Easy Ways You Can Reduce Landfill Waste (and why you should do it)

Our nation's landfills accumulate an enormous amount of trash every year. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Americans generated 254 million tons of trash in 2007 (http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw07-fs.pdf).



Although recycling rates have increased significantly in the past few decades (thanks to the development of new technology, ease and availablility of recycling centers and material recovery facilities, and increased public awareness), it is still essential that we make our best efforts to reduce the waste sent to the landfills in the first place.

The Sierra Club (http://www.sierraclub.org/) recently posted some strategies to help the average person reduce their waste. These strategies have been previously mentioned on our blog, but are definitely worth repeating, as changes to our daily routines can have a tremendous benefit to the environment over time.

The first strategy discusses ways to reduce packaging waste. This can be accomplished by bringing in your own reusable mug to coffee shops (visit http://www.GoGreenMug.com to design your own mug), buying in bulk, and bringing reusable shopping bags to stores.

The next strategy discusses how food waste contributes can contribute to global warming. The EPA reports that Americans discard 25% of their prepared foods. As the discarded food decomposes in the landfills, it releases methane gas, which is related to global warming. This type of unnecessary waste can be avoided by patrons ordering smaller portions and bringing their own containers to take leftovers home.

As you can see, the above strategies are very simple ways we can all reduce the amount of waste we generate, and how much of that waste gets thrown into our landfills.