispose. The best way is to live by the three R's; recycle, reduce, and reuse.¹ A simple exercise is to record the amount of materials you recycle on a weekly basis. There is no need to dive into your recycling bin and count out the individual items; just keep in mind the types of materials you recycle. If this does not resonate enough, imagine that garbage trucks do not exist and you have to store the waste on your own property. This exercise will illustrate how much you are saving from going into landfills, but it may also inspire you to create less waste from the beginning. Recycling is great and everyone should be doing it, but first consider examining alternatives to reuse an item or invest in products that reduce your waste.

If you drink a lot of individually bottled or canned drinks, a better alternative would be to buy a larger container of the same product and simply use a glass. Or, if you want to go a step further, only drink from dispensers rather than buying contained beverages. If you prefer to avoid straight tap water, buy a water filter instead of bottled water. Currently, Americans alone are responsible for consuming one billion bottles of water per week. This quantity would fill 37,800 18-wheelers. At this rate, over $1 billion worth of plastic winds up in our landfills every year.² Imagine if everyone stopped drinking disposable beverages and bought a heavy-duty water bottle?

Other good ways to reduce waste are to purchase re-useable shopping bags and travel coffee mugs. These products are available at most retail centers like Target and Wal-Mart, sporting goods stores or online.

Packaging of consumer goods is a significant producer of waste. Items such as toys, office supplies and small electronics are housed in plastic that is unnecessarily large in comparison to the product it contains. Candy is often wrapped individually and then wrapped again in a larger package. Potato chips only fill up half the bag. Pills are spaced far apart in plastic sheets and then packaged in a box. While many of these items are encased like this for manufacturing efficiency reasons, often the additional packaging is a direct result of product marketing and shelf prominence at retail. It is good to be mindful of what products you purchase, so consider if it possible to choose an alternative that uses less packaging? Is the packaging made of recyclable materials?

While recycling should be a fall-back option for those materials that cannot be reused, throwing items in the landfill should be the last choice. Recycling gives our society the opportunity to make a smaller dent on our planet's resources and it can also save you money. So be mindful of what you put in the bin, because every time the lid closes your impact on this planet increases.

Helpful Links:
National Recycling Coalition's Recycling Calculator
http://www.nrc-recycle.org/theconversionator/shell.html

 
Keep America Beautiful's Toolbox
http://www.kabtoolbox.org

Refill Not Landfill
http://refillnotlandfill.org/

¹ http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/reduce.htm#reduce
² Fishman, Charles. "Message in a Bottle." Fast Company Magazine July 2007: 110.