What You Can Do

Carry a mug. Even taking into account the impacts of manufacturing and hundreds of washings, glass and ceramic cups reduce the amount of energy, water use, air emissions, water pollution, and solid waste by between 85 and 99 percent.

Carry your own water bottle and install a home filtering system. Since the early 1970s, there has been an explosion in the bottled water industry. Up to 25 percent of bottled water is presently sold to export markets. Solid waste problems are mounting because of a lack of opportunities to reuse bottles. In some cases, acquifers in farming regions have been depleted in order to produce bottled water for export.

Keep a stash of cloth shopping bags handy. The proper answer to the paper versus plastic dilemma is still “neither.” Cultivate a stash of bags that can be reused hundreds of times and last for decades rather than becoming disposal burdens or litter.

Minimize take-out packaging. Try staying at a restaurant rather than eating packaged food on the go. It’s safer and can minimize disposable packaging. The problem is so extreme that some Asian countries have banned certian types of disposable food packaging.

Intelligently plan shopping trips. Consolidate shopping trips effectively so that you make the most of your time and fossil fuel expenditures. Consider whether you really need an item before you buy it.

Become a backyard composter. You can turn excess food waste, yard trimmings, and, yes, even certain forms of packaging, such as soiled pizza cartons and other paper materials, into soil amendments for your garden.

Support local farmers. Purchasing fresh foods from local farmers is a great way to support the local economy and provide healthier food for your family. Community Supported Agriculture arrangements supply weekly deliveries of fresh, organic foods in reusable cartons.

Don’t wrap gifts for pets. Landfill-bound trash and packaging waste spikes between 25 and 30 percent in the United Sates in the period between Thanskgiving and the first week of the New Year. The extra waste mounds up to about 25 million tons of garbage. Give gifts that support your ethical values and consider wrapping them minimally, in reused materials, or even in reusable shopping bags or containers.

Support producers who effectively package goods. Vote with your pocketbook and a mind toward minimizing waste and supporting a world of health and beauty. Companies that minimally package goods or use containers with high post-consumer recycled content (PCR) deserve high marks. Learn your materials: number 1 and 2 plastics are the most recycled. Numbers 3 through 7 are seldom recyled.

Establish a reusable packaging policy for your household. Complete a household packaging audit. Create household systems that emphasize reusable alternatives, from lunch boxes and leftovers to storage containers. Styrofoam peanuts, shredded paper, and sealed air bags can be reused or donated to local companies.

Bulk up. Households can significantly reduce their packaging and save money by purchasing staple items such as cereal, soft drinks, tuna, cleaning solutions, and the like in bulk.

Know your dump. The best knowledge about the waste stream is local. It starts with a visit to the local landfill, recycling center, salvage yards, and other sites in exploring the realities and possibilities of resource management in your community and larger region.

Be clear about your ecological footprint. No amount of “smart resource management” can get us around the impacts of sustained human population growth and rising consumption levels. Let packaging serve as one of many factors to gauge and inform whether or not consumption patterns are compatible with your values and hopes for the planet.