New Kid's 10 Tips to Reduce Your Landfill Contributions

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With Spring finally here, I've started my yard clean up, and boy howdy, is it extensive this year. Florida had the 5th coldest Winter in 130 years. I have a lot of dead stuff for the compost pile. That got me to thinking about sharing a few tips on reducing your landfill contributions.

Surely, if you live in an urban or suburban area, you've heard the problems of finding landfill locations. Every nearby community puts up a fight, and pretty soon there's no land left. You can actually help stave off this problem in your own area by reducing what you send to the landfills. Here's a few tips:

1. Choose reusable, rather than disposable products, whenever possible. Start with your water bottles and shopping bags. When you run out of flushable or biodegradable doggie poop bags, use the plastic bags you've collected for this unsavory task. Or perhaps you'd like a composter for your pup's landmines.
2. Compost your yard waste in an area behind some bushes--hidden--for richer soil and less yard waste to haul off by those gas-guzzling trucks. (Do send diseased plants to the landfill--don't try to compost diseased materials; it will spread)
3. Likewise, start composting your household wastes--all foods (except meat, dairy and fats) and waste papers in small portions. See the Related reading below for articles on 'How to'.
4. Cleaning out closets? First, consider consignment stores and donations.
5. Those items that cannot be used should be considered for composting. The key is they must be made of natural fibers (cotton, wool, linen, silk, hemp) Remove buttons, zippers and labels that are not natural materials.
6. Ideas for repurposing unusable clothing are abundant, such as patches for dog beds, household items, quilting squares, dog toys and more. Consider your options with each item before tossing it.
7. Recycle everything possible. I'm not just talking about the stuff that goes in your curbside bin. Check the related recycling posts below for lots of ideas.
8. Consider purchases with an eye toward minimization of packing material, need vs. want, and biodegradability.
9. When purchasing used products is an option, go for it. Who really needs a brand new book that is already sitting in someone's garage waiting for an Amazon or Ebay buyer?
10. Offer useful items of value through garage sales, Craig's List and other options, to derive value from your no-longer-needed goods.

Remember...

 "One man's trash is another's treasure"

I learned this all too well when I recently sold my old SUV, in order to replace it with a hyrbrid Prius. I honestly did not think anyone would want my SUV, partly because of its miles and partly because it was an undesirable SUV. Surprise! With a little sprucing up, I sold it to the first caller on my Craig's list ad.


Related Reading:
What Can I put in My Compost?
Spring Yard Clean Up is Time to Create your Yard Waste Compost Pile


Related Reading on Recycling:
Effortless Electronics Recycling
Hazardous Waste Hoedown
Recycling Your Odds and Ends

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