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I admit I have not been recycling/ In fact, I've been openly encouraging people to be wasteful
Happy America Recycles Day! And hooray for recycling! Recycling is great, but unfortunately, a lot of people don't think about the other parts of the waste hierarchy (I would also add Research and Reflect to this list).
I just attended a session about "green" issues in the workplace at my conference, so I'm a little pumped up about the subject.
Research & Reflect
How are you using things in your everyday life? Are there ways that you could be creating less waste? What are some ways that you could easily cut down on waste? Which ways would be harder? What are you willing to change in order to cut down on waste? Where's the line that you draw? Have you looked into whether products that call themselves "green" actually any greener than their competitors? Going green doesn't have to be a huge decision - there may be a number of little things in your life that it won't bother you too much to change.Reduce
What can you do to create less waste? It might mean carrying around a reusable water bottle, or refusing to "let" yourself forget your reusable grocery bags or just refusing free stuff.I've noticed that a lot of the tchotchkes¹ you can get at conferences or for participating in activities have more of a green slant, but the result of that is that I now have WAY more reusable drinking containers and reusable grocery bags and free t-shirts than I need or will ever use. So while it's nice that they're giving out "greener" tchotchkes, it's not a good thing if they're going to end up in a landfill. A lot of people don't think of this as a big environmental decision, but you can say no to free food and free t-shirts, and that may mean that one fewer of those objects will be produced. Or, depending on the food or object, you might be able to find a place where you can donate it so that it can be reused.
I've noticed that even if environmental impact is not your main concern, there might be other issues that are close to your heart and certain actions you can take might have a two-fer effect. If you're interested in exercise, eating better, saving money, reducing dependence on foreign products or creating jobs, maybe there's a way that "going green" can tie into your other issues.
Re-use
One little thing that I did at work was that I got tired of never having the right plastic flatware around for the food I wanted to eat, and being the one who always bought new plastic flatware for the office. I would wash the forks, knives and spoons so that I could reuse them, but not everyone did that, so our supplies dwindled over time. In what was as much an economic decision as an environmental one, I went to Target and found the cheapest set of reusable flatware on clearance². A few pieces have gone missing over the years, but we still have a decent set and other odds-and-ends pieces have been added. Since then, many staff members have brought their own reusable glasses and a set of reusable plates, which are all handy for lunches and for celebrations.Repair
Many products nowadays are created so that it's more cost-effective to replace them than to repair them. Computers, for example, tend to last about 3-5 years before they're obsolete. At that point, you dispose of a big hunk of plastic and metals and battery acid and whoknowswhatelse and then you buy a new one. Wouldn't it make more sense if you could keep the computer itself and just swap in/out new parts? Unless you or a friend knows how to do this, probably not. People are much more likely to just replace the unit rather than having it repaired.Another thing that ties into repair is choosing items based on the life they're going to have, and not settling for products that are going to have to be replaced quickly/regularly. It would be great if there were some kind of mandate out there that when your computer had reached the end of its lifecycle, you sent it back to Dell and they had to deal with recycling/reusing the parts. Same with refrigerators or cell phones or irons or trendy fashions. Here, Forever 21, you dispose of this cheaply-made sweater now that I'm done with it! It would be nice if these companies had some kind of incentive to make products that would last longer, or use reusable parts.
Recycle
Recycling is good. Keep doing it! How far are you willing to walk with a plastic bottle if the garbage can is closer? I was raised in Michigan, where we have 10¢ bottle/can deposits, so I think my tolerance for carrying recyclables around might be higher than the average.Disposal
Sometimes there is no other option than throwing things away, but you also want to think about how you're disposing of things. Batteries, paint and light bulbs might all have chemicals in them that shouldn't be put in a landfill and all have special methods of disposal.In Conclusion
No one is going to be perfect and there may be environmental solutions out there that aren't a good fit for your budget or your lifestyle. I have a 5-minute drive to work every day that I could very easily walk if I got up a little earlier, but I really want my sleep. Instead I try to find other things to change to make up for it. What's important is that we all band together to make all those little changes so that we can make up for all the damage Will Forte is doing:What are you doing to combat the forces of Will Forte?
¹ My spellchecker does not like the word tchotchkes, but its only suggestions for alternatives are "latchkeys", "hopscotches", "crotchless" and "hotcakes."
² It would have been even more re-usey if I had just gone to the thrift store and bought odds-and-ends pieces from incomplete sets, but I didn't think of that at the time!
srah - Monday, 15 November 2010 - 7:09 PM
Tags: environment, holidays, nablopomo, nablopomo 2010, save november
Comments (4)
Emily Elisabeth - November 15, 2010 - 7:39 PM - ℓ
My sister's a big Watergate buff and one day earlier this year we were looking at G. Gordon Liddy's twitter page. He posted a rant (3 times) about people taking away his water bottles for reusable ones. Honestly, that's really the only reason why I use one.
computer recycling - November 16, 2010 - 7:45 AM - ℓ
Upgrade could be added to that list. Sometimes equipment is disposed of when all it needs is an upgrade to specific parts (eg. more memory on a pc).
Great post.
Some little things that I do:
* I try and so No to bottled water. Instead I have a Sigg bottle that I carry with me. It's very pretty too which helps.
* I try and carry a fold up bag (an environsax) in my handbag at all times. That way if I buy something I can just put it in there.
* When buying take out food to eat at home or work I check for plastic cultery and napkins and give them back to the outlet. I can just use metal cultery or paper towels.