Many a fortune has been made in this country on this “Use It Once and Throw It Away” way of thinking. Also many a landfill has been filled to overflowing with the same way of thinking. Because of this mentality, it’s my opinion that, We Americans have become some of the most wasteful people on the face of the Earth. If it’s not the right color, “Throw it Away”, if it’s last year’s model or style, “Throw it Away”, I just want a new one “Throw the Old One Away”.
To make a difference we need to “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle AND RETHINK” If we want to have part in saving our environment we need to do a hard “Rethink” of the way we do things. When shopping; do we purchase products intended to be reused, or to be discarded after one or two uses? Just one example of this in our “High Speed” hectic lifestyle is plastic “Silverware” or Styrofoam Plates and food containers. There’s an endless list of other examples and if we considered just a fraction of these we’d be here all week.
Another area we can consider is shopping. Do we use paper or plastic? There is a third and better choice; we should be using washable reusable cloth or recyclable vinyl bags. The devastating results caused by the use and improper disposal of the popular “T-Shirt” bag (the light plastic bag with “handles” most retailers use to put purchases in) are well documented. One site that really got my attention was “Bags on the Run” on their “Environment” page.
When shopping; do we give consideration to the amount of packaging a product has? Products that have more packaging than necessary waste resources in the manufacturing process and have more to discard after the purchase. Another thing to look at is the type of packaging, is it made of renewable recyclable materials or non-renewable non-recyclable materials. The first thing that comes to mind here for me is; are the packaging materials and/or product itself made from petroleum products? Is there a non-petroleum or natural alternative? Keeping in mind that less dependence on oil is a good thing. Think about purchasing economy size refills and refilling the dispensing containers. This will reduce the demand for plastic containers and the refills are usually a better bargain for your money, so in the process saving you $Green$.
Also when shopping do we make a lot of little trips to the store or do we make a list and make one well planned trip? The fuel savings alone could be 50% or more. Carpooling is another excellent way to make a difference. Do you know of elderly or infirm persons who would like a ride to the store? This would be helping them out and saving fuel at the same time.
Please give these thoughts some consideration. If you’re looking for “Non-Toxic, Environmentally Friendly, Truly Green Products” visit our website Going Green 2Day.
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