While global warming has grabbed the public's attention, many people are not sure what, if any, impact they can have on such a global problem. With environmental problems, every little change done by an individual has an impact and many small changes will have an impact on the local and global scale. Every person can pitch in with a few simple changes in their lives, ranging from using recycling bins to buying energy efficient products. Here's how to get started:Putting Your Recycling Containers To Work
Every piece of trash we throw away ends up in a landfill, taking up precious space and consuming more resources as replacements are produced. The answer to this problem is as simple as using recycling bins in our homes. Today, almost every town or municipality has some sort of waste program for pickup or drop off to handle your recyclables.
Recycling bins today are easy to put to use. Many of the waste programs in the country are switching to single-stream programs -- which means that you don't have to sort your recyclables. You just separate recyclables from regular trash and you are done. If you have to sort your recyclables first, there are a number of great products on the market to making sorting easy and pain free.
These products include clip-on bins that can attach to the wastebasket in the office to catch paper, or multi-compartment recycling bins to instantly sort waste, to sets of nesting recycling containers to save on space.
Stop Waste By Reusing Old Items Before They Hit The Garbage Can
You can go one step further and reuse items instead of throwing them away. This is a great option for people who love crafts or want to get extra mileage out of their household items. There are countless ways to reuse old items, but here are just a few ideas to get you started:
•Turn old mason jars or spaghetti sauce jars into leftover containers, or store flour and sugar in the kitchen, or organize other small items.•Instead of throwing away old plastic plant potters, you can reuse them as a rock salt shaker in the winter, strain vegetables that you pick from the garden, or organize all those loose screws, nails, nuts, and bolts.•If you have those vintage class soda bottles, you can turn them into a decorative holder for dish soap or hand soap.
The options for reusing items around the house for practical and decorating purposes are endless.
When You Buy New, Buy Energy Efficient Products
New energy efficient appliances and products made with green materials and processes continue to come out every year. Replacing your own appliances and products with these new green products will cut your energy costs and reduce your carbon footprint. Everything from high efficiency light bulbs and post-consumer products to efficient electronics all have an impact.
While each little change might not seem like it has an impact, they all add up very quickly. Each person can have an impact both locally and globally from easy changes.
