Waste management at home is very important for the environment. With so many things being thrown out, it is important to know how to practice waste management at home.
Waste Management at Home
It may be difficult to have a zero—waste lifestyle when you are living in your own space, but there are some simple things that you can do in order to keep your house clean without stressing out.
To do effective waste management at home:
1. Never Buy Bottled Water: This is often one of the biggest sources of waste that goes into garbage cans every day. To practice waste management at home, you should drink tap water instead of bottled water. Buying cases upon cases of bottled water not only wastes plastic, but it also wastes your money.
To avoid waste and save money:
- Buy a filtered water bottle to take with you when you are out
- Use reusable product bags instead of plastic grocery bags to reduce your use of plastic
2. Cut Down on Junk Mail: If you are like most Americans, you probably receive junk mail every day. This fills up your mailbox and adds tons of paper waste to landfills each year. The best way to practice waste management at home is by reducing the amount of junk mail that comes through your house.
To reduce junk removal, you need to:
- Sign up for online bill payment
- Ask catalog companies directly to stop sending you their mail
- Avoid unnecessary paper use
- Never buy anything without going through the junk mail
- Cut down on necessary newspaper use at home
- Request a paperless bill whenever possible
3. Let Food Scraps Compost in Your Garden: It is estimated that around 40% of the average American household’s garbage can consists of food scraps and other compostable materials. To practice waste management at home, you can let your food scraps decompose in your garden without throwing them out with the rest of your trash. In order to do this:
- Use a compost bin for kitchen waste
- Turn food scraps into soil enhancers by using worms and any other proven mechanism
- Make sure you use recycled-based mulch around your garden and compost bins
- Use a mulch layer around your vegetable garden to prevent other waste from getting in
- Purchase food—grade compost bags for putting kitchen waste in at home
4. Compost Waste Regularly, Without Adding to Landfills: By composting waste regularly, you can greatly reduce the amount of trash that fills up your garbage cans.
To practice waste management at home, you should always check with your local municipality as well as your neighborhood association to find out if there are any restrictions on what types of decomposable materials you can put into a compost pile outside. To do this:
- Buy homemade compost bins
- Create piles completely outdoors when possible
- Create convenient compost piles using tumblers or pails
- Start a compost bin in your kitchen to consume scraps and reduce trash
- Never throw unwanted food items down the garbage disposal
- Only buy what you need at the grocery store
- Use products with short shelf lives to avoid wasting them
To conclude, waste management is not only important for the environment, but it also saves people money. The best way to practice waste management at home is by implementing these tips into everyday life.