42 Ways to Reduce Waste

Collin Beavan, star of environmental movie, No Impact Man, came out with his list of 42 ways to not make trash. Collin did a one year experiment of changing he and his families behaviors to a more green lifestyle that he profiles in No Impact Man. One of the goals was to be zero waste and he came pretty darn close!

The average American generates over 1,600 pounds of trash per year- more than twice the garbage of the average European. If all Americans recycled paper, plastic and glass bottles, and aluminum cans, this would divert over 51% of the waste in our current landfills. If all Americans composted food scraps and yard waste this would divert another 25%.  Each American has the potential to divert over 75% of their current waste just through recycling and composting.

Companies are trying to do their part. A report by McKinsey and Company called Reducing Our Footprint found that global companies have already taken measures to reduce more than 1.5 billion pounds of packaging waste since 2005.  However there is still room for a lot of improvement. According to research published by the Natural Resource Defense Council, annually, airlines throw away 9,000 tons of plastic, enough aluminum cans to build 58 Boeing 747 jets, and enough newspaper and magazines to cover a football field 230 meters deep.

Another great website to learn more about reducing waste is Reduce.org.

Conduct Your Own Trash Log

I just finished a week long trash log. This is an exercise I ask of my clients and thought I better to do it myself. I wrote down each and every piece of trash that I had and what I did with it– recycled, composted or re-used or discarded. Then, with items I had to discard I wrote down alternative options for the future. Although I consider myself a trash ‘connoisseur’ I discovered through this exercise even how I can get better with my own waste. If you haven’t done it yet, I would highly encourage anyone to track their trash for a week. You will discover not only how much trash you really do accumulate but you will gain more consciousness before throwing it away. I’d love to hear your experience of conducting a trash log.