Reducing waste in your home is more important now than ever. As the environment is becoming more in danger because of greenhouse gases, climate change, and pollution, the need for humans to reduce their carbon footprint is imperative. However, even if people want to make an effort to save the environment, many people don’t know where to start and how to go about changing their everyday lives in order to become more eco-friendly.
Starting in your home is a great way to begin working towards an eco-friendly lifestyle. A custom home builder in Cherry Hill New Jersey, said, “Making your home environmentally savvy can mean installing something as large as solar panels or it can mean something much smaller; like using reusable shopping bags at the grocery store and not buying plastic products. Either way, making your home eco-friendly is important.”
Reducing waste in your home is easy and will have an outstanding impact on the environment. Here are some quick and easy tips to keep in mind that will help you reduce waste in your home:
1. Start Composting
Starting a compost pile creates less trash by recycling leftover food that would otherwise go in the trash. The point of a compost pile is to put the leftover, and even expired, food back into the earth rather than letting it sit in the garbage or in landfills.
A compost pile is easy to start, all you need is a bin and some extra space. After you’re done eating something (as long as it isn’t meat, a milk product, or greasy processed food), you can put it in this bin and then incorporate it into your garden or yard every few weeks. Your food won’t go to waste and your garden/yard will get the nutrients it needs.
2. DIY Beauty and Household Products
Buying less plastic products is another great way to reduce waste in your home. However, most beauty and household products are packaged in plastic containers which makes reducing plastic in this way a major obstacle.
A possible solution to this issue is making your own beauty and household products like floor cleaner, deodorant, and toothpaste. Though buying the ingredients to make these products may create a small amount of waste, the ingredients are easier to buy in bulk so you will have to buy them less frequently and will be able to create ample amounts of beauty and household products.
Creating homemade products is also a great way to ensure you aren’t getting chemicals in your products that are damaging to the environment and will create waste or harmful toxins.
3. Meal Plan
Food waste is a huge issue in households. Often, between ¼ to ½ of a household’s weekly produce, meats, and milk products are thrown out at the end of the week. This is preventable with the incorporation of meal planning and meal prepping in your life. By starting a meal plan, you will only buy what you need and will be less likely to waste products because they expired.
This will generate less waste in terms of food that will end up sitting in a landfill but also in terms of plastic packaging waste that food is packaged in.
4. Repair Instead of Replace
This is an easy way to create little waste in your home that many people don’t think about. When something in your home breaks, whether it is a small kitchen appliance or something large like a heater or part of a couch, take the time to repair it instead of getting a new one. If you repair an item, the original one won’t make its way to a landfill and you will get more life out of your products.
If an appliance or piece of furniture is unable to be repaired, make an effort to recycle some of the important parts; or, if you are in the market to buy a replacement, look online for used products or go to a secondhand store. This will create less waste and will also save you money.
5. Cancel and/or Recycle Junk Mail
Easy and free, by canceling and recycling junk mail will immediately reduce waste in your home. Most people don’t even look at the junk mail and toss it right in the garbage can. Canceling subscriptions only requires a phone call or email and will significantly cut back the waste that is generated in your home.
If you receive junk mail that is not sent to you via subscription and you are unable to cancel it, make sure to at least recycle it.
Eliminating junk mail will also help with decluttering your coffee tables and countertops, an added benefit to helping the environment.
Bottom Line
There is always room for improvement when trying to improve your lifestyle in terms of creating less waste. These tips are a great way to start making an impact on saving the environment before it’s too late. Reduce the waste in your life with minimal effort and small, simple changes.
