Recycling Hacks For One And All

According to research, there are around 100,000 pounds of garbage that your community can create. This can have a great impact on the environment like diminishing resources, pollution, and landfills. Meanwhile, recycling is an activity which you can implement every day. It can help in maintaining a green home. This can aid in the reduction of negative effects on the environment. Thus, here are some recycling hacks to get started today:

 

Start with Small Steps

When you have decided to recycle, do not feel as if you have to start big. Passion for the environment is a great thing. But when you place too much pressure on yourself to get green, this can lead to frustration and stress throughout the process.

Thus, it is best to allow yourself to start small. Learn one part of the process and begin with it. Then, make it a habit for you and your family to begin easy before proceeding to the next part. As you take these baby steps, you will be more likely to include recycling on your life permanently. This is an effective Solutions on Waste, Recycling and Processing Recyclable Materials.

Reduce and Reuse

Part of recycling is reducing the things you use. Reusing the items you use every day instead of throwing them in the bin can aid you in your recycling efforts. Limiting the things that you have to dump will help you control the situation.

Know the Things That Can Be Recycled

It is easy to overlook the items and get confused about where to put your trash. Thus, you should check with your service provider on the specific garbage in your program. But here are the basic principles of recycling:

Cardboard and Paper

All kinds of paper are acceptable which includes flyers, books, colored paper, and junk mail. Do not include waxy papers. You can recycle cardboard so long as it is not filled with grease and food like pizza boxes. For other food boxes like cereals, make sure that you remove first the liners.

Plastic

Recyclable plastics have indicated numbers on them and you can see it at the bottom. Numbers one to seven can be recycled. Take note that you cannot recycle the majority of the utensils because of the low-quality plastic used. If you can crumple easily the plastic bag, then you don’t have to include it in the recycle bin. The curbside will not accept the plastic bags but your local store can collect and reuse them.

Aluminum

As a general rule, you can recycle all aluminum cans. Just clean and rinse it to remove juices and sodas. This can prevent the onslaught of the insect in the area.

Glass

You can recycle glass containers. Before you put them in the recycle bin, rinse them. Make sure that you don’t break these glass containers. When the glass shatters, it can’t be recycled anymore. This is because mixing various colors can contaminate the batches.

Put a Bin in Each Room

Place a recycle bin at the bathroom, office, and bedroom. With this, you can collect all kinds of recyclable materials inside your house.

5 Ways to Build More Sustainable Habits in Your Home

Running a household can be a very expensive feat – everything you spend from your electricity, water, heating, air-conditioning, groceries, and general upkeep of other facilities such as your toilet, piping, pool (if you have one) – these all add up and can make your expenditures quite hefty, especially when left unchecked. If you are running a large household, with anywhere from five people living in it or more, this could be especially true – the aggregate effect of every person’s possible carelessness can add up to a sizable sum when put together.

That is why it has become increasingly important to incorporate sustainable habits in every household. This means to educate each person on the importance of being prudent with the resources of the household, enough so that what is used up is only what is needed, and not a single resource and penny goes to waste. If everyone is on the same page about how important it is to care for the environment, then the combined benefits of this paradigm shift can also be quite notable.

sustainable-habits-for-ecofriendly-home

Here are some ways to build more sustainable habits in your home:

1. Turn off the lights

The best thing to do is to keep your consumption minimal. Turn off the lights when you are exiting your room and do not plan to re-enter for a good amount of time. Use natural light when you can – it is good to have windows in every part of the home so you can utilize natural energy. Apart from the natural light, you can also let in some wind and fresh air instead of turning on your air-conditioning.

2. Turn off the tap

Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth. Unless you are rinsing off, you don’t need the tap running. You can even fill a cup with water and use that for your gargling needs.

3. Pull those plugs

Pull the plugs for appliances that aren’t in active use for a long time. Toasters, computers, and lamps are all good examples of appliances that can be unplugged overnight or while you’re away from home.

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4. Analyze your electric bills

It would also be a good thing to check out your energy consumption and consult your electricity provider for things you may not understand in your electricity bill. You can take this up with them and clarify what items are taking up most of your consumption, so you can adjust accordingly and minimize those activities.

5. Recycle

You don’t have to throw away everything that you’ve used only once or twice. Plastic containers that you take home from retail or grocery purchases can be used for repacking other items in the home. This is just one example – there are so many things you and your family use daily that you can recycle in order to minimize what you throw away.

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These are just some of the simple but very helpful sustainable practices you can start to live a more sustainable lifestyle. There are many other ways you can build more sustainable habits that help the planet and help you save some money as well. It is good to instill these eco-friendly habits within all the members of your household so that you can all work together to be more clean and green.

5 Best Things Students Can Do to Save the Planet

Like anyone else, students have an important role to play in counteracting current environmental problems and adapting to new learning formats. After all, they are the generations that would unjustly inherit some of the most perilous global challenges humanity has ever faced. They would also become the future leaders that are expected to implement key measures to save the planet in the coming decades.

Below, we explore the most important means through which students can help the ongoing fight. For some key advice on how each of us can contribute, check this info guide from the World Wildlife Fund.

1. Consume Less

If there is one thing you must do before everything else in order to save the world, it is limiting the number of resources you require. This applies to most products – there are very few exceptions. It is crucial to reduce the amount of environmentally damaging products consumed, such as plastics in any form, various chemical products (detergents, bleach, cosmetics), industrial products, especially those that use valuable resources, are hard to recycle, or whose production is associated with high energy demands.

Water conservation in schools and colleges is also a key factor in fostering environmental health. By reducing consumption, you can also save money, which is always relevant for a student. Given how our world and economy function, every time you buy something you cast a vote for a particular version of the future.

2. Recycle

Although probably having the greatest impact, avoiding consumption entirely is unrealistic or incredibly hard to achieve. Hence, for those products that you do consume, seek for ways to recycle them. Food waste can be turned into compost, while plastic, paper, metal, the glass could all be reused.

Also, ensure that you support producers that recycle materials. Even so, you should be aware that recycled materials are typically used only in producing lower-quality or less demanding industrial products, hence, it is not ensuring a closed circuit of resources.

3. Mind What and How Much You Eat

Even if food waste isn’t normally a polluting factor, the production of any food requires significant amounts of water, energy, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and fossil fuels. Hence, when throwing food away, we waste considerable resources.

Apart from that, there are some foods that are associated with a much higher environmental impact, such as palm oil, which is associated with deforestation in tropical areas, or meat, which requires incredibly high amounts of water, energy, and crops/ land to produce.

This is where foods such as plant based meats come in – they are a great alternative to meat and are a good source of protein, vitamins and minerals.

4. Volunteer for the Environment

The state of our environment is such that there is always work to do. Volunteering is one important way in which we can help the environment and inspire others to do the same. It can take many forms, such as saving animals or animal habitats, cleaning urban or wild areas from litter, finding sponsors and raising donations for specific environmental projects, helping to gather products for recycling, etc.

All these activities could be time-consuming and could interfere with college coursework. Sometimes, college homework might prevent you from attending an important event or activity that you planned for much ahead. In such situations or whenever confronted with multiple pressing deadlines, getting help from EduBirdie Canada could be a life-saver.

Note that any accomplishments in environmental volunteering could become a strong point in your CV as well as a convincing argument for your future academic or job applications, so they shouldn’t be ignored.

Also Read: 5 Ways You Can Protect the Environment as a Student

5. Travel Less Using Vehicles

Burning fossil fuels are an important contributor to air pollution (an important cause of disease worldwide) but also to rising CO2 levels, which cause global climate change. Hence, it makes sense to substitute, whenever possible, your trips by vehicle with bike rides or walks.

Importantly, air travel typically results in hundreds of kilograms of CO2 per passenger, which represents a much higher environmental footprint compared to land transportation.

Conclusion

We have listed above some key directions in which you should act in order to embrace a greener lifestyle. However, there are many more ways to help the environment. Feel free to check these energy-saving tips for additional advice. Importantly, the same goals could be achieved by using a great variety of paths – the way how you implement your personal environmental plan is up to you. You are highly welcome to come up with creative new ways and share them with your community. The world is in desperate need of solutions that would address the environmental disaster we are witnessing.

10 Small Ways to Make a Big Difference in Waste Reduction

At this point, pretty much everyone is aware that plastic drinking straws are bad for the environment, namely the animals that inhabit our oceans, rivers, and lakes. But that’s just one small aspect of the global waste problem we’re currently facing.

Becoming aware of the impact of straws began a major change in the way we drink beverages. Similarly, understanding how other wasteful behaviors negatively affect our world should help us all reduce our waste and become better consumers.

While it will take major changes amongst the masses to turn our trajectory around, it all begins when individuals start adjusting their personal habits.

Start making an impact on our Earth by reducing your waste generation in these 10 small ways:

1. Reduce Consumption

The first step to reduce waste? Reduce consumption. Start by logging where you are spending your money. Notice which areas cost the most and begin reducing in that area. Once you improve there, find the next budget category to tackle. By simply buying less, we can make a big difference.

2. Avoid Plastic Wrap

Instead of relying on plastic wrap to preserve food or make it portable, consider other eco-friendly alternatives, like Super Bee beeswax wraps. These can be washed and reused over and over again. They work for anything including sandwiches, partially used produce, and a bowl of leftovers.

3. Shop with Reusable Bags

You should strive to always bring your own shopping bags rather than getting a single-use one from the store. This will cut down on the clutter in your house and save a few bags in the process. If you forgot your bags, opt for paper instead of plastic and find a way to re-use it afterward.

4. Support Local

Locally made products require much less packaging, shipping, and manufacturing overhead. Buying these kinds of products supports lower-waste businesses and contributes positively to the environment. Farmers markets are great for purchasing delicious produce without any packaging.

5. Whatever You Do, Don’t Litter

Of course, you should never litter. Throwing trash on the ground with the assumption that someone else will pick it up is incredibly flawed. You should always pick up after yourself. In addition, you can make a difference by simply picking up after those who haven’t.

6. Reuse Food Containers

If your takeout is transported in non-environmentally friendly packaging, find a way to reuse it. Even if you only find one more use for it, you will have just doubled its life span and done a small part in reducing waste.

7. Start Your Own Garden

One way to really reduce the amount of wasteful packaging you consume is to start growing your own food. This will be a fun hobby, provide nutritious food, and cut your produce-related waste down to zero.

8. Stretch Your Groceries

Challenge yourself to stretch your groceries an extra day or two. This practice can help save you a nice bit of money each year and will ensure you’re using what you already have rather than consuming more.

9. Repurpose Furniture

Instead of buying a new couch, consider just reupholstering the fabric. Finding ways to repurpose old furniture cuts down on heavy item shipping costs and reduces the large amounts of waste that commonly come along with these types of products.

10. Recycle

If you’re not already, get on the recycling bandwagon. By separating your recyclable waste from your general trash, you can give many of your consumer products a second life!

Also Read: The Role of Bioenergy in Waste Minimization

Conclusion

Even if you are unable to accomplish all of the things on this list, working towards a few sustainable development goals can make an impact. By becoming more mindful of how we consume and waste products, we can slowly improve Earth’s environmental state.

A Guide to Sustainable Waste Management for Businesses

There are many reasons to adopt sustainability as your main guiding policy in conducting business. With environmental problems becoming more prevalent worldwide, consumers seem to show a strong preference for businesses that adhere to environmental ethics. A sustainable business strategy can thus give you an edge over competitors. But business sustainability is tightly connected to waste management because any business activity generates waste that can harm the environment.

In this article, you’ll discover a detailed guide to sustainable waste management for businesses that want to build an eco-friendly identity.

waste-management-in-companies

Identify Wasteful Activities

Whether you deliver products or services, analyze your business practices and determine what activities produce the largest amounts of waste. Most importantly, determine whether these waste-generating activities can be avoided or reduced. For example, paper consumption in offices is often wasteful and can be easily reduced by avoiding unnecessary printing and copying and working predominantly with electronic files.

So, identify all wasteful activities in your company. Then implement a series of rules to avoid these activities or reduce their recurrence. Much better than implementing a sustainable waste management system is not to generate waste at all.

Reuse, Recycle or Donate

Pay attention to the waste generated in your company and determine which items or components can be reused, recycled, or donated. In many cases, what you consider waste can find an application elsewhere.  Good waste management involves foremost an assessment of whether an item has lost all functional and practical purposes or is fit for other uses inside your company or elsewhere.

Always consider reusing items that haven’t lost their properties or features. Instruct employees to recycle. Add bins in the office for materials such as paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, or aluminum. Never send electronics, office equipment, furniture, or tools to the landfill. Either send them to a recycling facility or donate them to a charity.

Create a Disposal Plan

It’s almost impossible to avoid all waste since even raw materials and supplies can turn into waste due to being contaminated or damaged. This is why you need a waste disposal plan that it’s either dangerous to keep on your premises or cannot be recycled. For example, old and unused fuels can become contaminated and require removal from a specialized service.

waste-management-plan

To maintain a clean, healthy, and safe environment for your employees and customers, create a disposal plan for each type of waste. Ideally, only biodegradable waste should go to the landfill.

Conclusion

Although a business can find it difficult not to generate waste, it’s important to develop a waste management system that takes into consideration environmental concerns. Businesses need raw materials, supplies, tools, electronics, and various equipment to function properly. They also need energy, electricity, and water. And because businesses consume so many tangible and intangible resources, governments and customers expect them to show a sense of responsibility for the environment.

By adopting a sustainable waste management system, you demonstrate an ethical, future-oriented business approach. Perform a waste audit and use the tips above to set waste reduction goals for your business.