Consumption

Simple Steps to Reduce Your Waste:

1. Buy less. Create a “Should I Buy This” test.
2. Buy Second Hand. If available, buy second hand. You’ll save money, and the planet. Bonus: Antique and vintage store finds are great places to find unique gifts.
3. Buy better. Buying higher quality goods that last longer, can be maintained and repaired, and that can be re-purposed afterwards will save money and reduce your waste. An insulated travel mug will last longer and look better than a plastic-coated paperboard coffee cup. Websites such as Buy Me Once curate high quality products that should last, and The Wirecutter helps you select the right product the first time.
4. Maintain and Repair. If you’ve bought higher quality products, they can be maintained and repaired, extending their useful life significantly.
5. Reuse. Shirt torn? Make rags. Jar chipping? Try a vase. Reusing items keeps them out of landfills and creates unique, creative opportunities for you and your home.
6. Compost. Food scraps and natural fibers can be composted – preventing methane from forming in landfills, avoiding emissions from transportation, and returning important nutrients to your garden.
7. Recycle. If it can’t be composted or repaired, see if it can be recycled. Recycling is an important pathway for valuable resources to be incorporated back into the manufacturing process. See CalRecycle’s website for more tips.
8. Bonus Tip: Reduce junk mail and unwanted catalogues using https://www.directmail.com/mail_preference/ and http://www.catalogchoice.org/.

Reducing the amount of trash your produced can reduce the carbon footprint of an average household by up to 800 pounds (.4 tons) of CO²e annually. Use the Household Carbon Footprint Calculator to find out what other actions can save money and lower your carbon footprint.

Basic composting can be as simple as finding a place in your backyard to mix food scraps and yard waste. By maintaining an equal ratio of “browns” (examples include dead leaves, branches, twigs, paper, or cardboard) to “greens” (including food scraps, grass clippings, vegetable peelings, fruit scraps, and coffee grounds), your compost will decompose into healthy, nutrient-rich soil that can be used as fertilizer in your garden, flower beds, or lawn.

Learn more, including a guide to backyard composting, at CalRecycle.

If you don’t have space for outdoor compost, you can buy a special indoor composting bin and compost anyways! Your local hardware store, gardening store, or plant nursery likely carries indoor composting containers.

Learn how to make your own indoor worm composting bin, courtesy of the EPA.

• By eating a less than average amount of meat a week, you can save 3,500 lbs of greenhouse gas emissions a year.
• By eliminating meat altogether and instead eating more fruit, vegetables, and grains, you can save 7,000 lbs of emissions a year.
• Lower carbon diets are typically better for you as well. Reducing meat and dairy consumption and increasing consumption of vegetables and less processed foods is not only good for the planet, it's good for you!

Go Organic: Currently, there is not conclusive scientific evidence that organic food, in general, has lower greenhouse gas emissions than conventional products. However, there are a lot of environmental reasons to buy organic food including reducing chemical toxins in the environment and encouraging sustainable farming practices, which frequently accompany organic farming.

• Purchasing half of your dairy products from organic farms can reduce your carbon footprint by 150 lbs. If you purchase all of your dairy products from organic farms will reduce it by 530 lbs a year.
• Purchasing all of your meat and dairy from organic sources can reduce your carbon footprint by 750 lbs a year.

Do it Yourself: Food grown in your own backyard or from a small farm in your community may have very low emissions compared to typical farm products, especially if you or your local grower commit to using minimal "inputs," such as fertilizer and pesticides, even if they are technically organic. Visit the U.S. Center for Disease Control’s website for Tips for Growing Your Own Vegetables.

(Carbon footprints can vary dramatically between similar products based on cropping systems, processing and other supply chain processes, the distance and mode of transport to market, and emissions associated with the sale of products.)

Eating a low carbon diet and going organic can reduce the carbon footprint of an average household by up to 3800 pounds (1.9 tons) of CO²e annually. Use the Household Carbon Footprint Calculator to find out what other actions can save money and lower your carbon footprint.

What actions can you take?

• Buy bulk. Many stores have a bulk food section that lets you bring your own container and fill it. Use the Zero Waste Home Bulk Finder to locate stores near you that offer bulk purchasing.
• Bring useable containers. Did you grab your reusable shopping bags? Keep some produce bags, some jars, and an egg carton in your car.
• Use reusable containers and utensils. Once you’ve brought your food home, it needs to go out again. Take it to work or school in style, with reusable snack bags, reusable containers, and utensils and straws.

CHALLENGE: Do you think you have what it takes? Accept the Zero Waste Challenge and see how low you can go!

Going to Zero Waste and Zero Waste Home are great places to start for those who want to go Zero Waste.