I’m pretty proud of the minimal waste our family of four produces, but I’m always looking for ways that we can throw out even less and minimize our impact on the environment.
A few weeks ago, I committed to taking part in a zero waste challenge to see if I could cut down on the waste my family produces.
While we didn’t manage to completely eliminate garbage, we did manage to cut it in half with ease! These are the four ways we minimized our household waste.
Composting
Living in an apartment, composting wasn’t really an option for us until recently. Luckily, we’ve since upgraded to a townhouse with a back yard, so putting a little bin in the back for organic waste was a simple and useful way to minimize our garbage.
We eat a lot of fresh food, so this one simple addition to our routine reduced our waste by about 25 per cent!
Mail Reduction
Paper may be recyclable, but it still often ends up thrown in the trash, especially when it’s a bill or something with personal information on it.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve gone through the effort both of requesting removal from junk mail lists and converted the few paper bills we receive to eBills. Less unneeded mail means less paper in the garbage can!
Recycling Ziploc® Brand Bags
I’m ashamed to say that I only recently learned that Ziploc® Brand bags were recyclable, but now that I know, I’ve been making sure to always toss them into our recycling bin with other plastic and cardboard.
Considering I pack two lunches every school day, quite a bit of potential waste is recycled instead! Check with your municipality to see if Ziploc® Brand Bags can be recycled in your area. If not, you can bring them to many local stores and dispose of them.
Buying Concentrated Cleaners
It’s a well-known fact that many cleaning products are mostly water, so buying a concentrated version means less plastic thrown away and bigger money savings too!
Products like Pledge® FloorCare Multi Surface Concentrated Cleaner mean that one bottle lasts much longer, and I’m also saving water since there’s no rinsing required!
SC Johnson Canada is committed to finding ways to minimize waste too and so far, the company is doing an amazing job. In fact, since January of 2013, it hasn’t sent any waste to landfills!
SC Johnson knows that small changes can make a big difference and that’s the motivation behind this Zero Waste Challenge. While we might not all be able to completely eliminate our household waste, small changes can make a big impact on the environment.
Disclosure: I am part of the PTPA Brand Ambassador Program with SC Johnson and I received Compensation as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.
I pack litterless lunches for my family. We also compost and recycle everything we can.
We all recycle and donate what we dont use.
we recycle and reuse as much as possible
We use reuseable bags and recycle :)
We use tupperware dishes for lunches, and donate our lightly used items.
We try to recycle as much as possible, and I bought reuseable lunch containers and drinking bottles.
had a tour of our local waste disposal plant and recycle centre – teachable moment. came home with magnets which say what our local area will accept in recyle bins and follow the list. not much is thrown into the garbage around here. thanks
we use reusable bags / bins for groceries; pack water bottles from home, and use both side of paper before recycling it!
we try to purchase food items in large containers rather than the individual sizes for our lunches.
We collect compost, recycle as much as possible, take bottles to the bottle depot, take old clothes to recycling good clothes go to the church for resale. We have very little garbage.