By Cassie Beigel, of Sterilite Corporation
Earth Day is coming up! Did you know the average American produces around 1,700 pounds of garbage per year? Through recycling and reducing our footprint, each of us can make a difference. Let’s dive into 3 small changes that can have a big impact over time.
Reduce your waste with reusable plastic
Hunger can strike at the most unexpected time, and it’s impossible to plan for with kids. Most people pack a snack - such as crackers or grapes, in a plastic bag that will end up in the garbage immediately after the snack is finished.
Not all plastic is created equal, instead of constantly going through these one-time use plastic bags, try a reusable food storage container. It’s a better environmentally sustainable option to reduce our footprint.
Sterilite’s Ultra•Seal™ 3.1 Cup and 4.5 Cup Rectangle Food Storage are perfect for keeping snacks fresh, and can be reused as many times as desired. And when they’ve held their last snack, they can be recycled - by getting remelted, and remolded.
Reuse and repurpose those threads
Time to clean out the closet! Many people have clothing sitting in their closets they no longer wear; it’s taking up space and when one’s man trash is another man’s treasure it’s time to kiss it goodbye. Kids are a prime example of this, they outgrow things before they can even wear them sometimes!
Recycle these clothes through donation! Give to people who will wear them versus throwing them away.
Start off by keeping an 18 Gallon Tote in a centralized location - where family members can put clothing, they find they don’t wear anymore. When the tote is full, bring it to a local donation center so that these once-loved items can have a new home.
But what about those jeans you ripped in an unfortunate bowling incident? Or that time you spilled red-sauce all over your favorite white shirt and swore you’d find a hack to remove the stain… 4 years ago? There are places for these items too. A quick google search for “local textile recycling” should help kickstart your journey.
Recycling System
Another simple way to start being more environmentally friendly is by creating a recycling system in your house. Because of convenience, many people tend to throw things away that should be recycled.
Labeling three Under Sink Wastebaskets as metal, paper, and plastic will keep recycled material organized and ensure it is disposed of in the correct way. Be sure to rinse out jars and cans, these items can attract bugs at the recycling enter (or worse, in your home) and once the items become infested with critters, they’ve lost their chance at being recycled and will likely end up in a landfill. Recycling centers do their absolute best to recycle what they can, so help them by doing your best – help them help you, and mostly importantly help our planet.
Recycling can seem daunting, but more than likely you’re already doing it. So, let’s all up our game, and help the planet just a little bit more, one step at a time.
For more tips, tricks and ideas of how you can lessen your foot print, head over to our Pinterest page and see what systems other people have set up that may spark inspiration!
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