So many of us think it is personal right to be able to generate and toss away garbage. But is it really? Why should added pollution and mess to the planet be a right of every world citizen? Here in my home town, we can simply fill up a large garbage can and have someone take it away twice a week. We can even overflow it or add an extra can. We pay our taxes or for a sanitation service, so we have every right, right? Instead, why don’t we look at having a responsibility to mess up the planet as little as possible?
Every bit of garbage that you generate can be added up as your negative contribution to the environment, or how much your personal presence effects our world. Aiming for zero waste is a good goal. It is a way of leaving the planet just as it was before you arrived (or maybe even better).
Aiming for zero waste is a noble goal. And while we may not be able to 100 percent reach it, we can get close. And any effort we make to reduce our garbage is an effort well spent. Basically, we need to make choices that can lead to a lower generation of garbage.
One way to do this is to obtain products in as close to their natural form and with as little packaging as possible. You might grow your own blueberries, for example, or fill up your own sack with apples instead of using a plastic bag.
You can also choose packaging that is easily recycled. Bulk flour in a paper sack is a good choice, for example. Cookie dough that comes wrapped in plastic is not.
Composting can go a long way to reducing your overall garbage. People throw away all sorts of produce that, when in the landfill, doesn’t have enough oxygen to break it down properly, leading to additional methane gas.
Finally, reusing an item or passing it on to someone who will is a much better choice over just tossing it away. How many usable things do we throw out. The other day on a quick drive, I spotted a fooze table, a baby stroller, a bedroom dresser and a large children’s playhouse all out on the curb at various houses. Those items could have been donated, fixed or turned into something else (a friend of mine has turned one of those types of playhouses into a compost bin.
You can read more blog posts by Mary Ann Romans here!
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