10 Ways to Reduce Your Waste - #zerowaste

We are living on a planet that is becoming smaller and smaller by the day. While this is happening, the amount of waste is skyrocketing at a rate that is both terrifying and concerning. It is, therefore, the responsibility of each and every one of us to ensure that we reduce our carbon footprint and levels of waste. Below are 10 simple ways to work towards reducing your waste:

1.     Eat less meat and dairy. There is a lot of waste that comes not only from the processing of meat and dairy, but also in the reselling of those products. This, when added to the amount of human waste generated by eating these foods, adds up to a lot more waste than we should be comfortable with.

2.     Repurpose items. We all have items around the house that we want to get rid of because they are in the way or else we are just no longer interested in keeping them. In the same breath, there are things that each of us want. Sometimes, with a small amount of creativity and work, you could easily repurpose an item that you no longer use into something that you have been wanting to get.

3.     Repair not replace. Instead of replacing items when they break or become faulty, spend the time or money to repair them instead of replacing them. This includes everything from a tear in your pants to a broken television set.

4.     Reuse items that you can. Things like water bottles are easily reusable. So instead of throwing items like this away, store them in a safe place until you would like to use it again and then reuse the item. This could not only save you on a large amount of waste, but will also land up saving you on costs.

5.     Don’t purchase individuals. Many stores nowadays sell conveniently wrapped individual servings of many types of food. These create an unnecessarily high amount of waste for a small amount of convenience.

6.     Buy in bulk. Packaging waste is one of the biggest contributors to waste worldwide. Purchasing in bulk generally reduces the amount of packaging material that is required and helps save on wastage of plastics, cardboards, and paper.

7.     Recycle more. Most areas offer recycling centres that you are able to drop off all your recyclables off at for them to be processed. Even with these centres available, many people do not recycle. Recycling items helps reduce a large amount of waste and turns those items into new items, thereby saving waste.

8.     Become digital. Many companies, utilities, and bills still use paper to invoice or charge people. Moving all your items to digital mail where available from your supplier or provider helps reduce the amount of waste generated by needless printing.

9.     Donate. If you cannot find a way to repurpose an item that you no longer want, don’t just throw it away. Donate it to a local thrift store or charity. The saying is that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. While you may not see the value in an item, somebody else might, and this may stop the item from landing on a garbage pile and adding to the waste in the world.

10.  Stop wasting scrap. Food scraps and yard trimmings are a major source of waste on earth. These items, however, are easily compostable to be able to be used in your garden. This not only saves on waste, but also turns the scraps into a usable item for your garden.