Everything we throw away ends up in a landfill, polluting our planet.
It’s easy to forget that, unless, of course, you’re like us and have to haul your own garbage to the landfill every week. Then you know all too well. Blech.
Once you’ve been to a garbage dump, you realize that there is more you could do to keep things out of the landfill. You could recycle more, you could compost, you could buy products that have less packaging to begin with.
But there is one very simple thing you can do to cut back on how much you throw away and it will save you money, too.
Think twice before you toss.
The next time you are about to throw something away, take a close look at it before tossing it. Ask yourself why you’re throwing it away and if there’s a better way to dispose of it than just throwing it in the trash.
We’re all busy cleaning out the clutter from our lives. Make sure that there isn’t a bit of life left in that old junk before you put it in the garbage.
Before you toss out that clutter, consider these ideas:
- Sell it in a garage sale.
- Donate it to a charity thrift store like Goodwill or The Salvation Army.
- Give it away on FreeCycle.
- Recycle any parts that you can. Pull buttons off ratty old shirts and turn the shirts into rags. Pull shoe laces out of worn-out shoes. Look at creative ways to make something new from the old materials. Sometimes people will buy things just for the parts, so you may be able to give the item new life that way.
- If it’s broken, make sure it can’t be fixed with a simple repair. I threw away a perfectly good MyFirst LeapPad that could have been easily fixed if I’d taken the time to do a quick internet search.
Of course, the easiest way to control the amount of trash we put in the landfill is by controlling the amount of stuff we bring into our homes.
Think twice before you buy, too, and the Earth (and your wallet) will be better for it.
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