Ways To Reduce Waste in Your Home

October 16-22 is Waste Reduction Week across Canada! There are a lot of simple things you can do in your own home to reduce waste and ingrain environmentally responsible habits. Here are a few to get you started. If you're already doing all of these then you get a big gold star!

• Bring a travel mug rather than taking paper cups to go
• Invest in a reusable water bottle and avoid buying bottled water
• Always have reusable bags in the car to carry groceries
• Purchase whole foods as much as possible, and avoid packaged foods
• Use rechargeable batteries
• Shop second-hand
• Tell your bank and utilities companies that you want electronic statements only, not paper mail
• Try composting with worms in your kitchen (we love our worms at Rocky! See other ways we reduce waste at our Green Workshop)
• Use cloth diapers
• Buy in bulk and use glass jars to store dried goods in your pantry
• Purchase large sizes of shampoo and conditioner and some small refillable tubes to fill at home and take with you when you travel
• Use old clothing as cleaning rags and avoid paper towel and disposable cleaning cloths
• Line-dry your laundry whenever possible
• Download your music and movies instead of buying CD's and DVD's