Recycling Tips, Substitute Reusable Items for Consumables
The 2nd R in the “Reduce, Reuse Recycle” Waste Hierarchy of Waste Management strategies “is Reuse.” This waste management strategy is easily achievable at home where domestic or household waste comprise of paper, food scraps, yard trimmings, plastic, metals, glass and others. Paper is 28.2% o and plastics 12.3% of total domestic waste. Reducing these numbers will be a big help to the waste management efforts and will be good for the environment. Here are some tips to substituting reusable items for consumables:
• Use rags, sponges, towels for wipe-ups and cleaning
Instead of using paper towels and other disposables for wipe-ups and cleaning, use rags, towels and sponges. Maintain a large supply of wash cloth and rags to ensure that you will have enough clean supply. In the end buying extra kitchen towels and wash cloths to build a supply will come out cheaper than regularly buying disposable substitute such as paper towels. Wash and dry the rags, sponges and towels as often as possible to ensure that no bacteria live on it.
• Substitute paper napkins with cloth napkins
There are inexpensive cloth napkins that you can buy for everyday use. Again, the initial cost of stocking up on cloth napkins will be offset when you lessen the frequency and ultimately stop buying paper napkins.
• Use a reusable shopping bag instead of plastic bags
When you shop bring your reusable shopping rather than have the grocery put them in plastic bags. Your reusable shopping bag can carry more weight than plastic bags, hold more items, protect bottles and glass jars better, will last you a longtime, will lessen trash and save energy and resources.
• Use plastic food container instead of plastic bags
Use plastic food container instead of plastic bags when storing food in the refrigerator and cupboard. They are reusable, last longer than plastic bags, leak free, keep out insects and lessen odor in the refrigerator.
• Use rechargeable batteries rather than disposable batteries
Rechargeable batteries can be used for almost anything, from flash lights to digicams. It will come out cheaper in the long run rather than buying disposable batteries every now and then and are better for the environment.
